Using Different Types of Archives
Helpful documents from the Society of American Archivists.
What Is a Primary Source?
A primary source is "first-hand" information, sources as close as possible to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, works that provide analysis, commentary, or criticism on the primary source. In literary studies, primary sources are often creative works, including poems, stories, novels, and so on. In historical studies, primary sources include written works, recordings, or other source of information from people who were participants or direct witnesses to the events in question. Examples of commonly used primary sources include government documents, memoirs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and contemporary newspaper accounts.
Manuscripts and Ephemera: Finding Aids and Indexes
Many historical materials are not available online, and housed only in archives or in harder to find publications. These discovery tools can help identify their holdings and locations.
- Online Archive of California (OAC) This link opens in a new windowFinding aids for primary source collections in all UC campuses and other contributing institutions, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California.
- UCLA Library Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowRare and unique digital materials developed by the UCLA Library to support education, research, service, and creative expression, including the AIDS Poster Collection, the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive and more.
- UCLA Library Special CollectionsUCLA Library Special Collections is comprised of Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections; the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History of Science and Medicine Special Collections; the Performing Arts Special Collections; the University Archives; and the Center for Oral History Research. Collections include a wide variety of literary rare books, as well as manuscripts and archival collections relating to specific individuals and organizations.
- ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new windowSearches finding aids for historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in libraries, museums, and archives around the world. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
- Mazer Archive at UCLADigital records and finding aids for June L. Mazer Archives housed at the UCLA Library.
- June L. Mazer Lesbian ArchivesLocated in West Hollywood, the Mazer collection is the only archive on the West Coast "dedicated exclusively to preserving lesbian history."
- ONE National Gay and Lesbian ArchivesLarge USC-affiliated research collection covering Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,and Transgendered history.
- Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and GenderLocated at CSUN, the Bullough research collection documents the history of human sexuality, including prostitution, cross dressing, homosexuality, abortion, laws relating to sexual behavior, and sex education.
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)Gateway for searching OCLC WorldCat manuscripts.
- C19: Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
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19th century books, journals, magazines, official documents, newspapers, and archives. Includes The Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Palmer's Index to the Times, and Periodicals Index Online.
Major Cross-Search Portals of Digitized Materials
- AM Search This link opens in a new window
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UCLA subscribes to selected AM (formerly Adam Matthew) databases comprised of digitized archival material and primary sources. You can use AM Search to search across all of them. UCLA has access to licensed AM content published through 2023. Formerly known as Adam Matthew Archive Explorer.
- Alexander Street Press This link opens in a new window
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UCLA subscribes to several dozen distinct databases hosted by Alexander Street Press. This interface allows you to search across most of them. Click on "My Collections" to see the list of subscribed databases. - Archive of Americana This link opens in a new window
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Thousands of newspapers, books, ephemera, broadsides, pamphlets, government publications, and more, detailing life in 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century America. Includes America's Historical Imprints; Early American Newspapers, 1690-1876; America's Historical Newspapers; Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876; American State Papers, 1789-1838; and U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980.
- Cross-search DPLA and EuropeanaOnline app that allows users to simultaneously search the digital collections in the Digital Public Library of America and Europeana.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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A cross-search platform of 21 databases available from the Gale Group, including historical newspapers (formerly NewsVault), The Making of Modern Law, U.S. Declassified Documents Online, among others. They can be searched as a group or as a selected subset. - History Vault This link opens in a new window
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UC-wide trial to selected History Vault modules, including content derived from primary source digitized microfilm that is cross-searchable. Modules include Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle; Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War; American Indians and the American West; American Politics and Society; International Relations and Military Conflicts; Women's Studies; Workers, Labor Unions, and Radicals; Latinx History; Revolutionary War and Early America. Alternative older interface portal for History Vault also available through 1/8/2025.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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Search platform for over 120 databases, from the AFI Catalog to Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Includes scholarly articles, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, as well as newspapers and dissertations.
Online Special Collections
- UCLA Library Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowRare and unique digital materials developed by the UCLA Library to support education, research, service, and creative expression, including the AIDS Poster Collection, the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive and more.
- June Mazer Lesbian Archives at UCLACollection-building partnership between the UCLA Library and the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. The Mazer Archives is the largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture.
- Calisphere This link opens in a new windowOver one million photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more from the collections digitized and contributed by all ten campuses of the University of California and other important libraries, archives, and museums throughout the state.
- UCLA Center for Oral History Research (COHR) This link opens in a new windowCOHR conducts in-depth, multi-session oral history interviews with individuals who have been a part of the history of Los Angeles and its many communities. Over 2000 interviews document a wide range of areas related to Southern California history, including the histories of Black, indigenous, people of color and immigrant communities, the arts, political activism, politics and government, and UCLA history. Transcripts available in Library Special Collections (YRL).