Images in any form are usually primary sources. This includes photographs, drawings, etchings, posters, screenshots, paintings, murals, and basically anything that's been "captured."
For example, a photograph is a primary sources, since it is original to the moment it was taken. A painting, likewise, is original to the moment it was created. A photograph of a painting also counts as a primary source, for both the image and the original painting.
Old newspapers, diaries, and documents are also primary sources, but since it's difficult to access an original copy of, for example, the Constitution or Van Gogh's Starry Night, photos can be used. The original, photographed item is the primary source even if you're not looking at it in real life. This can get complicated, but a good rule of them is that if you're looking at an image, it counts as a primary source.
Below are some images and a slideshow of a variety of primary sources. Flip through them and you'll get the idea!
'Photograph of Arthur Alfonso Schomburg. Is Hayti decadent?
Issued: 1904. Image and original data from the New York Public Library. No Copyright – United States.'
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
"Featured in this collection are more than 2,000 images from the Schomburg Center, one of the world’s leading cultural institutions on the African American experience. Most focus on early community leaders and institutions in the United States: schools, churches, the military, and businesses. The works range from glimpses of Africa in the 1800s to 20th century protests."
All of the examples in the slideshow below "count" as a primary source.
The slideshow is intended to demonstrate that, though a primary sources must be original and tangible, for student purposes, images are fine. Though these are not the original photograph on photo paper, etching, advertisement, statue, etc., you are welcome to consider them as primary.
Statue: "The Spirit of Freedom," an African-American Civil War Memorial
Located in a plaza across the street from the African American Civil War Memorial Museum, at 10th and U Street, in the U Street neighborhood (also known as Shaw or Cardozo), of Washington D.C. This is one of Washington D.C.'s oldest Black neighborhoods.
The statue is bronze, and was created by artist Ed Hamilton for the DC Commission for the Arts & Humanities. It was authorized in 1992 and dedicated 1998. Please learn more here and here.
Etching: "Frederick Douglass" by Cynthia Nielsen
Photo: Black Panther demonstration, Alameda County Court House, Oakland, CA, during Huey Newton's trial.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Photo: Amanda Gorman recites her inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb," during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021.
Please learn more about Amanda Gorman on our Poetry LibGuide.
Photo: Black Lives Matter street mural in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah
Lithograph: 1872 Portrait: "The First Colored Senator and Representatives. In the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States."
Group portrait of African American legislators: Robert C. De Large, Jefferson H. Long, H.R. Revels, Benj. S. Turner, Josiah T. Walls, Joseph H. Rainy [i.e., Rainey], and R. Brown Elliot.
Lithograph, 1872. New York: Published by Currier & Ives, 125 Nassau Street.
Poster: Free Breakfast for Children Poster.
Created by the Black Panther Party, Illinois Chapter
Photo by Suzanne Cope
Broadside Advertisement: Boxing match: Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali vs. Donnie Fleeman, 1961
Photo: 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute, Mexico City Olympics
American sprinters Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right), along with Australian Peter Norman (left), during the award ceremony of the 200 m race at the Mexican Olympic games. During the awards ceremony, Smith and Carlos protested against racial discrimination, going barefoot on the podium, bowing their heads, and raising the "Black Power Fist" - a fist with a black glove. Peter Norman wears an OPHR badge in solidarity with Smith and Carlos.
