A guide to finding primary sources in history at the UC Berkeley Libraries
Definitions
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
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 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: OskiCat or MELVYL (about). To find articles that are secondary sources, search an article database, such as America: History and Life (US and Canada) or Historical Abstracts (world history).
Archives are collections of original unpublished, historical and contemporary material – in other words, primary sources.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, lockers, appointments, materials that need to be recalled from storage, restrictions on duplication, etc.)
BEFORE YOU GO: Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) to find the titles and call numbers of specific items.
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 available online via the Online Archive of California (the primary source itself may or may not be available online).
Online primary sources may be found via free web sites as well as via Library databases.
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
Finding Background Information
Gather the information you have about your topic and consider what you still need to know before you start researching. You can use this information in searching for primary sources.
Dates
Places
Names of persons involved
Names of organizations, government agencies, societies, etc.
Reference works and secondary sources can help you find background information on your topic. 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
The Bancroft Library - Overview
The Bancroft Library is one of the treasures of the campus, and one of the world's great libraries for the history of the American West.
Some Bancroft materials are available online via Calisphere, which includes primary sources from many California libraries and museums.
How to Use the Bancroft Library
1. Be prepared! Read secondary sources and know something about your topic.
2. Before you go: Search OskiCat so you can bring call numbers with you. You can limit your OskiCat search to find materials at the Bancroft Library, instead of all campus libraries (choose "Bancroft Library" from the pulldown menu that says "Entire Collection."). Remember that there are primary sources in many other campus libraries as well.
Important: if the item is in storage ("NRLF") and owned by The Bancroft Library, do not use the Request button in OskiCat. Instead, use the Bancroft's online request form AT LEAST 72 hours in advance (they prefer a week.)
If you have 72 hours in advance, you can also use the online request form for materials not in storage; that will speed things up when you arrive.
If the OskiCat record mentions a "finding aid" (an index) to a manuscript collection, you should use it to help you find what you need in the collection. If the finding aid is online there will be a link from the OskiCat record, or you can search the Online Archive of California to find it. The finding aids that are not online are near the Registration desk at the Bancroft Library.
3. Learn how to use the Bancroft Library. Read about Access (bring a quarter for lockers!) and Registration (bring two pieces of ID!). Remember to bring call numbers, titles, etc. with you. You will fill out a form to present to the Circulation Desk, and materials will be paged and brought to you.
The Bancroft is open from 10am to 5pm Monday-Friday (closed on weekends and holidays; shorter hours during Intersession); check their hours. Paging ends 30 minutes before closing; this means that if you want to use Bancroft materials until 5pm, you need to get there and request your materials at the circulation desk before 4:30pm at the latest.
To find books, DVDs, government documents, maps, manuscripts, and much more - everything except articles - use a library catalog.
Catalogs also list collections of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and records of organizations, but they do not list individual items in those collections.
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.
Look carefully at the description of each database. Note:
what years of publication are included
what types of materials are included
does the database cover a particular academic discipline (such as History) or whether it is interdisciplinary
In some article databases you may click on the button, which will either locate the full text of the article online, or allow you to search OskiCat to determine if the magazine or newspaper title is located on campus.
Online Archive of California & Calisphere
Guides to over 20,000 collections housed in 200 libraries, archives, historical societies, special collections and museums across California are searchable at the Online Archive of California (OAC). Collection guides, also known as finding aids, are descriptive guides to archival (primary source) collections. These collections may be physically located in archives or digitized on the web. The guides help users learn more about the scope of a collection so they know if it is likely to meet their research needs.
Digitized versions of photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, and other cultural artifacts that are contributed by these California institutions to the OAC make up the content included in Calisphere.
Primary Sources - Published and Manuscript
See below for guidance on finding primary sources that are magazine and newspaper articles, government information, polls, images or audio recordings.
Books from the time period you're writing about
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by topic and limit by date of publication
Example: subject keywords: japanese Americans interviews
Browse the Regional Oral History Office web site for transcripts of oral histories on a wide variety of subjects.
Ask for assistance in locating bibliographies and other reference tools that may help you find other titles.
Records of or materials published by an organization
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the organization as author
Manuscript collections
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of author (last name, first name) or organization as author; limit to format: manuscripts
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by topic; limit to format: manuscripts
Speeches
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of authors
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject keywords: speeches indexes to find reference books that list individual speeches
to find titles of creative works; then check the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) to see if we own the title(s) you want.
Primary Sources - Articles
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
If you need to determine the dates of events before you can find newspaper articles, use a reference book (scroll to the bottom of the "To Know Before You Search" section), secondary source, or a national newspaper database, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Specific newspaper or magazine title (example: Chicago Defender)
Searchthe library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) using subject headings and add the additional subject term: -newspapers (ex: subject keywords african americans los angeles newspapers)
Search the California Newspaper Project database (click on "Search the CNP") for newspaper titles located at libraries throughout California. You may search by city, years, title, etc.
Primary Sources - Government Information, Census and Polls
Records of government agencies
Searchthe library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the government agency as organizational author
Find Public Opinion Polls and Surveys: browse through the Library's Statistics and Numeric Data databases to find databases for opinion polls and surveys.
Primary Sources - Images and Sound
Photographs and Images
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) using the additional subject terms- photographs or - pictorial works
(example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works)
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of persons or topics as (limit by format - in OskiCat "pictures/graphics", in MELVYL, "visual materials "
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by names of photographers as personal authors
Search Calisphere for images from archives from all over California
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject, title, or author and limit in OskiCat to format: film/videos/slides and in MELVYL to form: videocassette or DVD/video
To find books that discuss and reproduce cartoons, search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) 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, scroll down to search by document type)
Search the the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of the organization as author-organization
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of the organization as a subject term
Search article databases for the name of the organization as a subject term
Finding Primary Sources by Title
Specific title
Title of a book, manuscript, diary, etc.: search OskiCat by title or MELVYL (advanced search) 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 the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) 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 databases. Find the complete citation (title of journal, date, volume, etc.); then search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the title of the journal
Some journals/magazines/newspapers are available online (scroll down to sections for articles).
Finding Primary Sources by Date
Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) 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
Primary Sources Online - Overview
The texts of primary sources are available online in two different ways:
available via library databases (example: Gerritsen Collection of Women's History Online) that 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.
Databases marked UCB ONLY are available from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.
To find articles, see below.
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library Consists of more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical Library of Congress collections. The primary source and archival materials relating in the project cover topics from art and architecture to performing arts to technology and applied sciences.
American Memory Motion Pictures Collections (Library of Congress) A gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections. Includes a sampling of early American films, including works by the Edison Company, recordings of vaudeville and other popular entertainments, early animated films; recordings of early 20th Century presidents, and scenes of American work and leisure, 1894-1915.
American Presidency Project Contains all major publications of the U.S. Office of the President, including: Public Papers of the President, Inaugural Addresses, Executive Orders, Signing Statements, and other information such as radio addresses, party platforms, videos of debates, and popularity polling data. This project was developed by two political science professors at UCSB.
Calisphere Gateway to digitized images from the libraries and museums of 10 University of California campuses and more than 100 cultural heritage organizations in California. Includes more than 150,000 photographs, diaries, documents, oral histories and other resources. Serves as a single point of access for more than 300 UC-created websites and collections.
Making of America (Cornell University) Access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles from 22 journals with 19th century imprints. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Making of America is a collaboration between the libraries of Cornell University and the University of Michigan to document American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction by drawing upon the primary materials at these two institutions. The Michigan site is available at: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
Making of America (University of Michigan) Access to 9,500 books and almost 2500 digitized issues of 12 journals published in the 19th century. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Making of America is a collaboration between the libraries of Cornell University and the University of Michigan to document American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction by drawing upon unique primary materials held at each institution. The Cornell site is available at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/index.html
Chronicling America This site allows users to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. To date, over 200,000 pages of California newspapers have been digitized.
Databases marked UCB ONLY are available from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.
Readers' Guide Retrospective Covers more than 500 leading American magazines and journals from 1890 to 1982. Platform change: All WilsonWeb databases have switched to the EBSCOhost interface.
UCB ONLY
Periodicals Index Online (formerly PCI) Indexes millions of articles published in over 4,700 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. A sister database, Periodicals Archive Online, provides a full-text archive of some 475 journals published between 1802 and 1995.
UCB ONLY
Chronicling America This site allows users to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. To date, over 200,000 pages of California newspapers have been digitized.
Early American Newspapers Access to hundreds of historic newspapers, providing more than one million pages as fully text-searchable facsimile images. Based largely on Clarence Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers,1690-1820." (Archive of Americana allows cross-searching of several databases: Early American Imprints , Series I and II; Early American Newspapers; American State Papers; US Congressional Serial Set.)
UCB ONLY
HarpWeek Full-image reproductions of Harper's Weekly from its beginning in 1857 to 1912. Provides access to information about 19th and early 20th century advertising, illustrations, culture, history, literature, and notable figures.
UCB ONLY
Accessible Archives Provides access to the Pennsylvania Gazette (1728-1800), the paper called 'The New York Times of the 18th Century', Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1898), the Philadelphia magazine intended to entertain, inform and educate the women of America, and a collection of Philadephia papers. Offers social, political and cultural perspectives of colonial America, the American Revolution, and the New Republic.
UCB ONLY
19th Century U.S. Newspapers Images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers. For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.
UCB ONLY
Making of America (Cornell University) Access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles from 22 journals with 19th century imprints. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Making of America is a collaboration between the libraries of Cornell University and the University of Michigan to document American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction by drawing upon the primary materials at these two institutions. The Michigan site is available at: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
Making of America (University of Michigan) Access to 9,500 books and almost 2500 digitized issues of 12 journals published in the 19th century. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Making of America is a collaboration between the libraries of Cornell University and the University of Michigan to document American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction by drawing upon unique primary materials held at each institution. The Cornell site is available at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/index.html
Nation Digital Archive Full text access to The Nation, a weekly news magazine covering U.S. politics and society since 1865.
UCB ONLY
Primary Sources - European - Selected
Databases marked UCB ONLY are available from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.
For articles, see below.
Conditions and Politics in Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1945 Records political life in Occupied Western Europe available to the British Government during World War II from the original intelligence reports received by the British Foreign Office. Indexed by year and section, from the occupied states of Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the Vatican, and the neutral countries -- Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Includes a day-by-day chronology of the war, photographs and posters from The National Archives and film footage of Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents in France from the Imperial War Museum.
UCB ONLY
Early English Books Online (EEBO) Indexes over 125,000 volumes of early works printed in England or in English. These works constitute a significant portion of items included in the English Short Title Catalogue. It contains most of the works indexed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection.
UCB ONLY
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) Contains over 180,000 items published in Great Britain and its colonies, including those in North America, during the 18th Century. This database complements the materials found in Early English Books Online (EEBO), which covers 1475-1700. The resource is thus a rich source of information about the American and French Revolutions and the Age of Reason, scientific and medical advances, literature, law, religion, industry, and all aspects of 18th Century life in Britain and its colonies.
UCB ONLY
Electronic Enlightenment Searchable and browseable database offering extensive access to the web of correspondence between the greatest thinkers and writers of the long eighteenth century and their families and friends, bankers and booksellers, patrons and publishers. Coverage includes letters and documents, document sources such as manuscripts and early printed editions, scholarly annotations, and links to biographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, and other online resources.
UCB ONLY
Empire Online Includes 70,000 images of original manuscript and printed documents to support study and research in the field of colonial and empire studies. Five sections include: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion and Empire; and Race, Class, Imperialism and Colonialism, c. 1607-1969 (coming soon). In addition to original documents, this database contains scholarly essays and analysis.
UCB ONLY
European Library Provides free international online access to holdings, maps, photographs, music, and digitized materials from 48 national libraries in Europe. Resources can be both digital (books, posters, maps, sound recordings, videos, etc.) and bibliographical.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Provides full-text access to thousands of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Parliamentary Papers. Includes all the "sessional papers" of the British Parliament: bills, reports of committees, papers presented by Royal Commissions and government departments, treaties and international agreements, command papers, and statistics.
UCB ONLY
Primary Sources - European - Articles - Selected
Databases marked UCB ONLY are available from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.
17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers Newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817); the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media available from the British Library. Covers more than 200 years of accounts from newspapers from England, Ireland, Scotland and a handful of papers from British colonies in the Americas and Asia.
UCB ONLY
19th Century British Newspapers Contains full runs of 49 papers selected by the British Library as representative. It contains regional and national papers in England as well as papers from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Content comes from penny papers read by the working class and papers advocating political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism and Home Rule.
UCB ONLY
Eighteenth Century Journals Consists of the full-texts of important and often rare journals and newspapers printed between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth century in Great Britain. The collections cover all aspects of British life including history, science, music, society, literature and theater. There is minimal overlap with EEBO, Early English Newspapers and ECCO.
UCB ONLY
Historical Newspapers Online Indexes newspapers covering all aspects of British life and world affairs in the 19th and 20th centuries. Contains four major historical resources: Palmer's Index to the Times which covers The Times (London, 1790-1905); The Official Index to the Times (1906-1980); The Historical Index to the New York Times (1863- 1922); and Palmer's Full Text Online (1785-1870).
UCB ONLY
Times Digital Archive Online access, fully searchable full text of over 200 years (1785 to 1985, with 1986 to 2003 added later this year) of The London Times, the "world's newspaper of record." [Note: "Sunday Times" is a distinct newspaper with no editorial connection to The Times London, and is not included in this database.]
UCB ONLY
UCB undergraduates can sign up for a Research Advisory Service appointment during peak periods of the semester.
Go here to learn about other ways to get assistance with your research, including 24/7 chat reference, e-mail reference, and contacting subject specialists.
the American West.
button, which will either locate the full text of the article online, or allow you to search OskiCat to determine if the magazine or newspaper title is located on campus.
