LibGuides: French Language, Literature, and Culture: Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source?

In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an artifact, a document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, a recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic. Similar definitions can be used in library science, and other areas of scholarship, although different fields have somewhat different definitions. In journalism, a primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document written by such a person.

MLA: “Primary Source.” Wikipedia, 28 Mar. 2018. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primary_source&oldid=832968888
APA: Primary source. (2018, March 28). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primary_source&oldid=832968888
Chicago: “Primary Source.” 2018. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primary_source&oldid=832968888.

Selected Primary Sources

ARTFL Project
The Project for American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL) is a cooperative enterprise of Analyses et Traitements Informatiques du Lexique Francais (ATILF) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Division of the Humanities, the Division of the Social Sciences, and Electronic Text Services (ETS) of the University of Chicago. The ARTFL Project consists of many databases of full text French literature from the 12th to the 19th century.
FranceArchives
The FranceArchives is the national archives portal for the government of France. It enables you to find references to historical and administrative archives kept in France. FranceArchives' mission is to guide Internet users so that they can consult the information or archival documents that interest them and which are kept in the various archives.
Annee litteraire
Location: Basement Compact Shelving
Call number: PQ88 A5
1-37; 1754-90
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Élie Catherine Fréron (1719 – 10 March 1776) was a French critic and controversialist whose career focused on countering the influence of the philosophies of the French Enlightenment, partly thorough his vehicle, the Année littéraire. Thus Fréron, in recruiting young writers to counter the literary Establishment became central to the movement now called the Counter-Enlightenment.
Kolb-Proust Archive for Research
This is an edited digital collection of Marcel Proust's correspondence.

Microforms

Utopies au siècle des Lumières
Call Number: Microforms Centre/Fiche PN3448 U7U73
French utopian writings of the 18th century, all in French, including some translations from other languages. Includes works of fiction, poetry, and political philosophy. Individual titles are listed in the catalogue. Search by call number PN3448 U7U73 to bring up complete list.