A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event. Some types of primary sources include:
--From Princeton's website "What is a Primary Source?"
Robert E. Williams Photographic Collection: African-Americans in the Augusta, Ga. Vicinity (Richmond Co.) consists of 86 glass plate negatives and positive prints of African-Americans in the Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia area. Robert E. Williams, an African-American photographer, operated a studio, R. Williams and Son, in Augusta, Georgia, from 1888 until around 1908. The photographs depict dwellings and domestic chores, rituals of baptism, harvesting and transporting cotton, vehicles and transportation, and children and family life. Eighty-four of the images are presented online, as two of the negatives are copies
Robert Toombs, Letters to Julia Ann DuBose Toombs consists of correspondence from Robert Toombs to his wife, Julia Ann DuBose Toombs in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia from 1850-1867. During 1850-1859 his letters come from Washington, D.C. while he served in the U.S. Senate. During the Civil War, he wrote from Virginia (1862) and Atlanta, Georgia (1864). Following the war, letters are written from Paris (1866-67) while he was in exile. The correspondence generally discusses current events; his land holdings in South Georgia, Alabama, and Texas; people; other soldiers; and his wish to be with his wife and family.
The Samuel Hugh Hawkins Diary, January - July 1877, donated by Georgia State Senator George Hooks to the Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, chronicles Americus, Georgia entrepreneur, lawyer, and banker Samuel Hawkins' financial, agricultural, civic, and religious activities in Sumter County during the final months of Reconstruction.
Ingram LIbrary's Special Collections has a rich variety of primary sources that you can make use of. Find more info about Special Collections here: