The following list contains examples of the many formats of items that may be considered primary sources.
- Books and monographs
- Correspondence (email, text messages, postcards, letters)
- Dissertations
- Government documents (reports, census data, testimony, laws, treaties)
- Machine readable data files
- Manuscripts and Archives, whether personal or family papers or organizational records
- Maps, architectural plans, and schematics
- Moving Image Materials
- Music
- Objects and Artifacts
- Printed Ephemera (leaflets, flyers, handbills, etc.)
- Serials, including newspapers, periodicals, magazines, and scholarly journals
- Broadcast media, including tv and radio
- Sound Recordings
- Visual materials (prints, photographs, posters, artworks)