What is a Primary Source?

Primary source materials are the evidence left behind by participants or other direct observers of an historical event or period.

Secondary sources are works that interpret or analyze an historical event or period.  They are written after the fact and are not based on direct observation.

Published Materials

  • Newspapers
  • Pamphlets
  • Newsletters
  • Flyers & leaflets

Flyer described in linked PDF below

Text version of above image (Reunion General de Huelguistas) Download Text version of above image (Reunion General de Huelguistas)

Photographs

Photograph described below image

Striking cannery workers with posters

Accounts

  • Speeches
  • Correspondence
  • Testimony
  • Diaries
  • Songs

Corrido Dedicado a los 1000 de Watsonville_Page_1.jpg

Text version of above image (Corrido Dedicado a los 1000 de Watsonville) Download Text version of above image (Corrido Dedicado a los 1000 de Watsonville)

Life Histories

  • Oral histories
  • Interviews
  • Autobiographies
  • Memoirs

Interview with Gloria Betancourt titled "Questions Asked About the Strike" by Mary S. Nevarez, 1986

Film & Video

  • Television
  • Documentaries

Photograph described below image

Still from a documentary film featuring striking women cannery workers