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
Memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries
- Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) for the name of an individual as an author (last name, first name)
- If you do not have the name of an individual, search the OskiCat or MELVYL by topic and add the appropriate subject terms to the subject heading:
-Correspondence
-Diaries
-Interviews
-Personal narratives
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
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
Speeches
- Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject keywords: speeches indexes to find reference books that list individual speeches
Fiction from a particular time period
Consult one of the following printed indexes:
- Fiction Catalog (1941-2007)
- Short Story Index (1915- )
- Play Index (1949 - )
- Bestseller Index (through 1990)
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)
- Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by magazine/newspaper title (scroll down to "Finding Primary Sources by Title")
Newspaper titles by city or by subject
- Search the 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
- Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by the name of the government agency as organizational author
Congressional information
Lexis-Nexis Congressional includes:
- Bills and Laws 1789-present
- Congressional hearings: 1824-present
- Committee Prints: 1817 - present
- CRS Reports (good places to start): 1916 - present
- Hearings 1817-present
- House & Senate reports and documents: 1817 - present
- Legislative Histories 1969-present
- Serial Set 1789-present, including maps
- Congressional Record and its predecessors: 1789-2001
United States Census
- Historical Census Browser 1790-1960
- For more census information, see the UCB Library Government Information web site
Public Opinion Polls
- 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 an appropriate Image Database
Audio recordings
- Search the library catalogs: OskiCat or MELVYL (about) by subject, title, or author and limit to format: sound recordings
- Search an appropriate database of audio recordings
- Consult the Media Resources Center list of primary source images and sound
Video recordings/DVDs- nonfiction
- 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
- Consult the Media Resources Center list of primary source images and sound
- Consult the Media Resources Center lists of videos by subject
Movies from a particular time period
Consult one of the following:
- Internet Movie Database Advanced Search
- Media Resources Center searchable movies database
- Handbook of American Film Genres
Cartoons
- 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)
- Find an Image and Sound database that covers advertisements
- For television commercials, see the Media Resources Center web site