Finding Primary Sources in History
Definitions
Published
Unpublished
Other Types
By Period

Published Primary Sources

Books | Journals and Magazines | Newspapers

Published VS Unpublished. The reason I divide primary sources in this manner is that published primary sources are often available through Interlibrary Loan because they are not totally unique. (No this is not always the case. Sometimes the are one of a limited number of copies or are too old and fragile to travel.) Wheras, unpublished primary sources are generally one-of-a-kind and require the researcher to visit the library to look at them. (Of course, if these sources have been microed or digitized, then this is not the case either, so nothing in life is ever certain.)

Books

Books and monographs are a generic term and, for our puposes encompass not only the tradtional form of the book, but also other types of published materials that were published once, for instance a broadside. While the differences are important to the history student, they are not so important for us to make those distinctions when looking for them in a catalog. While not always the case, books/monographs will probably be found through a catalog. There are lots of other choices than those listed below (most are found in the libraries website under catalogs). However, the other choices become more complicated and are probably in print form. If you get a reference question that can't be answered in these basic sources and you can progress no further, seek out Bill Wortman or me and we can either take the question further or help you with it -- it all depends on what you wish!

Sources/catalogs for books/published primary sources:

 

 

 
 Search Techniques
  • Limit by the following words in subject headings:
    personal narratives
    • sources
    oral
    • catalogs
    • diaries
    manuscripts
  • Restrict your search by publication date(s) when the primary source was likely to have been published
  • Search for who might have authored the primary source, especially if it was an institution or a group, such as a labor union, organization, or government agency

 

Magazines and Journals

Magazines are good at looking at the popular opinion of the time. Advertisements as well as articles can help explain fashion, trends in thought, reading tastes (serialized fiction), human interest and some in depth reporting (for instance issues around the civil war or popular science, even true crime). Journals will trace changes in intellectual thought. Journals, and the footnote, as we know it, are relatively new developments (well in the greater scheme of history). Journals began as a means for a group of primarily scientists/philosophers (initially a fine line) to talk to one another about ideas. Historians can use journals to trace the development of ideas (insanity for instance) between scientific and popular perceptions.

Selected Indexes and Databases for Journals (see Historical Catalogs on the libraries website for more).

 

  • 19th Century Masterfile
  • Reader's Guide Retrospective
  • American Periodical Series Online
  • Accessible Archives
  • Humanites and Social Sciences Index Retrospective

 

 
 Search Techniques
  • Many of the indexing terms and subject headings in these indexes reflect the time in which they were created. That means you must think like someone in the 19th century, even though you have a 2st century mind. Some terms that have changed: Polio formerly Infantile Paralsis, African American formerly Negro, and many diseases were hardly defined, such as hysteria which was a common ailment for women and encompassed a myriad of symptoms and isn't a modern disease. Also, World War I wasn't I until World War II. Some of the electronic indexes have attempted to accomodate this variation of terms, some have not.
  • Many of the older indexes would group large topics together, like Motion Picture Reviews or Book Reviews and then list the titles.
  • Restrict your search by publication date(s) when the article was likely to have been published
  • Search for who might have authored the primary source, especially if it was an institution or a group, such as a labor union, organization, or government agency

 

 

Newspapers and Opinion Magazines

Using News. Newspapers provide one type of eyewitness account of an event. They also are full of editorials and letters to the editor which will gauge LOCAL public opinion. However, all of these sources have a political affiliation. Newspapers were and are today affiliated with a political party. Even the major opinion magazines, while not directly affiliation with a party are usually openly conservative or liberal, generally never moderate. Newspapers also contain other fascinating data about the town which will provide a glimpse into life at that time. Arrival of ships and a list of goods would be posted. Classifieds told what people consumed and the cost of goods -- what was for sale. Court announcements. Society news (for larger areas).

Finding Newspapers. Historically newspapers came and went quickly early in a town's existence and were never considered prized possessions like a book and thus were never saved. What this means is that even if we know a newspaper was in existence in a particular place, a copy may not exist. In the 1970's and 1980's the United States did a massive program to identify all of the newspapers that ever existed and microfilm whatever was left. Most state libraries or other state designated institutions (usually the major university) have copies of the film and will loan it. The problem is identifying the newspaper. Titles are often oblique -- there are oodles of "Republicans" out there. Sometimes the name of the city is not always in the title. Finding International Newspapers is a bit harder. English newspapers seem well represented in Worldcat.

Selected Indexes and Databases for Newspapers

 

 

 
 Search Techniques
  • Same antiquated terminology caution applies to these indexes as well.
  • Many of the older indexes would group large topics together, like Motion Picture Reviews or Book Reviews and then list the titles.
  • Restrict your search by publication date(s) when the article was likely to have been published
  • Search for who might have authored the primary source, especially if it was an institution or a group, such as a labor union, organization, or government agency
  • When using worldcat, do a keyword search with the place and then check off serial. Limiting by date usually does not work unless you know the starting date of the paper. Newspapers are notorious for changing names. Often they do not have the name of the place/city in the title, even though that is how we refer to them.

If you want to trace American political opinion through some of its more prominent, long-lived political magazines, see the following table.

 

Title Date Began Political Point of View
New Republic 1914 Liberal
American Spectator 1932 Conservative
National Review 1955 Conservative
Nation 1865 Liberal
Progressive 1936? Liberal