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Syracuse University Libraries

Honors Program Resources: Primary Resources

This guide serves as a launching pad to useful research resources for students in the Honors Program.

Finding Images

AP Newsroom


ARTstor  
Collection of 300,000 images for use in the teaching and study of art, architecture and archaeology.

Life Magazine Archives
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.

Time Magazine Archive
Archives of TIME magazine photo essays and newly-curated collections of archival images.

And, from SU, the Syracuse University Digital Library Database

Links to related resources

What Is a Primary Source?

Primary sources are documents or physical objects that were written or created during a particular time period in history. Primary sources are important because we can gain insight into a particular event by examining them. They include photographs, diaries, newspaper articles, audio recordings, and more.

Secondary sources, in contrast, such as journal articles (or your papers!), are sources that examine or analyze primary sources.

Examples & Practice with Primary Sources

First, watch the video above for an explanation and examples of primary and secondary sources (video created by the University of Houston Libraries)

 

Next, practice identifying primary and secondary sources with this short, very helpful exercise from Ithaca College Library. 

New York Times


New York Times newspaper mastheads

For options available to access the digital New York Times online, see the New York Times Guide.

 

Syracuse University students and faculty have access to a number of indexes and full-text article databases that include New York Times coverage, including:

ProQuest (1980- present; plus older page imaged historical NYT content)
*Article text only for recent decades, but also includes content classified as "historical newspapers," covering NYT fully page imaged newspapers  dating back to the founding issues of that publication in the 19th Century

ProQuest Recent Newspapers:  The New York Times (2008 - recent; 3 month embargo)
*Contains NYT newspaper page images typically excluded from many other article text only databases (including photos, charts, advertising, maps, etc.).  Three month embargo between current date and most recent available page scans.  For article content from the New York Times within those more recent 3 month recent timeframes, consult other databases (e.g., ProQuest or Nexis Uni, etc.) or visit the New York Times Guide for Digital NYT access

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851 - recent years)
*Contains NYT newspaper page scans covering the founding of the publication in 1851 thru to more recent years, up thru four years of the current date on an annual rolling recency archival basis.  For recent page imaging to within 3 months of the current date, consult ProQuest Recent  Newspapers:  The New York Times