K-12 Primary Source Instruction: Finding Primary Sources

Finding primary sources to use in the classroom often involves searching online archives and repositories. Depending on the subject and/or grade level you are teaching, some repositories will be more helpful than others. The search process can be overwhelming, but understanding the types of archives that are available to you is a great place to start! 

Where to Search: There are hundreds (if not thousands) of archives that have made a selection of their primary sources available online. This is often in the form of digital collections, where archives have digitized and uploaded their physical items to publicly available online databases. The scope of your teaching can help you identify the types of archives/databases that will be most helpful to you (see below).

• Institutional Archives (e.g., Stanford University Archives, Mount Holyoke College Archives)
• Corporate Archives (e.g., Ford Motor Company Archives, Kraft Foods Archives)
• Government Archives (e.g., National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress, New York State Archives)
• Historical Societies (e.g., Wisconsin Historical Society, National Railway Historical Society, San Fernando Valley Historical Society)
• Museums (e.g., Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
• Religious Archives (e.g., United Methodist Church Archives, American Jewish Archives)
• Special Collections (e.g., ECU Joyner Library Special Collections, Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago)

For a list of recommended archival repositories and resources on how to search online databases, please see the "Resources" tab.

Due to the extensive amount of archival materials available, deciding which primary sources to use in your lesson can often lead to choice overload. To circumvent this, it's important to identify the learning objectives of your lesson BEFORE selecting appropriate primary sources. Using the learning objectives as a guide will allow you to narrow your options based on the following criteria:

• Topic (e.g., the Civil War, early American writers, the history of Broadway)
• Time Period (e.g., the 18th century, the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution)
• Population (e.g., women, Native-Americans, immigrants)
• Format (e.g., letters, photographs, maps, government records, etc.)

Here is an example of how the primary source selection process might work: 

Learning Objective: Students will analyze the different military tactics used by the U.S. Navy during World War II. 

• Focus on finding primary sources that were created during World War II
• The United States entered World War II in 1941; narrow your search to primary sources from 1941-1945
• Maps outlining ship routes or military records detailing battle plans may contain the information needed to accomplish the learning objective
• Search archival repositories that have a focus on World War II records (e.g., National World War II Museum, National Archives, Joyner Library Special Collections)

Going through this process can inform your database searches and help you determine the most appropriate primary sources for your lesson!