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. Primary sources can 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. They also can include images, advertisements, reviews, costumes, and documentation of stage performance.
Where Can I Find Primary Sources?
Primary sources can be published or reprinted (newspapers, for example), or they can be unpublished archival material such as one person's photographs/drawings, personal papers and diaries, etc. Some primary sources are digitized and available online, while many others are not. Original copies of primary sources are often housed in protected repositories like archives and Special Collections, which function in a different way from circulating library collections.
Major Cross-Search Portals of Digitized Materials
- AM Search This link opens in a new window
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 2024. Formerly known as Adam Matthew Archive Explorer.
- Alexander Street Press This link opens in a new windowUCLA 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 windowThousands 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 windowA 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
UC-wide pilot (renewed through June 30, 2025) with access 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; and more.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Search platform for over 140 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.
UCLA Library Special Collections
- 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.
- Performing Arts Materials in Library Special CollectionsGuides to archival collections related to animation, film and television, theater, dance, and music.