Finding Historical Primary Sources

Definitions

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:15:33 -0800

Primary sources were either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of memoirs). They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period

A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or phenomenon. It is generally at least one step removed from the event is often based on primary sources. Examples include: scholarly or popular books and articles, reference books, and textbooks.

To find secondary sources in book form, search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about). To find articles that are secondary sources, search an article database, such as America: History and Life (US and Canada) or Historical Abstracts (world history).

Where are Primary Sources at UCB?

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:37:33 -0800

Primary sources may be physically located in any of a number of UC Berkeley Libraries or archival collections, or they may be available online.

Archives are collections of original unpublished, historical and contemporary material – in other words, primary sources. Before you go to any archival collection on campus you can save time and effort if you first:

Note the hours of each location. Explore the collection's web site and any special use conditions that may apply (registration, lockers, appointments, materials that need to be recalled from storage, restrictions on duplication, etc.)

BEFORE YOU GO: Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) to find the titles and call numbers of specific items.

If you need to use manuscript collections, look to see if the collection has a finding aid. Some finding aids list the contents of collections, box by box, folder by folder; others are less detailed. Some finding aids are available online via the Online Archive of California (the primary source itself may or may not be available online).

Please remember that not all primary sources are located in archives. Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) and article databases and ask for assistance.

Primary sources on campus may be in their original format; examples might include:

Patrick Breen diary (Donner Party) (Bancroft Library)
Julia Morgan Papers (Environmental Design Archives)
Chicano Studies posters (Chicano Studies Library)
Social Protest Collection (flyers, leaflets, papers) (Bancroft Library)

Some primary sources have been reproduced in another format, for instance:

Patrick Breen diary: published as a book (one edition here) (available to check out) and available online.
Papers of the NAACP (originals at the Library of Congress, available at UCB in multiple sets of microfilm - one of the sets)
Newsreels (originals in various archives; available at UCB on DVD)
Some historical newspapers and magazines (examples include: New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Harper’s Weekly, The Nation) –historical full text available through a UCB Library database.

Online primary sources may be found via free web sites as well as via Library databases.

To Know Before You Search

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:38:09 -0800

Think about what types of primary sources might have been produced that would be relevant to your topic; think also about which persons or organizations might have produced materials. Some possible types of sources:

Books	Photographs and images
Magazine and newspaper articles	Cartoons and advertisements
Diaries and journals	Movies, videos, DVDs
Memoirs and autobiographies	Audio recordings
Interviews	Public opinion polls
Letters	Fiction
Speeches	Research data and statistics
Documents produced by organizations	Documents produced by government agencies, including congressional hearings and census records

Finding Background Information

Gather the information you have about your topic and consider what you still need to know before you start researching. You can use this information in searching for primary sources.

Dates
Places
Names of persons involved
Names of organizations, government agencies, societies, etc.

Reference works and secondary sources can help you find background information on your topic. You may find reference sources by:

browsing the reference collection at the appropriate campus library
searching by the appropriate subject headings and adding additional subject terms such as: encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies. Examples:
- Indians of north america encyclopedias
- women diaries bibliography

The Bancroft Library - Overview

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:01:01 -0800

The Bancroft Library is one of the treasures of the campus, and one of the world's great libraries for the history of the American West.

Some Bancroft materials are available online via Calisphere, which includes primary sources from many California libraries and museums.

How to Use the Bancroft Library

1. Be prepared! Read secondary sources and know something about your topic.

2. Before you go: Search OskiCat so you can bring call numbers with you. You can limit your OskiCat search to find materials at the Bancroft Library, instead of all campus libraries (choose "Bancroft Library" from the pulldown menu that says "Entire Collection."). Remember that there are primary sources in many other campus libraries as well.

Important: if the item is in storage ("NRLF") and owned by The Bancroft Library, do not use the Request button in OskiCat. Instead, use the Bancroft's online request form AT LEAST 72 hours in advance (they prefer a week.)

If you have 72 hours in advance, you can also use the online request form for materials not in storage; that will speed things up when you arrive.

If the OskiCat record mentions a "finding aid" (an index) to a manuscript collection, you should use it to help you find what you need in the collection. If the finding aid is online there will be a link from the OskiCat record, or you can search the Online Archive of California to find it. The finding aids that are not online are near the Registration desk at the Bancroft Library.

3. Learn how to use the Bancroft Library. Read about Access (bring a quarter for lockers!) and Registration (bring two pieces of ID!). Remember to bring call numbers, titles, etc. with you. You will fill out a form to present to the Circulation Desk, and materials will be paged and brought to you.

4. Read about the new camera policy ($10/day and no flash!) or about getting photocopies.

5. Ask for assistance at The Bancroft Library's reference desk.

Searching Catalogs for Primary Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:34:39 -0800

To find books, DVDs, government documents, maps, manuscripts, and much more - everything except articles - use a library catalog.

Catalogs also list collections of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and records of organizations, but they do not list individual items in those collections.

OskiCat = most UC Berkeley libraries

MELVYL = all UC campus libraries, including all UC Berkeley libraries. Use the Request button to borrow items from another UC campus.

What's the difference? more details here

Searching Article Databases for Primary Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:18:33 -0800

To find magazine, journal or newspaper articles: use an article database. Article databases allow you to search for articles by topic, author, etc. Some (not all) article databases link to the full text of articles.

Primary Source Databases (all), including newspaper databases.

Primary Source Databases in American History

Newspaper Databases (all time periods)

Look carefully at the description of each database. Note:

what years of publication are included
what types of materials are included
does the database cover a particular academic discipline (such as History) or whether it is interdisciplinary

In some article databases you may click on the button, which will either locate the full text of the article online, or allow you to search OskiCat to determine if the magazine or newspaper title is located on campus.

Online Archive of California & Calisphere

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:55:22 -0800

Guides to over 20,000 collections housed in 200 libraries, archives, historical societies, special collections and museums across California are searchable at the Online Archive of California (OAC). Collection guides, also known as finding aids, are descriptive guides to archival (primary source) collections. These collections may be physically located in archives or digitized on the web. The guides help users learn more about the scope of a collection so they know if it is likely to meet their research needs.

Digitized versions of photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, and other cultural artifacts that are contributed by these California institutions to the OAC make up the content included in Calisphere.

Primary Sources - Articles

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:55:37 -0700

Magazine or journal article from the time period you're writing about:

Use an article database to locate the citations (title, author, name of the magazine/newspaper, date, volume, page numbers) of relevant articles.
- if available, use UC e-links to find the library location of the magazine/newspaper title
- or search to find the library location of the magazine/newspaper title

Newspaper article from the time period you're writing about - for a specific event or date

Use a newspaper database to locate the citations (title, author, name of the newspaper, date, volume, page numbers) of relevant articles

If you need to determine the dates of events before you can find newspaper articles, use a reference book (scroll to the bottom of the "To Know Before You Search" section), secondary source, or a national newspaper database, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)

Specific newspaper or magazine title (example: Chicago Defender)

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by magazine/newspaper title (scroll down to "Finding Primary Sources by Title")

Newspaper titles by city or by subject

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) using subject headings and add the additional subject term: -newspapers (ex: subject keywords african americans los angeles newspapers)

Search the California Newspaper Project database (click on "Search the CNP") for newspaper titles located at libraries throughout California. You may search by city, years, title, etc.

Primary Sources - Government Information, Census and Polls

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:55:53 -0700

Records of government agencies

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the government agency as organizational author

Use government information databases

Congressional information

Lexis-Nexis Congressional includes:

Bills and Laws 1789-present
Congressional hearings: 1824-present
Committee Prints: 1817 - present
CRS Reports (good places to start): 1916 - present
Hearings 1817-present
House & Senate reports and documents: 1817 - present
Legislative Histories 1969-present
Serial Set 1789-present, including maps
Congressional Record and its predecessors: 1789-2001

United States Census

Historical Census Browser 1790-1960
For more census information, see the UCB Library Government Information web site

Public Opinion Polls

Find Public Opinion Polls and Surveys: browse through the Library's Statistics and Numeric Data databases to find databases for opinion polls and surveys.

Supreme Court cases

Opinions:

http://supreme.justia.com/ by year

Briefs:

Making of Modern Law: US Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

A fully searchable collection of briefs and other documents related to cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. It contains over 150,000 cases and 350,000 documents. Search results are linked to the actual full-text PDF documents.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Supreme Court briefs 1936- onwards)
In the "Look up a Legal case" section, click on Landmark Cases
on the left, click on Supreme Court Briefs

Oral arguments:

- Oyez Project: Audio recordings of oral arguments before Supreme Court 1968 - 2010
  - selective before 1968 and after 2010
  - Briefs and opinions also selectively available.
- Supreme Court of the US official web site: transcripts of oral arguments 2000 - present
  - audio of oral arguments 2010 - present

Primary Sources - Images and Sound

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:56:12 -0700

Photographs and Images

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) using the additional subject terms- photographs or - pictorial works

(example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works)

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of persons or topics as (limit by format - in OskiCat "pictures/graphics", in MELVYL, "visual materials "

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of photographers as personal authors

Search Calisphere for images from archives from all over California

Search an appropriate Image Database

Audio recordings

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject, title, or author and limit to format: sound recordings

Search an appropriate database of audio recordings

Consult the Media Resources Center list of primary source images and sound

Video recordings/DVDs- nonfiction

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject, title, or author and limit in OskiCat to format: film/videos/slides and in MELVYL to form: videocassette or DVD/video

Consult the Media Resources Center list of primary source images and sound

Consult the Media Resources Center lists of videos by subject

Movies from a particular time period

Consult one of the following:

Internet Movie Database Advanced Search
Media Resources Center searchable movies database
Handbook of American Film Genres

Cartoons

To find books that discuss and reproduce cartoons, search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject and add the subject terms caricatures and cartoons:
- example: Spanish-American war caricatures and cartoons

Search an article database that includes political cartoons, such as HarpWeek (Standard search > Select Feature ) or Historical Newspapers (from advanced search > More search options > document type)

Advertisements

Search an article database that includes advertisements, such as HarpWeek (Standard search > Select Feature ) or Historical Newspapers (from advanced search, scroll down to search by document type)

Find an Image and Sound database that covers advertisements

For television commercials, see the Media Resources Center web site

Types of Primary Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:58:29 -0700

Published and Manuscript: books, memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries, records of organizations, manuscript collections, speeches, fiction

Articles - magazines, newspapers; newspapers by title, by city, by subject

Government Information etc. - records of government organizations, Congressional information, US Census, Public Opinion polls, Supreme Court cases

Images and Sound - photographs, images, audio recordings, videos and DVDs, cartoons, advertisements

Primary Sources - Published and Manuscript

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:59:21 -0700

Books from the time period you're writing about

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by topic and limit by date of publication

Memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of an individual as an author (last name, first name)

If you do not have the name of an individual, search the OskiCat or MELVYL by topic and add the appropriate subject terms to the subject heading:

-Correspondence
-Diaries
-Interviews
-Personal narratives

Example: subject keywords: japanese Americans interviews

Browse the Regional Oral History Office web site for transcripts of oral histories on a wide variety of subjects.

Ask for assistance in locating bibliographies and other reference tools that may help you find other titles.

Records of or materials published by an organization

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the organization as author

Manuscript collections

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of author (last name, first name) or organization as author; limit to format: manuscripts

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by topic; limit to format: manuscripts

Speeches

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of authors

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject keywords: speeches indexes to find reference books that list individual speeches

Fiction from a particular time period

Consult one of the following printed indexes:

Fiction Catalog (1941-2007)
Short Story Index (1915- )
Play Index (1949 - )
Bestseller Index (through 1990)

to find titles of creative works; then check the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) to see if we own the title(s) you want.

Find Primary Sources by Topic

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:23:04 -0800

Topic

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by keywords or official subject headings. To find official subject headings:

Search by keywords, display the long form of the record for an appropriate item, and then click on one of the subject headings that are listed
Ask at a library reference desk for assistance
Look for the five red volumes of the Library of Congress Subject Headings, located near most library reference desks

You may also pair an appropriate subject heading with additional subject terms that identify materials as primary sources. Some of these terms are:

correspondence
diaries
early works to 1800
interviews
pamphlets
periodicals
personal narratives
sources

Note: these subject terms will not retrieve all possible primary sources but they are a good way to start.

Examples:

vietnamese conflict 1961-1975 personal narratives
student movements japan history sources
france revolution correspondence

Search article databases by keywords, or official subject terms/descriptors.

Find Primary Sources by Author/Organization

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:24:01 -0800

Name of an individual

Search the the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for this name by author (last name, first name)

Search the the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for this name as a subject.

Search article databases for this name by author (last name, first name)

Search article databases for this name by subject.

Name of an organization

Search the the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of the organization as author-organization

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of the organization as a subject term

Search article databases for the name of the organization as a subject term

Finding Primary Sources by Title

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:24:59 -0800

Specific title

Title of a book, manuscript, diary, etc.: search OskiCat by title or MELVYL (advanced search) by title

Title of a journal/magazine/newpaper: search OskiCat by title (pull down the "Entire Collection" menu to "Journals, Magazines, Newspapers". In MELVYL (Advanced Search) search by title; in the left column of the search results page you will be able to limit to "Journal/Magazine/Newspaper"

Title of an article: search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the journal/ magazine/ newspaper in which the article appeared (as above)

If you do not know the name of the journal/magazine/newspaper in which the article appeared, search for the title, subject, or author of the article in an article databases. Find the complete citation (title of journal, date, volume, etc.); then search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the title of the journal

Some journals/magazines/newspapers are available online (scroll down to sections for articles).

Finding Primary Sources by Date

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:25:34 -0800

Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) using any of the techniques listed above; limit by date of publication to find materials published during the time period you are writing about. You may be able to sort your search results by date (see Help screens of each library catalog for details.)

Search the article databases using any of the techniques listed above; limit by date of publication to find materials published during the time period you are writing about

Primary Sources - European - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:23:59 -0800

Databases marked UCB ONLY are available from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.

For articles, see below.

Primary Sources - European - Articles - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:24:30 -0800

Primary Sources -US History - Articles - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:25:23 -0800

Primary Sources - US History - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:25:51 -0800

To find articles, see below.

Primary Sources - By Country/Area

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:49:06 -0800

Latin American Studies

Middle Eastern Studies

Slavic Studies

South Asian Studies

Spanish and Portuguese Studies

Primary Sources Online - Overview

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:50:20 -0800

The texts of primary sources are available online in two different ways:

freely available on the Internet (example: American Memory from the Library of Congress, or The David Rumsey Map Collection). It is important to carefully consider how you find and evaluate primary sources on the Internet.

available via library databases (example: Gerritsen Collection of Women's History Online) that may be used from any computer with access to the campus network. Off-campus access is limited to UCB faculty, staff and students; see Connecting from Off Campus for instructions for using the proxy server.

Comprehensive list of library databases of primary sources in US History

Selected list, US History

Historical newspaper and magazine articles US History

Selected list of library databases of primary sources in European history

Historical newspaper and magazine articles, European history

Primary Sources by country or continent

Comprehensive list of library databases of primary sources worldwide.

Help with your Research

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:31:26 -0700

Talk to a reference librarian at most campus libraries. For history questions you might start with:

Doe reference desk (2nd floor Doe); hours

UCB undergraduates can sign up for a Research Advisory Service appointment during peak periods of the semester.

Go here to learn about other ways to get assistance with your research, including 24/7 chat reference, e-mail reference, and contacting subject specialists.