LibGuides: Resources for High School Students: Primary Sources

More about Archives

Citing Archival Materials
by Ellen Jarosz Last Updated Dec 4, 2023 1057 views this year
Special Collections and Archives
by Ellen Jarosz Last Updated Apr 7, 2025 617 views this year
Student Clubs and Organizations Records (SCOR)
by Ellen Jarosz Last Updated Apr 7, 2025 122 views this year

What are Archives?

What are Archives?
After completing this interactive tutorial, you will understand what archives are and be able to find them in Special Collections and Archives.

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*This tutorial works best in Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Research Topic: American Revolution

These archives can be accessed without CSUN login and from off-campus.

Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Founders Online (National Archives)
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Over 185,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects.

These books and databases/articles can be accessed on-campus (using a visitor computer). Books can be borrowed by students enrolled in the book borrowing program.

What is a Primary Source?

What is a Primary Source?
After completing this interactive tutorial, you will know what a primary source is and be able to identify primary sources based on your research topic.

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*This tutorial works best in Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Understanding Primary Sources

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast - Indian Nations vs. Settlers on the American Frontier: 1786–1788
In this activity, students will compare and contrast two documents from the Revolutionary period written by 1) a combined group of Native American tribes and 2) an American territorial governor, Arthur St. Clair.
Deborah Sampson Gannett: Focusing on Details: Spotlight - A Woman Soldier in the Revolutionary War
In this activity, students will analyze a legal document for clues about the experience of a woman serving in the Revolutionary War disguised as a man.

Online Archive of California (OAC)

The Online Archive of California (OAC) is a searchable database that includes finding aids for archival and primary source collections at more than 200 libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums in California, including Special Collections & Archives at CSUN.

After searching, you can limit your search results by holding institution, so you can see everything on your topic at other repositories in Los Angeles (UCLA, Occidental, Loyola Marymount, etc.) that have contributed finding aids to the OAC.