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"Primary sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event or topic under consideration, either as participants or as witnesses." (A Pocket Guide to Writing History, 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007)
These primary sources are what historians, art critics, researchers, etc. rely on to interpret the past, movements, and events. Primary sources differ based on subject. For history they are first hand accounts of an event, topic, or time period. These sources can be diary entries, laws, ephemeral such as fliers, newspaper articles, photographs, speeches, etc. For art, primary sources are any original artistic piece. Such as paintings, sculptures, music, plays, poetry, film, multimedia art, and any other original form of artistic creation.
Secondary sources are written about primary sources or past events. Secondary sources can be reviews of art, textbooks, encyclopedias, analysis or criticism of other works or events, and newspapers or news media.
