HST 290: Revolutions and Civil Wars Searching for Sources

1. HST 290: Revolutions and Civil WarsSearching for Sources Dr. Lisa Pollard Ms. Sue Cody

2. How are your research skills? • Do you like doing research? • Why or why not? • What confuses/frustrates you most about doing research? • What questions do you have about conducting research for this class? • How would you rate your current research skills? • Strong/Satisfactory/Needs improvement/Poor (Take a vote.)

3. How much do you know about your topic? Where do you plan to start?

4. Which finding aids are most useful? • For books? • For scholarly articles? • For government documents? • For articles written during the time studied? • For other primary sources?

5. Finding Books • Library Catalog • local & UNCP/FSU • WorldCat • 9,000 libraries • Google Books • Some article databases lead to books • Cited directly • Book reviews

6. Randall Online Catalog: Keyword v. Subject • What’s the difference? • What are some useful Subject Headings for the Slaves’ participation in the Revolutionary War • Start with a keyword search, then look for subjects in the records retrieved.

7. Keyword/Subject features • Keyword • Finds words anywhere in record. • Look at records to see subject headings. • Search lots of terms, word variations • Subject Headings • Controlled vocabulary • May not be “natural language” but may find more • Hierarchical arrangement helps narrow topic • Searches only the subject field

8. Suggested Subject Headings • See the Research guide • Check headings in records you find by keyword or other searches • Use the LCSH database or print volumes. • In the catalog, search by any segment of a heading – rotated display • Same terms used in WorldCat

9. Searching Personal Names • Keyword searches • Either order • Try name variations, e.g., initials • Author/Subject • Last name first • Consistent use • Example: Lee, Robert E.

10. Online Catalog—Special Features • Subject links for related items • Call numbers for related items (usually) • Library of Congress outline • http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html • SuDoc arranges by agency • Cover, summary, reviews • Location maps • Expanding search to UNCCLC • Repeating search

11. Journal Holdings & Access • Bibliographies will cite useful publications • Follow the citation trail! • Search your citation • Does the library have it? • What format or location? • What online access?

12. Working from a known citation • Stokes, Karen D. ed. “Sherman's Army Comes to Camden: The Civil War Narrative of Sarah Dehon Trapier." South Carolina Historical Magazine 109, no. 2 (April 2008): 95-120. • Welford, R. R. “The Loyalty of the Border States,” Debow’s Review 32 (1862): 81-87. • Davies, Kate. "Revolutionary Correspondence: Reading Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren." Women's Writing 13, no. 1 (2006): 73-97.

13. Database Exploration • America: History & Life • Jstor • Project Muse • Search your topic

14. Search tips • And, Or, Not • And narrows • Or adds synonyms/related • Not excludes (use carefully) • Truncate for word variations • (revolution* = revolution, revolutions, revolutionary) • Words anywhere or phrase? • “Revolutionary War”

15. Questions? What will you do when you have questions?

16. Ask for help – it’s what we do! codys@uncw.edu http://library.uncwil.edu/askref.html

17. HST 290: Revolutions and Civil WarsSearching for Sources Part 2: Locating Primary Sources Dr. Lisa Pollard Ms. Sue Cody

18. Primary Sources • Dairies, journals, other writings of “players” • Eyewitness/Observer accounts • Memoirs, autobiographies (written later) • Official documents • Laws, treaties, reports, orders, transcripts of proceedings, addresses, etc. • Advertisements

19. Primary or Secondary? • Scholarly article analyzing the correspondence of women writing during the Revolutionary War. • Text of the Stamp Act of 1765. • Book titled Tragic years, 1860-1865 : a documentary history of the American Civil War • Book compilation of runaway slave ads. • Book by a historian about the Presidential election of 1860.

20. Primary or Secondary? • Transcript of Rep. Vallandingham’s speech about conscription during the Civil War. • Collection of essays about Civil War propaganda. • New York Times report on the Battle of Gettysburg , dated 1863, from the New York Times Archive database.

21. Randall Online Catalog • Standard Subheadings • Correspondence • Diaries • Personal narratives • Sources • Treaties • See guide for others

22. Randall Online Catalog • Search specific persons or organizations • United States Sanitary Commission as author • William T. Sherman as author • Look for items not tagged as primary source • Primary documents may be included in secondary sources • Eyewitness authors may not be tagged as sources.

23. WorldCat • May find items at Randall that catalog search didn’t (records enhanced later) • Finds items for ILL requests • Rare items not lent • Rare items may be reprinted & available • Websites included – often w/ free access!

24. Bibliographies—Follow the trail • Book-length (Reference Collection) • Secondary sources (books and journal articles) • Types • Classified (easiest to find primary sources) • Alphabetical • Footnotes/Endnotes

25. Use the Research Guide! Links to a variety of sources for your researching pleasure.

26. Questions? What will you do when you have questions?

27. Ask for help! It is what we do! • codys@uncw.edu • http://library.uncwil.edu/askref.html