Research guides: HIS109 : Introduction to Primary Sources: What Are They?

Artefacts can be Primary Sources

Stick, gloves and puck that won gold in ice hockey the 2010 winter olympics for Canada.
By mark.watmough, from Flickr, under Creative Commons License

What is a Primary Source?

A primary source...was created at the time of the event...or by people who were observers of, or participants in, that event. ...

The medium of the primary source can be anything, including written texts, objects, buildings, films, paintings, cartoons, etc.

--Professor Elspeth H. Brown, Dept. of History, University of Toronto.
See: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/history

For another definition:

Yale University: http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html