Q. How do I find primary sources?

Primary sources are documents that detail a firsthand account of a historical event, place, or figure, and we have many great places to locate them. A great place to start a search for primary sources is AM Explorer, which covers a large variety of different regions, time periods, and topics. The easiest way to access AM Explorer is by following these steps:

1. Start out at our main page.
2. To the right, at the bottom of the blue "Popular Databases" box select Browse All Databases.
3. On the A-Z Databases page, select the right dropdown menu titled Type of Database. 
4. Select the Primary Sources option in that dropdown menu, then click the Search button.
5. Scroll down the page through the list of databases and identify the one that would best correlate to your topic. 

Locating primary sources can be tricky, so the library has developed a guide on identifying, evaluating, and using primary sources. This guide includes several lists of primary source databases organized by subject for your use here.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to us at (434) 582-2220 or at research@liberty.edu.