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Finding Primary Sources for History

Research strategies and recommended library resources for finding primary and historical sources.

What is a Primary Source?

Provo, Utah, c. 1920sA primary source in history is a document or artifact created during the time under study. Some examples of primary sources include:

  • Political documents
  • Speeches
  • Oral histories
  • Letters and correspondence
  • Memoirs, diaries, and journals
  • Personal or business papers, reports, etc.
  • Pamphlets
  • Cartoons, artwork, or photographs
  • Newspaper or magazine articles
  • Advertisements

(Image: Provo, Utah, c. 1920s, from the Larson Studio Negative Collection via Mountain West Digital Library)

Finding Primary Sources at the Fulton Library

To find primary sources in the library's collections, search OneSearch (see below) by combining a search term for your topic with a type of primary source document. It can be helpful to limit your search to books.

Some examples of searches include:

  • "American Revolution" AND documents
  • Patton AND papers
  • Vietnam AND "oral history"
  • "Underground Railroad" AND letters
  • Lincoln AND correspondence
  • secession AND pamphlet
  • Overland AND diary
  • plague AND source

OneSearch & ProQuest

Search tabs from Library homepage. Left: OneSearch. Right: ProQuestOneSearch and ProQuest are the Fulton Library's main databases. They allow you to search the library's articles, books, streaming media, and more. OneSearch and ProQuest include resources on almost every topic, making it a great place to start your research!

To use either of these databases, go to the UVU Fulton Library Homepage link below. Use the tabs in the search box to navigate between OneSearch and ProQuest. Enter search terms into the box, then hit enter or click the magnifying glass. 

We recommend using both databases because, while there is some overlap between the two, each database features a lot of unique content.

Ask Your Librarian

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Jacques d'Emal
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FL214, Fulton Library
801.863.8058

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