Finding Historical Primary Sources
What are Primary Sources?
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
What are Secondary Sources?
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 and 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. To find articles that are secondary sources, search an article
database such as Historical
Abstracts or America:
History and Life.
Where are Primary Sources at UC Berkeley?
Primary sources may be physically located in any of a number of UC Berkeley Libraries or archival collections, or they may be available online.
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 posters (Chicano Studies Library)
- Social Protest Collection (flyers, leaflets, papers) (Bancroft Library)
- Thousands of historical newspapers and magazines (various libraries on campus)
Some primary sources have been reproduced in another format, for instance:
Library databases 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.
Archives are collections of original unpublished, historical and contemporary material – in other words, primary sources.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, appointments, materials that need to be recalled from storage, restrictions on duplication, etc.)
- 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 online via the Online Archive of California.
This preparation allows you to arrive at the library or archive with the information you need to efficiently locate items. |
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To Know Before You Search
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 |
Gather the information you have about your topic and consider what you still need to know before you start researching, including:
- Dates
- Places
- Names of persons involved
- Names of organizations, government agencies, societies, etc.
Finding Background Information
Reference works and secondary sources can help you find background information on your topic, including names, dates, and other information you can use to search library catalogs and article databases. 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
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Searching for a Type of Primary Source
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Books from the time period you're writing about
- Search the library catalogs by topic and limit by date of publication
|
Memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries
- Search the library catalogs 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 library catalogs by subject and add the appropriate subject terms to the subject heading:
-Correspondence
-Diaries
-Interviews
-Personal narratives
Example: subject keywords: japanese Americans interviews
Ask for assistance in locating bibliographies and other reference tools that may help you find other titles. |
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
|
Specific newspaper or magazine title
(example: Chicago Defender)
|
Newspaper titles by city
or by subject
- Search library catalogs using
subject headings and add the additional subject term: -newspapers (ex: subject
keywords african americans los angeles newspapers)
|
Records of or materials published by an
organization
|
Records of government agencies
- Search library catalogs by the name
of the government agency as organizational author
|
Congressional information
Lexis-Nexis Congressional includes:
- Congressional hearings: 1824-present
- Committee Prints: 1830 - present
- CRS Reports (good places to start): 1916 - present
- House & Senate reports: 1819 - present
- Serial Set 1789-1969
- Congressional Record and its predecessors: 1789-1997
|
United States Census
|
Manuscript collections
- Search library catalogs by names of author (last name, first name) or organizational author; limit to format: manuscripts
|
Speeches
- Search library catalogs by subject
keywords: speeches indexes to find reference books that list individual speeches
|
Photographs
- Search library catalogs using the additional subject terms- photographs
or - pictorial works
(example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works)
- search Calisphere for images from archives from all over
California
|
Audio recordings
- Search library catalogs by subject,
title, or author and limit to format: sound recordings
|
Video recordings/DVDs- nonfiction
|
Public Opinion Polls
- Consult the public opinion section of the UCB Library Political Science
collections web page.
|
Fiction from a particular time period
- Consult one of the following printed indexes (search by title of index in a library catalog)
- Fiction Catalog
- Short Story Index
- Play Index
- Bestseller Index
|
Movies from a particular time period
- Consult one of the following:
|
Cartoons
- To find books that discuss and reproduce cartoons, search library catalogs 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 > More search options > document type)
- For television commercials, see the Media Resources Center web site
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Searching with the Information You Already Have
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Name of an individual
|
Name of an organization
- Search the library catalogs for the
name of the organization as author-organization
|
Topic
|
Dates
- Search the library catalogs 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
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Specific title
- Title of a book, manuscript, diary, etc.:
search OskiCat by title (in Quick search) or MELVYL 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 library catalogs 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 database. Find the complete citation (title of journal, date, volume, etc.);
then search the library catalogs for the
title of the journal
- Some journals/magazines/newspapers are available online (full text)
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Finding most library materials-
use library catalogs
To find most library materials (but not articles), use a library
catalog. Catalogs list books, government documents, maps,
videotapes, sound recordings, music scores and many other types of materials.
Catalogs also list collections of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs,
and records of organizations, but they do not list individual items in
those collections.
Most catalogs allow you to search by: title keywords,
official subject headings, names of authors, organizations as authors,
and more. You may also limit your searches by date of publication, format
(videos, manuscripts, etc.), language, and library location. Search results
may be saved to a list and e-mailed. See search
strategies above for more details.
OskiCat is the
catalog for most UC Berkeley libraries.
MELVYL is the catalog for all the UC campuses. Use the "Request" button to borrow items from another UC campus not owned by UC Berkeley.
To search library catalogs for materials on a particular topic, learn
to use Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the standardized terms
used by most libraries. To determine the appropriate subject headings
for your topics, you may:
- 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
- Search a library catalog by title keyword, display the long form of
the record for an appropriate item, and then do a subject keyword search
using the subject headings that are listed
You may also pair an appropriate 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
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To find articles - use an article
database
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, and whether
the database covers a particular academic discipline (such as History)
or whether it is interdisciplinary.
Start with a keyword search, using a few key terms. Enter phrases (example:
spanish-american war), or two or more key terms connected by "and"
(example: disabled and berkeley). Look at the full version of relevant
records to find official subject terms (also known as descriptors) to
use in a subject search.
Search results
may be saved to a list and e-mailed.
Once you have used an index to find a relevant citation, you need to
find the text of the item. Some online indexes include links to full text.
In some article databases you may click on the  button, which will either locate the full text of the article online, or perform a search to determine where the journal title (magazine or newspaper) is
located on campus.
In MELVYL, use the "Request" button to borrow items from another UC campus not owned by UC Berkeley.
If you know the journal title you can also search
a library catalog to determine whether the magazine or newspaper title is available on campus.
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