Resources for Students

What are primary sources?
Primary sources are items created during or after an event or specific time period by someone who was there - a participant or observer. These can include personal items (manuscript materials) such as letters, diaries, journals, scrapbooks, photographs, and artifacts, as well as records from an institution (archives) such as financial ledgers, correspondence, minutes, and reports. Items like maps, newspapers, magazines, and music can also be primary sources.

Below is a list of guides on primary source research -- including how to find, use, and cite them -- from a variety of institutions.

• Library Research Using Primary Sources, UC Berkeley
• Conducting Primary Research, Mount Holyoke College
• Using Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University
• Primary Source Research Guide, Five College Archive & Manuscript Collections

Archives and Special Collections staff can also answer questions about primary source research by email or phone (310-243-3895).

Where are "primary sources" and other research materials?
Information on collections at CSUDH, including papers of CSUDH Presidents, local history, and the CSU system archives can be found through the Archives homepage.

California Library Directory
The California State Library hosts a directory of California libraries drawn from annual reports by California's academic, public, special, state agency and county law libraries.

Online Archive of California (OAC)
The OAC is a database of finding aids (guides to collections of primary sources) from institutions throughout California, including CSUDH, UCLA, USC, the Getty Research Institute, and the Huntington Library.