In the study of history as an academic discipline, a
primary source (also called
original source or
evidence) is an artifact, a document, a recording, or 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 are 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.