I can’t say for sure how my time in the archives has affected the way that I searched for primary sources. I already had a primary source in mind and finding it was rather quick. What I can say is that I feel better prepared to conduct a search for a primary source in the future and that understanding the inner workings of an archive makes sifting through a collection much easier. I have a general idea of how an archivist might organize a collection, so I know what to look out for if I am sifting through physical materials. Likewise, I feel that can narrow down terms that I would attempt to search in a digital archive.
I would also add that I have a newfound understanding as to why certain materials are kept into the archive. I now know that the archives do not keep anything and everything. Whatever is available serves some purpose, at least in the archivist(s) opinion. This allows me to look at everything within an archive critically whereas before this course I may have disregarded some material that I initially deemed irrelevant. I highly appreciate my experience in the archives, it is something that I am not sure that I will experience again.
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Glad to hear that even though you had another primary source in mind for this project, your experience in the archives made you more familiar with what you might be finding there. Having an idea of what might be in the archive, and what might be in primary sources, is one of the most important but most difficult to teach skills that historians have to develop.