PRIMARY SOURCES
LOCATING AND USING MANUSCRIPTS
AND ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS



Collections of Documents

Documents of American History. Henry Steele Commager (ed.). New York: Appleton, 1973. Official and "quasi-official" documents chosen "to illustrate the course of American history from the Age of Discovery to the present."
King Ref E 173 .D59 1988.

The People's Republic of China, 1949-1979: A Documentary Survey. Harold C. Hinton (ed.). Wilmington, Dela.: Scholarly Resources, 1980.
King Ref DS 777.55 .P4243

Historic Documents of 1972-. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1972+. Excellent compilation of speeches, policies, etc.
King Ref E 839.5 .H57

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Washington: GPO, 1965-. Transcripts of presidents' news conferences, speeches, statements, etc.
King Periodicals

Vital Speeches of the Day. Weekly. 1935-. Extracts or whole reprints of speeches.
King Periodicals

English Historical Documents. David C. Douglas (ed.). London: Eyre and Spottiswook, 1953-77. Covers from ca. 500-1914. Old English modernized.
DA 26 .E55

Documents on British Foreign Policy. E.L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, 1919-1939. Through various series covers 1919 to 1939.
DA 566.7 .A18

America and the Holocaust : a thirteen-volume set documenting the editor's book The abandonment of the Jews. David S. Wyman. New York : Garland Pub., 1989. Documents some in English some in other languages.
D804.3 .A47 1989

The Holocaust : selected documents in eighteen volumes. John Mendelsohn, editor. New York : Garland Pub., 1982
D810.J4 H655

The American slave; a composite autobiography. George P. Rawick. ed. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Pub. Co. 1972- Oral histories of slaves collected in the 1930s from the WPA.
E444 .A45 (and supplements)


Indexes to Unpublished Collections

Subject Collections: A Guide to Special Book Collections and Subject Emphases as Reported by University, College, Public, and Special Libraries and Museums in the United States and Canada. 7th edition. New York: Bowker, 1993. Includes manuscripts, as well as book collections.
King Ref Z 731 .A78

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1980. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1959-. Lists papers of people, families, associations, etc.; gives description of collection and name of U.S. repository.
King Ref Z 6620 .U5 N3

Women's History Sources. Andrea Hinding (ed.). New York: R.R. Bowker, 1979.
King Ref Z 7964 .U4956

Guide to Microforms in Print. London: Meckler. Subject, author, title of microform resources available.
King Ref Z1033.M5 S8 1997

Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. Washington: GPO, 1995. Description of major record groups in the Archives' collections.
King Ref CD 3026 1995

Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography. Donald L. DeWitt, comp. Wesport, Conn: Greenwood, 1994. Compilation of archival guides, inventories, registers, and calendars.
King Ref CD 3022 .A2 D48 1994.


Indexes to Published Collections

American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals 1492-1980. Laura Arksey et al. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1983. Reference by name, subject, and geographic locations.
King Ref CT 214 .A74 1983x

And So to Bed: A Bibliography of Diaries Published in English. Patricia Pate Havlice (ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1987. Index to diaries published either in journals or separately.
King Ref CT 25 .H385 1987

The Published Diaries and Letters of American Women: An Annotated Bibliography. Joyce D. Goodfriend. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1987.
King Ref CT 3260 .G66 1987

Women's Diaries, Journals and Letters: An Annotated Bibliography. Cheryl Cline. New York: Garland, 1989.
King Ref CT 3230 .C55 1989


Directories of Archives, Societies and Museums

Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1988. Similar to above but less detailed and more current.
King Ref CD 3020 .D49 1988

Directory of Historical Societies and Agencies in the United States and Canada. Tracey Linton Craig (ed.). 12th edition. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1982. Good for identifying possible locations of manuscripts and other source material.
King Ref E 172 .A538 1982

British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the United Kingdom. 3rd ed. Janet Foster and Julia Sheppard. New York: Stockton Press, 1995. Description of collections in British libraries, museums, archives, etc.
King Ref CD 1040 .F67 1995

American Library Directory. New York: R.R. Bowker Co., annual. Addresses and descriptions of all libraries in U.S. and Canada.
King Ref Z 731 .A53

Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers. Brigitte Darnay (ed.). Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, annual. Describes collection and gives address of libraries etc. which have special collections in the U.S. and Canada.
King Ref Z 731 .A78

Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, annual. Addresses and phone numbers of any organization in the U.S. (and some international). (see also electronic version)
King Ref HS 17 .G334

World of Learning. London: Europa Publications Ltd., (annual). Lists anything to do with "learning" by country, learned societies, universities, museums, foundations, statistics, etc.
King Ref AS 2 .W6

The Official Museum Directory. Washington, D.C. : American Association of Museums. Describes and provides addresses for museums, primarily in the United States.
King Ref AM10.A2 O4 1998

Directory of Oral History Collections. Alan Smith. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1988. Directory and description of Oral History collections in the United States. Has a subject index in the back.
King Ref 16.14 .S627 1988

Online Sources

ArchivesUSA
http://archives.chadwyck.com/
Holdings and contact information of more than 4,700 repositories and indexes to over 106,000 special collections

Historical Electronic Documents
http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/edocs.html
Comprehensive list of links to documents, collections and repositories.

Repostories of Primary Sources
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html
Listings of repositories, societies, etc.

Historical Text Archive
http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/
The Historical Text Archive (HTA) originated in 1990 as an anonymous FTP site in response to the need of historians to have an electronic storage and retrieval site and to demonstrate the advantages of such sites for the study and teaching of history. The HTA provides original material , links to other sites, and electronic reprints of books and is organized by geography/nations and topics.

Yahoo
Arts:Humanities:History:Archives

http://www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/Archives/
Listing of all sorts of primary source links.

American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
Collection of documents, photos, audio primary sources.