HIST 401: Europe of the Dictators (Cary): Primary Sources

• Be thoughtful about your search terms. Think of the language of the period -- including special formatting or other 'quirks.' Think also about specific names of people and organizations. 
   
• Use the tools built into each database. Many primary resources can be browsed (or in the case of online tools, searched) by publication date, or by geographic location. 
   
• Note the order of your results. Some primary source databases default to sorting by date. In some cases, sorting by relevance may be more helpful. 
   
• Don't just search -- browse. 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.  By looking beyond a single article, you'll learn about other issues from the time period and possibly see Letters to the Editors and advertisements which can provide historical context. 
   
• Start early. It can be more difficult to find relevant primary sources. There may be valuable sources which you will want to request from other libraries. You may also need more time to decipher, digest, and interpret the content of your primary sources. Leave yourself plenty of time, pace yourself, and ask questions or for assistance earlier rather than later.

Books (incl. Memoirs)

Online:

In the Library: 

You can find many kinds of primary sources in the library. This could include writings published during the relevant time period as well as editions of primary accounts/documents that were re-published later. 

Professor Cary has compiled a partial list of primary materials of this nature; you can access this list below with added notes as to which sources are available at Holy Cross or from other libraries (for more information on this, see the Accessing Sources page of this guide). 

Useful Primary Materials [HC login required]

To look for other sources, try using CrossSearch or the Library Catalog -- or, browsing in the stacks around other sources on Prof. Cary's list. s One technique is to use the date slider to look at publication dates in your time period -- though, keeping in mind that some primary sources were published or republished many years after they were written, so this is not always a reliable indicator. 

Remember to watch your keywords -- a book written in the early 20th century will use different vocabulary to talk about various historical events.

Keyword tips for finding memoirs & personal narratives in Dinand: 

• Try the name of a specific individual. 
   
• Things of words related to the kind of source you're seeking. Terms such as memoir, account, diary, are examples of words that appear often in titles of personal accounts. 
   
• All books in the catalog are labeled with a kind of tag, called subject headings, that tells you what the book is about and brings together all the books on similar topics.  ​You can use these tags by clicking on them or by using them as keyword inspiration. Personal narratives is a subject often used to describe works of this type. 

Hiatt Holocaust Collection:

Dinand Library has a substantial collection of Holocaust materials.  This collection began in 1979, when the two stacks wings were constructed and dedicated to the memory of Joshua and Leah Hiatt and all victims of the Holocaust.