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While printed
books and manuscripts have been the "food" of scholarly
research for centuries, primary sources can be found today in increasingly
diverse formats. New or non-traditional primary source materials
include audio or visual materials, artifacts, photographs, or the
digitized versions of print or other formats.
Today's researcher
may find valuable information in such varied resources as:
- An audio
recording on reel-to-reel tapes of an interview, which may reveal
tone of voice, laughter, or other forms of communication that
would not translate in a transcription.
- The edited
or cut portions of a 16mm documentary film, which could be housed
in an archive alongside the finished version, written filmscripts,
and correspondence.
- The personal
objects and possessions of an author, such as pens, paper, and
even a desk or car, which could be housed in the same archive
that holds his or her literary manuscripts.
Non-traditional
materials can provide context and enrichment for the
letters, books, and other printed materials they accompany in an
archival collection. Collections of non-traditional materials can
stand on their own as well, evidenced by the growing collections
of media, photographic, and digital archives.
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