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Find Books, Articles, and More

Tips, tutorials, and strategies for accessing different types of materials.

What is a primary source?

Primary sources are the raw material upon which critical, analytic, and historic studies are based. These sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to the truth of what actually happened during an historical event or time period. Here are some examples of primary sources: Original works of an author, illustrator, artist, photographer, songwriter, etc.

Letters Ledgers, Account Books, Bills Govt. Hearings
Speeches Oral History Tapes Census Data
Autobiographies Photographs, Posters Treaties
Diaries Newspaper Accounts Cartoons

How do I find primary sources in the Goucher College Library?

In Special Collections and Archives

There are many wonderful primary sources right in our own Special Collections and Archives. The Special Collections and Archives reading room is on the upper level of the Athenaeum and is open to researchers 10 am – 4 pm, Monday through Friday, except for campus holidays. Other research times are available by appointment. Contact Special Collections Librarian and College at archives@goucher.edu or 410-337-6075.

In Books and Manuscripts: search the online catalog

  • Search by Author to find original writings of a person, or documents published by a government or organization.
  • Search by Keyword or Library of Congress Subject Headings.
    Primary sources will be found in books with one or more of the following subject heading subdivisions:
--diaries --interviews --underground literature
--sources --anecdotes --sermons
--case studies --songs and music --personal narratives
--correspondence --public opinion --caricatures and cartoons
--photography --pictorial works --exhibitions

 

Most databases will contain some primary sources.  The following databases are recommended when looking for specific types of primary resources.

Newspapers and Journals

Other Databases

How do I find primary sources in other places?

In Books and Manuscripts:

  • Search the Web Numerous full text literary works are freely available on the web. Particularly valuable is Google Book Search which points to hundreds of thousands of public domain books that may be downloaded as PDF copies. One may limit one's search from Google's Advanced Book Search to only those titles that are full-text.
  • Search the collections of other libraries:
    WorldCat
  • Look in bibliographies and compilations, such as:
    American diary literature, 1620-1799 / by Steven E. Kagle. In the library: Main Collection 810.9 K11a
    Oral history in Maryland : a directory/ compiled by Betty McKeever Key. In the library: 907.2 K44o

In Newspapers and Journals

  • Union lists tell you where to find specific newspapers in other libraries
    Newspapers in Maryland libraries : a union list / compiled by Eleanore O. Hofstetter and Marcella S. Eustis. In the library:  071Q N558 Newspapers in microform: United States, 1948-1972. In the library: 070Q U585n.1
  • Periodical indexes give you access to older articles.
    International Index to Periodicals 1907-1964.  In the library: 050 I61.
    Humanities and Social Sciences Retro
    Readers’ Guide Retrospective

Online Sources

  • Digital Maryland  Digital Maryland is a collaborative, statewide digitization program headquartered at the Enoch Pratt Free Library/State Library Resource Center in Baltimore. Its mission is to facilitate the digitization and digital exhibition of the historical and cultural documents, images, audio and video held by Maryland institutions
  • Constitute Project    Currently Constitute includes the constitution that was in force in September of 2013 for nearly every independent state in the world.
  • Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State  The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions. The series began in 1861 and now comprises more than 480 individual volumes.

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