Primary Sources - Basics - HIST 1010 - Introduction to Historical Skills - Research Guides at University of Northern Iowa

Five Primary Source Options to Begin Your Research

"Primary sources are those texts and objects that come to us from the time period of interest."
- Lipartito, Kenneth. "Historical Sources and Data." Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods (2014): 284-304.

The library catalog (OneSearch) and the newspaper and magazine databases listed are good places to begin searching for primary sources. The Primary Sources - Advanced option will provide additional primary source options based on time period, location, and social groups.

OneSearch
UNI search engine for books and articles. For books change the "Material Type" option from "All items" to "Books" to turn OneSearch into the library catalog and look for books owned by Rod Library. To find primary materials set your search or results ("Publication Date") to the specific years of your study. Recently published books may also contain primary source material in the form of quotes, diaries, and letters.

Historical Periodical Collection (1684-1850)
Search for primary sources from 1684 to 1850.
British and American newspaper and magazine articles.

New York Times - TimesMachine
Before using the New York Times TimeMachine - UNI students and faculty must register for a personal "all access" pass for the New York Times. Click here to create a UNI personal "all access" academic pass.

Browse the New York Times by date using the TimesMachine "Select an Issue" option.

Search historical issues of the New York times by using the search option at the top of the TimesMachine page.

To download a historical New York times article older than 1980:

1. click on the article

2. click on the "CONTINUE READING: PDF" option that pops up on the lefthand side of the screen

WARNING - Advertisements cannot be downloaded - but can be viewed in detail using the "+" function (expand view) in the TimesMachine viewer.

Newspaper Archive (1607-present)
Very good for local and regional U.S. and Iowa news. Coverage varies by year and location. Use the "Advanced Search" option beneath the search blanks. Advanced Search will allow you to limit by date and geographic location.

Time Magazine Archive (1923-2000)
Time Magazine covered both national and international news through much of the 20th century.

Need more primary sources? Head to the Advanced Methods page!
The Primary Sources - Advanced Resources page provides access to many more primary source options based on the time period, location, and social group of interest.