Successful Searching
Who(se Voices)?
Similarly to academic articles, there are some very general tools that you can use to search primary sources broadly. However, it is usually more productive to work out in advance....
Who do you want to hear from?
This could be...
- a perspective;
- a category of people;
- a specific group/organization;
- a geographic area;
or some combination of the above!
...and where are they?
Next, figure out where your voices "live" in the historical record. For example:
- The perspectives of organizations will likely be found in either newspapers/bulletins or meeting proceedings specific to that organization, or collections of their papers.
- The perspectives of an individual could live in the sources above; in interviews with news media; in correspondence; or in a personal memoirs, among others.
- Politicians' perspectives could show up in places such as public addresses; government documents (like the Congressional Record, on the national level), or in newspapers.
- Religious perspectives are likely to live either in religious-specific publications, in pamphlets put out by a church or related organizations, or in personal memoirs.
- etc.
Remember: not all perspectives are represented equally in the historical record!
Search
- Keep your searches simple, and be creative with your search terms. How did people in the period you are researching speak and write? What words would they have used to describe events or ideas? Are there specific names or organizations that you can focus in on?
- Work with, not against, your search tools. Databases designed for primary sources often will let you narrow your search by features like publication date, geographic location, or type of source.
- Pay attention to the order of search results. If your search is very broad or you get a lot of results, sorting by relevance can help you find starting places. But when looking at newspapers or other sources that might build on each other and create a story over time, you may want to sort Oldest to Newest instead!
- Don't just search -- browse! Keyword searching for primary sources can be imprecise, especially if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Give yourself time to click in and out of sources you're unsure of, browse through the pages, and look at the context of sources like newspaper articles (what other stories appeared on the same day? what advertisements?) for maximum information.
- Pace yourself. Primary sources can take longer to find than academic articles. You may also need more time to decipher, digest, and interpret the content of your primary sources. Leave yourself plenty of time to do this work, and ask questions or for assistance earlier rather than later!
Analyze:
- Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students(Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004)
- Primary Source Analysis Worksheets - Digital HistoryUse these worksheets and other tools, originally developed by the National Archives, to help you analyze a range of primary sources including artifacts, cartoons, maps, movies, photos, posters, sound recordings, and written documents.
Collections of Primary Sources
Newspapers & Periodicals:
For even more options, visit: https://libguides.holycross.edu/newspapers
- Chronicling America This link opens in a new window
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Date(s): 1756-1963
Historic newspapers from all different U.S. states, hosted by the Library of Congress.
- AP Newsroom [Boston Public Library subscription]"Searchable Associated Press content, including 4.6 million photographs (1826-present) as well as graphics, audio (1920-present), and articles (1997-present)." To access, sign up for an e-card.
- New York Times Historical This link opens in a new window
Date(s):1851-2020
Articles from the New York Times, including all pictures and advertisements. - TheAtlantic.com This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1857-present
Articles, articles, newsletters, videos, podcasts, events, and more from TheAtlantic.com. ** To access: Choose “College of the Holy Cross" as your institution. Log-in with your HC email and password. - Boston Globe Historical This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1872-1993
Articles from the Boston Globe including all pictures and advertisements. - Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1880-1982
Citations for popular magazine articles.
- The Southern Literary Messenger [Boston Public Library subscription]Date(s): 1834-1864.
An important Southern literary periodical, particularly valued as an example of how southern intellectual culture understood the issues of slavery and secession during this period. To access, sign up for an e-card. - Confederate Newspapers: A Collection from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama [Boston Public Library subscription]"This collection is a mixture of issues and papers from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Alabama ranging from 1861-1865. These newspapers "recorded the real and true history of public opinion during the war. In their columns is to be found the only really correct and indicative ’map of busy life, its fluctuations and its vast concerns’ in the South, during her days of darkness and of trial."" To access, sign up for an e-card.
- EBSCO Politics and Society Magazine Archive [Boston Public Library]"Search across decades of back issues from magazines focusing on political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. Titles include The Nation, The National Review, The New Republic." To access, sign up for an e-card.
- Time Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s):1923-2000
Articles from Time Magazine including all pictures and advertisements. - Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1936-2000
Articles from Life Magazine, including all pictures and advertisements.
African-American Periodicals
- Chicago Defender Historical This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1909-1975
Articles from the Chicago Defender, a leading national Black newspaper. - Black Life In America, Series 3 This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1976-present
News articles about the Black American experience.
'Alternative' Periodicals
Alternative (i.e., less-mainstream) periodicals may take a little more effort to track down. Ask for help as you need it!
- Alternative and Underground Press CollectionFrom Popular Culture in Britain & America database. "Electronic reproduction of a collection of newspapers and periodicals published by the alternative and underground press in the United States and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s. The publications vary in their politics, audience and local interests, but they share a radical, anti-establishment or counterculture focus."
- Alternative Press Index This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1991-present
Citations from alternative, left-leaning, and radical journals and magazines.
Military Periodicals
- First World War: Personal Experiences This link opens in a new windowFocused on firsthand perspectives of the First World War, this collection includes a variety of materials representing personal experiences in multiple theaters of war. The collections include newspapers, clippings and trench papers including The Wipers Times.
- America in World War Two: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts This link opens in a new windowMaterials covering American military and civilian involvement in all major theaters of operation and in multiple service branches including Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Merchant Marines, Coast Guard, and medical personnel. Includes a number of newspaper clippings and some issues of newspapers.
- The Observer: News for the American Soldier in Vietnam, 1962-1973"The Observer was a weekly newspaper published by the Command Information Division of the U.S. Military Assistance Command’s Office of Information. It was the official organ of the Military Assistance Command, and it carried official news about and for American troops in Vietnam"
Pamphlets & Other 'Ephemera':
Ephemera are sources that were usually meant for very temporary use. One way to think of them is as the byproducts of everyday life! These kinds of sources can be harder to search, but provide really interesting perspectives.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
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Scanned books from major research libraries. Best for books published before 1928.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1789-1914
British and American primary sources from the "long" 19th century. - African American Communities This link opens in a new window
Date(s): Early 1800s - early 2000s
Primary sources by and about Black Americans. - First World War: Personal Experiences This link opens in a new window
Primary sources representing personal experiences of the First World War.
- American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990 [Boston Public Library subscription]Includes documents such as: briefs, court documents and legal files; correspondence; memos; minutes; newspaper clippings and scrapbooks; and more. To access, sign up for an e-card.
- America in World War Two: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1940-present
Primary sources created by U.S. military and civilians during the Second World War.
- Allied Propaganda in World War II and the British Political Warfare ExecutiveThis collection presents the complete files of the Political Warfare Executive kept at the U.K. National Archives from its instigation to closure in 1946, along with the secret minutes of the special 1944 War Cabinet Committee "Breaking the German Will to Resist." Included here is all the correspondence, minutes and agents’ mission files along with a complete collection of all the airborne propaganda leaflets dropped over mainland Europe during the war by the British and American air forces.
- Psychological Warfare and Propaganda in World War II: Air Dropped and Shelled Leaflets and PeriodicalsThis publication collection consists of over 1,000 air dropped and shelled leaflets and periodicals created and disseminated during the Second World War. The majority of items in this collection were printed by the Allies then air or container dropped, or fired by artillery shell over German occupied territory.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1950-1975
Magazines, zines, and other primary sources reflecting the culture of the US and UK in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.
- America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Archives Unbound)"The Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) started in 1967 with six Vietnam veterans marching for peace in New York City. The purpose of the organization was to give voice to the returning servicemen who opposed the on-going war in Southeast Asia. From six soldiers in 1967, the ranks of the membership eventually grew to over 30,000. This publication consists of FBI reports dealing with every aspect of antiwar work carried out by the VVAW. The collection also includes surveillance on a variety of other antiwar groups and individuals, with an emphasis on student groups and Communist organizations."
Gov't, Legal & Military Documents
- CIA FOIA Reading RoomThe CIA FOIA Reading Room contains information on world leaders and countries, maps, and other resources, as well as declassified documents from their records.
- Civil Rights and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Government documents, reports, court cases, and other primary sources relating to the history of civil rights in the U.S., accompanied by journal articles and books.
- FBI Vault (FOIA Library)The FBI Vault makes publicly available documents which have previously been declassified and digitized for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
- HeinOnline: Government, Politics & Law for Academics This link opens in a new window
A library of legal resources including law journals; government, legal and diplomatic documents; books; reports; and historical sources.
- U.S. Congressional Documents This link opens in a new window
The Congressional Record, the official record of all activities of the United States Congress including legislation and floor debates. This library includes both the daily and 'official' versions of the Congressional Record as well as its predecessors and other related sources.
Military Documents:
- Military & Government This link opens in a new window
Government documents, reports, books, journal articles, legal sources, and more pertaining to all branches of the United States Armed Forces, their history from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, and their regulation under the federal government. Includes the Code of Federal Regulations and the Pentagon Papers.
- The U.S. Civilian Advisory Effort in Vietnam: U.S. Operations Mission, 1950-1954 (Archives Unbound)"This collection consists of unique records of U.S. agencies established to intervene in Vietnam--the country U.S. foreign policy deemed a lynchpin in the free world's fight against communism. The Subject Files from the Office of the Director, U.S. Operations Missions, document the myriad concerns and rationales that went into the control and direction of U.S. economic and technical assistance programs, as well as the coordination of mutual security activities, with respect to Vietnam."
- Civil War Service Reports of Union Army Generals [Boston Public Library subscription]Compilation of reports requested by the Adjutant General's Office (AGO) from Union military commanders recounting their military service during the Civil War, including sketches of battles, names of staff officers, pamphlets, and copies of internal reports.To access, sign up for an e-card.
- The U.S. Civilian Advisory Effort in Vietnam: U.S. Operations Mission, 1954-1957 (Archives Unbound)"This collection consists of unique records of the U.S. Operations Mission established to intervene in Vietnam-the country U.S. foreign policy deemed a lynchpin in the free world's fight against communism. The Classified & Subject Files of the Executive Office, document the myriad concerns and rationales that went into the control and direction of U.S. economic and technical assistance programs, as well as the coordination of mutual security activities, with respect to Vietnam."
- U.S. Military Advisory Effort in Vietnam: Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, 1950-1964 (Archives Unbound)Documentation from the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), a U.S. advisory team operating in Saigon to coordinate requisitioning, procurement, and dissemination of supplies and equipment.
Images:
- Artstor This link opens in a new window
Now part of JSTOR. Library of images relating to art and architecture, humanities, and social sciences.
- AP Newsroom [Boston Public Library subscription]"Searchable Associated Press content, including 4.6 million photographs (1826-present) as well as graphics, audio (1920-present), and articles (1997-present)." To access, sign up for an e-card.
Books & Memoirs:
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Scanned books from major research libraries. Best for books published before 1928.
- First World War: Personal Experiences This link opens in a new window
Primary sources representing personal experiences of the First World War.
- America in World War Two: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1940-present
Primary sources created by U.S. military and civilians during the Second World War.
- Civil War in Words and Deeds [Boston Public Library subscription]"These first-person accounts, compiled in the postwar period and early 20th Century period, chronicle the highs and lows of army life from 1861 through 1865." Includes personal narratives as well as regimental histories. To access, sign up for an e-card.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 [Boston Public Library database]Contains books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about the Americas from 1500 to the early 1900's.To access, sign up for an e-card.
Print Resources in Dinand:
Although we often think of primary sources as being located online, some primary sources can also be found in the library. This includes books published during the relevant time period as well as memoirs, collections of essays, and others.
When searching in the Library Catalog, used Advanced Search to choose a publication date range. When using CrossSearch, you can check the Catalog box on the left navigation bar to only search for items in the library catalog, then use the date slider to look at publication dates in your time period.
[A note on historical language]
Because the call number arrangement and subject headings used in the Library of Congress system are quite old, both the organization and the language used can sometimes be problematic. Librarians as a profession are working hard to change the way our information is organized -- but in the meantime, subject headings will help you find information filed under terminology we wouldn't typically use today.
It is important to recognize where the catalog may use outdated terminology, both to acknowledge, in our position as researchers, its shortfalls and inherent biases, AND to enable us to find the sources we are looking for.
Misc. Web Archives:
- Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)Digitized material from America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions.
Content includes: photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
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Scanned books from major research libraries. Best for books published before 1928.
- Library of Congress Digital CollectionsThe Library of Congress has many wonderful online collections of primary sources from a variety of historical periods.
Collections of Primary Sources