Primary Sources: How to Search

You will need to be logged in to the UML Library to access some of the material in this guide. If you are logged in to your UML email you are logged in to the library. You may get an additional authentication phone call from Duo. This is routine. 

If prompted, enter your UML email credentials. If you still have trouble, clear the cache on your device. Email not working? Troubleshoot from here.

Researching Primary Sources

Your instructor may ask you to write a paper which is based on research using primary sources. What are primary sources?

From the Library of Congress website:

"Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.

Examining primary sources gives students a powerful sense of history and the complexity of the past."