Research Guides: LGBT Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Research Using Primary Sources
How to locate, access, and use primary sources, particularly at the University of Maryland.

Sometimes your assignment will instruct you to use "primary sources."

Definition: Primary Source
Primary sources are usually defined as first hand information or data that is generated by witnesses or participants in past events. Evaluating whether something can be used as a primary source depends on two things:

Proximity to the source. Ideally the best type of source material comes from a person or process that is closest in time or proximity to the event, person or place under study. Usually the creator of this type of primary source is an eyewitness who left a record for personal or procedural purposes. Reliability of sources declines as one get farther in time and proximity.

Questions asked. Determining whether a source is a primary source often depends on the questions asked of it by the researcher.

For example...

A history text from the 1950s about the rise of Catholicism in America is usually considered a secondary source. However, a researcher investigating prevailing attitudes about religion in the 1950s may consider this work a primary source.

What is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source?
Definition: Secondary Source
Secondary sources are completely removed in proximity from the original event, person or place but seek to provide an interpretation based on primary sources. There is a continuum from primary to secondary sources, and many sources show elements of both.

For example...

Ken Burns's television documentary about the American Civil War is a secondary source that uses primary sources to tell a story. A memoir written by a Civil War veteran in 1887, twenty-two years after the end of the Civil War, can be considered a primary source, albeit far removed from the actual events. A history text about the Civil War written in 1987, however, is most definitely a secondary source.

The gay rights movement, : [1970-1983] Gay Activists Alliance : from the International Gay Information Center, The New York Public Library.
Call Number: McKeldin Library Periodicals Microfilm HQ75.12 .G39 1998
21 microfilm reels of the records of the Gay Activists Alliance. Important primary source materials to be used in research of the post-Stonewall burgeoning gay rights movement.
Use the guide to determine reel number. McKeldin Library Reference Microform Manuals HQ75.12 .G39 1998 Guide
The gay rights movement : Mattachine Society of New York, Inc. : from the International Gay Information Center, The New York Public Library.
21 microfilm reels of the records of the Mattachine Society of New York. Important primary source materials to be used in research of the early gay rights movement in the U.S.
1951-1979
Use the guide to determine the reel number. McKledin Library Reference Microform Manuals HQ75.12 .M377 1998 Guide
Gay and Lesbian Rights in the United States by Walter L. Williams (Editor); Yolanda Retter (Editor)
Call Number: McKeldin Library Reference HQ76.8.U5 G37 2003
This collection of primary documents explores those beliefs and their counter-arguments, providing varying viewpoints on the complex issue of gay and lesbian rights. Personal testimonies, laws, opinion pieces, court cases, and other documents, dating from colonial times to the present day, encourage students to challenge their assumptions and strengthen critical thinking skills. Coverage from colonial times to 2003.
An Archive of Hope by Harvey Milk; Jason Edward Black (Editor); Charles E. Morris (Editor); Frank M. Robinson (Foreword by)
Call Number: e-book
Harvey Milk was one of the first openly and politically gay public officials in the United States, and his remarkable activism put him at the very heart of a pivotal civil rights movement reshaping America in the 1970s. An Archive of Hope is Milk in his own words, bringing together in one volume a substantial collection of his speeches, columns, editorials, political campaign materials, open letters, and press releases, culled from public archives, newspapers, and personal collections. The volume opens with a foreword from Milk's friend, political advisor, and speech writer Frank Robins
Speaking for Our Lives by Robert B. Ridinger
Call Number: McKeldin Library Reference HQ75.16.U6 S53 2004
This landmark volume collects more than a hundred years of the most important public rhetoric on gay and lesbian subjects. Includes speeches and manifestoes prompted by events ranging from demonstrations to funerals.

LGBT Thought and Culture
Provides full-text access to key works and archival documents of LGBT political and social movements throughout the 20th century and into the present day. This immense collection includes materials ranging from texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and to memoirs, biographies, poetry, and works of fiction. The latter category includes winners of the Stonewall Book Awards and Lambda Literary Awards. Has an international focus. Is cross-searchable with the LGBT Studies in Video database.
LGBT Studies in Video
"This growing collection in LGBT Studies features text and video resources exploring the social, cultural, and political evolution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. The immense text holdings in this collection include materials ranging from texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and to memoirs, biographies, poetry, and works of fiction. The latter category includes winners of the Stonewall Book Awards and Lambda Literary Awards. The video holdings include documentaries, interview, and archival films that look at all aspects of the LGBT community: LGBT history, gay culture and subcultures, civil rights, marriage equality, LGBT families, AIDS, transgender issues, religious perspectives on homosexuality, global comparative experiences, and other topics. The collection has an international and multidisciplinary focus (inclu. lgbt studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, counseling, history, political science, cultural studies, and religious studies)."
Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin and the Daughters of Bilitis
As outspoken lesbian organizers for civil rights, civil liberties, and human dignity whose personal relationship fueled decades of political activism, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin created and helped shape the modern gay and feminist movements. They are stellar examples of engaged citizens: women of extraordinary courage, persistence, intelligence, humor, and decency, who refused to be silenced by fear. Not only were they founders in 1955 of the first lesbian rights organization in U.S. history, the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), but they also were instrumental in the formation and growth of other related social movements, including the contemporary women’s rights movement.