The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) is an independent research library founded in 1812 in Worcester. The library's collections document the life of America's people from the colonial era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, with resources such as Sunday school tracts from the Children's Literature collection. You'll need a letter from your professor, explaining your research.
When searching for primary sources in a database, the following steps can be helpful:
When a database has an Advanced Search option, try using that so that you'll be able to refine your search.
Since historical newspaper databases cover many decades, it is often a good idea to limit your search to a specific date range.
Think about what terms that might have been used to in articles about your topic during the time period. For example: the name of a specific person or organization.
Some historical newspaper and magazine databases allow you to limit your search to articles from a specific geographic area. Try doing this when researching events from a specific region.
These databases often sort results in chronological order. In some cases, it might be helpful to sort by relevance/best matches first.
In addition to reading articles that come up in your search results, spend some time looking over pages of newspapers to see what other articles are covering from the time period.
Date(s): 1473-1700
Historical ebooks published in English in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America.
You can also sign up for a Boston Public Library eCard to gain access to a number of databases that may be helpful for this class:
BPL Databases:
Library of documents produced by and relating to United States presidents, including private and public papers, official documents, impeachment materials, hearings and other related publications.
The Code of Federal Regulations, the current rules from the Executive Branch of the U.S. Federal Government.
Library of respected treatises and other works written about the law, some dating back to the 1500s.
Start by searching the Holy Cross Library Catalog.
Search by an author from the time period or enter a subject in combination with any of the subject headings used to define primary sources:
Autobiographies
Correspondence
Diaries
Documents
Early works to…
Government documents
Interviews
Legal documents
Letters
Manuscripts
Memoirs
Narratives
Pamphlets
Photographs
Reminiscences
Sources
Speeches
In WorldCat, you may use any of the above strategies or limit your search to “archival materials.”