A primary source (also called original source) is an information-bearing document, recording, artifact, or other item that was created or produced during the time under study. It is an original source and is distinguished from a secondary source, which cite, comment on, interpret, or incorporate primary source material. Examples of primary sources include original autobiographies, diaries, film footage, speeches, letters, minutes, e-mail, photographs, artwork, relics, jewelry, paintings, etc.
The Avalon Project - Made available by the Lillian Goldman Law Library at the Yale Law School, the Avalon Project is a compilation of digitalized documents in law, history, and diplomacy from Ancient to Modern times.
EuroDocs - This website provides links to European primary source historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. Documents shed light on key historical events within the respective countries and cover political, economic, social, and cultural history in the broadest sense from Ancient to Modern time. Documents are arranged in chronological order wherever possible.
Goodspeed Manuscript Collection - The Edgar J. Goodspeed Manuscript Collection comprises 68 early Greek, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic, and Latin manuscripts ranging in date from the 5th to the 19th centuries.
Internet Sacred Text Archive - "This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, where possible, in the original language."
Internet Medieval Sourcebook - The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is organized as three main index pages, with a number of supplementary documents. There is an index of selected and excerpted texts for teaching purposes, a help page on use of the Sourcebook for research questions, a section devoted to secondary articles, texts on the history of law, copy-permitted maps and images, a guide to medieval-themed films and music, and more.
Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts - This web site from the National Library of the Netherlands and the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum provides access to roughly 11,000 manuscript illuminations. These are searchable in several languages and are drawn mostly from the late medieval period (15th century). Note that only illuminations, not entire manuscripts, are accessible via this site.
Monastic Manuscript Project - The Monastic Manuscript Project is a database of descriptions of manuscripts that contain texts relevant for the study of early medieval monasticism, especially monastic rules, ascetic treatises, vitae patrum-texts and texts related to monastic reforms.
The Online Medieval and Classical Library - Part of the Berkeley Digital Library, OMACL is a collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization. You may search all of the texts in this collection or browse by Title, Author, Genre, or Language.