LIBRARY GUIDE TO HST 4980 - Historical Research Seminar (Clark)

Use Library OneSearch to find primary sources in print or online at KL:

• Enter your keywords and search
• Filter the results by date, limiting results to the period you are studying

Search these digital collections:

• Digital Public Library of America: a portal for a large number of primary sources held across the U.S.
• Library of Congress Digital Collections: organized by theme and by period; include the archives of 23 US presidents
• Internet Archive: a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, government documents, archived web pages...
• Hathi Trust: Books, journals and more. Works in the public domain are available full text.
• National Archives: some digitized collections, like the Pentagon Papers

Newspapers

• New York Times Historical
• Chicago Defender (Proquest Historical Newspapers)
  Covers several editions of the Chicago Defender newspaper from 1909-1975.
• Detroit Free Press Historical
  Covers several editions of the Detroit Free Press from 1831-1999.
• Reveal Digital: Independent Voices
  Growing collection of magazines, journals, and newspapers of the alternative press, from the 1950s to the 2000s.
• Other historical papers on microfilm include the Detroit News (1890-present -- an index is available)
   

In print in the library

• Annals of America (E 173 .A793) - a seris of volumes containing hundreds of primary source documents.
• Books that compile and publish original sources can be found by searching Library OneSearch:
  • For example: John Kenneth Galbraith, Letters to Kennedy

To learn more:   

• Finding Primary Sources at Kresge Library
• Locating Historical Newspapers Online

 

Government documents

• Consult Kresge Library's Government documents for historians guide for assistance in finding and using government documents.
• Foreign Relations of the United States - A series (also available in print in the library in the documents collection - S 1.1:) that provides copies of important documents in foreign relations history.
• American Presidency Project (UCSB) - Searchable database of presidential documents.
• Presidential libraries' digital collections: Truman Library and Museum; Eisenhower Presidential Library; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; and others.
• Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (Yale University)
• National Security Archive (declassified documents)
• International History Declassified (Wilson Center Digital Archive)
• Legislative Insight : hearings, committee reports and other documents related to enacted laws.

Civil Rights

• History Vault: Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
  A collection of digitized primary sources documenting the civil rights movement, from the early 20th century to the 1970s with an emphasis on the 1960s. NAACP Papers are included.

Women

• Women's Magazine Archive
  An archival research resource comprising the full backfiles of leading women’s interest consumer magazines. Titles are scanned from cover to cover in high-resolution color and feature detailed article-level indexing. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period.

Multimedia

• ARTstor
  A digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present, and manage images
• World Newsreels Online: 1929-1966
  Streaming video capturing full runs of many of the key international newsreels produced during the early twentieth century.

The history research guide and 20th century U.S. history guide contain references to some of the largest digital archives online.

Some key aspects of American history in the 20th century are illustrated in our archives.

The Oakland University Archives documents the history of the University and its impact in Oakland County, Michigan, and beyond. Special collections can help with other aspects of 20th century American history:

The Billie Farnum Papers
are a good source for research on the 1950s and 1960s in the U.S. Billie Farnum served in the House of Representatives as a Democrat for the 19th Congressional District (around OU) in 1965-1967. Before that, he was administrative aide to Senator Blair Moody, Assistant Secretary of State of Michigan (1957-1960) and Auditor General of Michigan (1961-1964). He also served as Deputy State Chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party in 1960-1961 and was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1956, 1960, and 1964.

The archive of the Oakland Press
documents local, state, and national events as reported in the media. It contains nearly 1300 reels of microfilm covering 1835-2007 issues, thousands of print and digital photographs, and 43 bound volumes for the 1851-1905 issues.

The Michael J. Rogers Congressional collection
A good source for research on the history of Michigan in the 1990s and of the US in the 2000-2015 period. "Mike" Rogers served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives between 2001 and 2015, representing Michigan's 8th District. He was the chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (2010-2015). Before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, he served as a Senator in the Michigan Senate in 1994-2000.

Explore examples of topics and primary sources that could be used in our archives.

• Under advanced search, limit your search to Material type: books
  See guide on finding books and ebooks
• MelCat
  A statewide catalog of many of Michigan's libraries. It allows you to request books at another library be sent to Kresge Library for you.
• WorldCat
  A catalog of materials owned by libraries worldwide. How to export to RefWorks

Request books be pulled for pickup
Shipping and contactless pick-up available

Request PDF copies of print articles and book chapters

Electronic course reserves
Available for some classes

Virtual research help

Interlibrary Loan
You may request materials we don't have and we'll borrow them from another library for you.

This series of online histories provides authoritative overviews and bibliographies for further reading:

Cambridge Histories Online

JSTOR and Project MUSE
Contain full text articles from history journals

To identify and request articles KL does not own, use:

• America: History & Life
  The definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Provides indexing for 1,700 journals. How to export to RefWorks. Coverage: 1964-present
• Google Scholar   to find citations to books, conference proceedings, journal articles and more. Google Scholar provides information on who has cited a particular work.

Obtain them electronically within 24 hours via Interlibrary Loan. Learn how.

1. Consult notes and bibliographies
of books and journal articles that you find (these bibliographies should help you identify other valuable materials on your topic)

2. Determine whether KL owns that book or journal article

e.g.: Suppose you find the following citation in a bibliography:
 
Walker, J. S. "Recent Literature on Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision: A Search For Middle Ground." Diplomatic History 29 no. 2 (2005): 311-334.

Enter the title of the article in Library OneSearch or search for the journal (Diplomatic History) in the journal search.

3. If Kresge Library does not have this article, you can order a copy through Interlibrary Loan (24-hour turnaround).

• America History and Life: How to Limit the Search to a Specific Historical Period
• Finding an Article Based On Its Citation
• Finding Primary Sources at Kresge Library
• Locating Historical Newspapers Online
• Locating Primary Sources for a History Assignment

• Finding and Using eBooks at Kresge Library
• How to Get Remote Help
• Scheduling Research Consultations and Using Google Meet
• Using Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to Request Electronic Documents