Discusses the process of starting historical research using primary sources, and points out important tools for locating and understanding primary sources

1. Tools for Locating Primary
Sources in Archives and Online
Steven A. Knowlton
Librarian for History and
African American Studies
RUSA Webinar, September 6, 2018

2. Some of my work:
 Research consultations
for lengthy papers
 Conduct and publish
historical research
(https://scholar.princeton.edu/steven.a.knowlton/public
ations)
2

3. Learning objectives:
✣ conduct reference interviews to elicit information
that will guide the conversation toward finding
appropriate primary sources;
✣ use commonly available tools to identify archival
and online repositories of primary sources;
✣ advise researchers in documentation of the archival
research process, to facilitate later work in writing
up the findings of the research
3

4. The Reference
Interview
Give them what they really want

5. Two Types of Query
The “Known Item” Search
Patron knows of a collection, wants to find
it:
- Papers of Zebulon Vance
- Press release by the White House from
December 28, 1973
PROCEED TO THE TOOLS DISCUSSED
IN SECTION TWO
The “Unknown Item” Search
Patron wants some information but doesn’t
know where to look for it
- The role of women in U.S. diplomacy in the
19th century
- Primary sources on the German Coast slave
rising of 1811
WARNING: Patrons are often quite sure a
simple, single source exists when it may not
- Papers of E.D.E.N. Southworth
5

6. The Unknown Item or Topic
6
✣ You have two roles:
⨳ Guide your patrons to useful resources
⨳ Model information-seeking behavior – be persistent (keep trying various tools until
you find something), keep good notes (as you look through different tools, jot
down titles that seem interesting and go back through the list later), explain and
demonstrate that research takes time
✣ Even harder than “unknown item” is “unknown topic” – “I want to do something about
the Civil Rights Movement”
✣ Questions to ask:
“Tell me what part of this event/person’s life/phenomenon you are interested in? What do
you hope to learn about it?”
If they have only a vague notion of time period, ask what other things they are also interested
in – that might help you find a good narrow set of sources (e.g., student working on WWI, also
likes trains)

7. Getting to the Unknown Item
7
Use traditional reference interview techniques
Tease out:
- The nature and scope of their research
- The amount of time they have
- What they have already found

8. Getting to the Unknown Item, Cont.
8
✣ For the “Unknown Topic”, subject encyclopedias are
great
✣ Tease out a little more – are they interested in the
role of women, famous court cases, non-violence,
etc.?
✣ Then a few minutes reading appropriate entries in
the subject encyclopedia should help them identify a
narrow enough subject to begin research

9. Getting to the Unknown Item, Cont.
9
Try to gauge the patron’s knowledge of the topic and its
historiography.
If a patron has a pretty hazy understanding of the principal events,
people, and dates
- Don’t hesitate to recommend one or two good secondary works
that they should read before starting on primary source research; if
you can identify books that use the same type of primary sources as
the researcher wants to use, all the better
- If you have time, you can even read a short entry in a subject
encyclopedia together

10. Search Ideas
10
Key things to remember
(these tips apply to searching the catalog and other tools
for secondary sources as well):
1. More specific topics may be cataloged or indexed
under a larger heading
(e.g., a general collection of Civil War documents
may contain one or more sources about a specific
battle)

11. Search Ideas, Cont.
11
✣ https://catalog.pri
nceton.edu/catalog
/6478733
Nothing Specifically about the Battle of Bull
Run
But there is an eyewitness account in a book
of primary sources about the first year of the
Civil War

12. Search Ideas , Cont.
12
Key things to remember:
2. “Triangulate” to find the correct subject heading
- Use keyword searching to locate a book, then
follow the metadata
- E.g., Nat Turner’s Rebellion = “Southampton
Insurrection, 1831”

13. Search Ideas , Cont.
13
Key things to remember:
3. Primary sources about an event are sometimes filed
under a participant
- E.g., much of the primary material about the Teapot
Dome scandal is found in the Albert Fall Papers (U. of
New Mexico)

14. Search Ideas , Cont.
14
Key things to remember:
4. Follow the trail left by researchers who went before
you
- Examine the notes of previously published
works on your topic or even related topics to
identify primary sources of interest

15. 15

16. Commonly Used Tools
to Identify Primary
Source Collections
The “Big Six” (plus one)

17. Your Library’s Catalog
17
Many primary sources are found in printed books. Use the
following subject heading subdivisions
✣ Sources (e.g., France—History—Revolution, 1789-1799—
Sources)
✣ Diaries (e.g., Teachers —United States —Diaries)
✣ Correspondence (e.g., Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965—
Correspondence)
✣ Personal narrative (e.g., United States—History—Civil War,
1861-1865—Personal narratives)

18. WorldCat
18
Did you know that manuscript collections are also cataloged in
WorldCat? (http://www.worldcat.org/) ; only at the collection
level, and limited to libraries that participate in WorldCat
(mostly U.S. and Canada)
Advanced search
Format = Archival material
Search by keyword, author, subject (e.g., Author=Debs, Eugene
V.)
- An individual may have papers scattered at several libraries;
but WorldCat can also alert you to microfilmed collections

19. WorldCat, Cont.
19

20. ArchiveGrid
20
OCLC product: contains all “archival material” from WorldCat
plus finding aids (https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/ )
✣ Many more results
✣ But often the hits are for individual documents within a
collection
✣ “Googlesque” search interface—but Boolean logic is allowed
✣ Summary View allows for faceting

21. ArchiveGrid, Cont.
21

22. Archive Finder
22
Chadwyck Healey product that covers archival Materials in the
U.S., U.K., and Ireland. Contains records from National Union
Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) and National
Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS).
http://archives.chadwyck.com/home.do
Limited amount of description, must do a separate query at the
holding library
Like ArchiveGrid, produces a lot of hits for individual items or
terms found within collections

23. Archive Finder, Cont.
23

24. SNAC (Social Networks and
Archival Context)
24
Hosted by NARA—offers a networked approach to draw
together related archival collections and persons
(http://snaccooperative.org/)

25. SNAC (Social Networks and
Archival Context)
25

26. Archives Portal Europe
26
Supported by the European Commission
(https://www.archivesportaleurope.net/)

27. Don’t Forget… Google
27
Not a good first option, because of too many “false positives”
But if you’re pretty certain an archive exists but you’re not
finding it elsewhere… give it a try
May turn up news items on papers that are not yet fully
processed, but you could ask nicely to look at them
(e.g., Frank Lautenberg papers)

28. Using Your Print Collection
to Find Primary Sources
28
Primary sources are often referred to in other works; consult
the notes and bibliography (as discussed above)
Remember to be expansive—search your catalog not just for
books on your specific topic, but on broader or related topics
(e.g, for labor history, also look at works on socialism,
economic history, or specific industries), and for biographies of
major figures who were involved

29. Using Your Print Collection
to Find Primary Sources, Cont.
29
“Reverse engineer” an archival search to find other, related
primary sources
1. Identify one archive you know you are interested in
2. Use Google Books to search the name of the archive—books
that relied on the archive will be displayed
3. Then you can look at those books to see what other archives
the researchers used
(e.g., NSDAP Hauptarchiv)

30. Biographical Dictionaries
30
Many standard biographical dictionaries will have information about
the location of a person’s papers
From American National Biography, entry on Earl Warren:
From Dictionary of National Biography, entry on Emmeline Pankhurst:

31. Biographical Dictionaries, Cont.
31
✣ American National Biography
✣ African American National Biography
✣ Dictionary of National Biography (covers Great Britain)
✣ Dictionnaire de biographie française
✣ Dizionario biografico degli Italiani
✣ Neue deutsche Biographie

32. Archives Directories
32
Printed volumes offer guidance to what might be found in archives.
Useful for small libraries that might not participate in WorldCat.
E.g., Tri-State Business Archives Directory (N.Y. area)
A directory of archival repositories in South Africa
Directory of Jewish archival institutions
Directory of conductors' archives in American institutions
To find them, search by subject: [Subject] —Archival resources—
Directories
Or keyword: “archiv* director*”

33. Archives Directories, Cont.
33

34. Digitized Archival Material
34
Many collections you find via a method shown above have been
digitized; check the website of the host library
Among the most numerous:
✣ Library of Congress (https://loc.gov/collections/)
✣ New York Public Library, including the Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/)
✣ Newberry Library
(http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/nb
y_ graff)

35. Digitized Archival Material, Cont.
35
Your library may have subscriptions to digitized collections as well.
Look for these vendors
✣ Readex
✣ Accessible Archives
✣ Adam Matthew
✣ ProQuest (History Vault/Historical Newspapers/ProQuest
Congressional*)
✣ Gale (Archives Unbound)
✣ Fold3
*if your library doesn’t subscribe to ProQuest Congressional, get to know your Government
Documents librarian and learn how government documents are indexed

36. Newspapers
36
Don’t forget that newspapers are a primary source—and may be the
only place to find certain kinds of information
To find newspapers in your catalog or WorldCat, do a subject search:
[Authorized form for the city] —Newspapers
A WORD OF CAUTION: Just because a newspaper is digitized, or is well-known in the 21st
century, does not mean it was the most prominent or popular newspaper of its day. To learn
about the circulation figures of newspapers, you may consult one of the following
publications:
Rowell's American newspaper directory, 1869-1908
N. W. Ayer and Son's American newspaper annual, 1869-1919
N. W. Ayer and Son's American newspaper annual and directory, 1910-1929
N.W. Ayer & Son's directory, newspapers and periodicals, 1930-1969
Ayer directory, newspapers, magazines and trade publications, 1970-1971
Ayer directory of publications, 1972-1982

37. Newspapers, Cont.
37
Digital newspaper services:
✣ America’s Historical Newspapers (Newsbank)
✣ ProQuest Historical Newspapers
✣ Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (Gale)
✣ Associated Press Collections Online (Gale)
✣ Fold3 a.k.a. Footnote.com
✣ NewspaperArchive.com
✣ Newspapers.com*
FREE:
✣ Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/)
✣ Associated Press Collections Online
✣ See also this list: http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.php
*Newspapers.com sells different packages to individuals and to libraries. Patrons may complain that they could access a title
with a trial subscription at home, but can’t access it in the library; right now, there’s nothing that can be done about that.

38. Center for Research Libraries
38
If your library is a member of CRL, please be sure to
consult their catalog. They hold numerous collections
of primary sources (including newspapers) in microfilm,
that can be loaned to your patrons for extended periods.
http://www.crl.edu/

39. Documenting
Archival Research

40. Details Needed to Properly
Cite Sources
40
An example:

41. Details Needed to Properly
Cite Sources, Cont.
41
How does a researcher keep track?
Depends on the research method:
1. Old-fashioned notes:
⨳ mark at the top of each page the Collection Name,
Box Number, and Folder Number
2. More prevalent method of using photography:
⨳ At the beginning of the series of photos, take a
picture of the box label, and the folder label

42. Details Needed to Properly
Cite Sources , Cont.
42
Then, load the photos into a computer drive, organized
into “folders” labeled the same as the boxes/folders of
the archive.

43. Details Needed to Properly
Cite Sources , Cont.
43
Next steps:
- Add notes on content to each document
- Later, use the notes to help gather the appropriate
sources for the section you’re writing

44. Details Needed to Properly
Cite Sources , Cont.
44
Software to help organize your archival notes:
✣ Tropy: https://tropy.org/
✣ Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/
✣ Scrivener: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
✣ Papers http://papersapp.com/
✣ Evernote: https://evernote.com/
✣ Filemaker: https://www.filemaker.com/
✣ Trello: https://trello.com/
✣ Mendeley https://www.mendeley.com/

45. Acknowledgements

46. 46
The idea for this talk originated with Erica Bruchko,
Emory University, and I received many useful ideas
from Alain St. Pierre, Princeton University

47. Questions?

48. Contact Me
Steven.Knowlton@princeton.edu