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A primary source  is a document that was written or produced during the actual time of the event.  These documents can include:

• Published sources: autobiographies, speeches, eyewitness accounts, court decisions, transcripts, interviews, advertisements, maps
• Unpublished sources: personal letters, diaries, family wills, family histories
• Oral histories or traditions: oral history recordings or interviews
• Visual documents or artifacts: photographs, paintings, film, coins, clothing, or tombstones

Reference Series

20th Century America: A Primary Source Collection from the Associated Press

Original stories from the 20th Century, just as they first appeared in breaking AP headlines.