KINDS AND

REPOSITORIES OF
PRIMARY SOURCES
PUBLISHED
• are those that are intended for
public distribution or use.
• Newspapers, magazines, books,
reports, government documents,
laws, court decisions, literary works,
posters, maps, and advertisements
are some of the examples
UNPUBLISHED
• may be difficult to locate as they are
kept in private and hence, may not
be easily accessed by the public.
• These documents are also
confidential and with restricted from
public use like personal letters
which are in the possession of the
recipients.
• Documents such as diaries, journals,
letters, wills, and other personal
papers which are not published may
be used as primary sources
WRITTEN UNWRITTEN

• Oral tradition, oral histories, artworks, and

• Written documents may artifacts
be found in libraries or • Traditions and histories or stories
transferred through generations may tell us
archives something about the past
• those that are coming from people who have
actually witnessed or experience the past
events
• Personal or firsthand knowledge is necessary
in considering these sources are primary
• Although some oral traditions from some
cultures which are not written until now may
be used in writing history provided that their
reliability is properly evaluated
REPOSITORIES AROUND THE COUNTRY:

• The National Archive of the Philippines

• The National Library of the Philippines
• The National Museum of the Philippines.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE OF THE PHILIPPINES

• Organized today under Republic Act No. 9470 passed on May 21, 2007,
the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) was established to store,
preserve, conserve, and make available to the public the records, papers,
periodicals, books or other items, articles or materials, whether in the
form of electronic, audio-visual or print, which by their nature and
characteristics have enduring value, that have been selected for permanent
preservation.
• holding about 60,000,000 archival documents with Spanish Collection comprising an
estimated 13,000,000 manuscripts from the 16th to 19th Century with 400 titles on
various aspects of Philippine history under Spanish rule: royal decrees of Spanish
monarchs, reports of Spanish governors-general, documents on Filipino uprisings, records
of different provinces and pueblos, royal titles on lands and landed estates, pastoral
letters of the clergy, papers on churches and convents, maps and architectural plans of
buildings and houses, civil records like birth, marriages and death; American and Japanese
occupation records including Philippine National Guard records, civil service rosters, war
trials; and recent records composed of notarial documents, registers, civil service records,
and 1,000 cubic meter of inactive records of national/local governments, those of
abolished, transferred or merged offices included.
 THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF THE
PHILIPPINES

• The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) is the repository of the printed
and recorded cultural heritage of the country and other intellectual, literary
and information sources. It was established by a royal decree on 12 August
1887 and named as the Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas. Its mission is to acquire,
organize, conserve, and preserve Filipiniana materials and provide equitable
access to library resources through a system of public libraries throughout the
country.
•The NLP has one of the largest collections of
materials in various forms in the country covering
around 1.6 million books, manuscripts, newspapers,
theses and dissertations, government publications,
maps, and photographs. Some of the valuable pieces it
holds are Rizal’s novels, including the unfinished
novels, and the Philippine Declaration of
Independence which are all kept in a special vault.
 THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES.

• As an educational, scientific, and cultural institution, the

National Museum (NM) operates the National Museum of
Fine Arts, National Museum of Anthropology, National
Museum of Natural History, National Planetarium and other
branch museums around the country. Its collection covers
fine arts, archeology, ethnography, and natural history.