Educator Resources

Research Our Records

Introduction

Primary Source Sets are curated from the official Utah government records repository. Each set provides historical context for important events, discussion questions, and primary source examples for both elementary and secondary school students.

A primary source is a first-hand account of an event or topic. Letters, meeting minutes, photographs, diary entries, interviews, and sound or video recordings are examples of primary sources created as a time or event is occurring. Oral histories, newspaper articles, and autobiographies are examples of primary sources created after the event or time in question but offering first-hand accounts.

Primary Source Sets

Each set contains between six and eight primary source records with descriptions and analysis questions as well as historical context resources. The resources that provide historical context have been selected and organized into separate lists as appropriate for elementary students and secondary students.

The Primary Source Sets were conceived, created, and compiled by Mariah Todd, an intern at the Utah State Archives in the fall of 2019.

Old photograph of a school building