Skip to Main Content

Finding Historical Primary Sources: Finding a Type of Primary Source

A guide to finding primary sources in history at the UC Berkeley Libraries

Types of Primary Sources

Published and Manuscript:  books, memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries, records of organizations, manuscript collections, speeches, fiction

Articles - magazines, newspapers; newspapers by title, by city, by subject

Government Information etc. - records of government organizations, Congressional information, US Census, Public Opinion polls, Supreme Court cases

Images and Sound - photographs, images, audio recordings, videos and DVDs, cartoons, advertisements

Primary Sources - Published and Manuscript

Books from the time period you're writing about

  • Search UC Library Search by topic and filter (on the left of the search results screen) by date of publication and, if necessary, by resource type:  books

Memoirs, letters, interviews, autobiographies, diaries

  • Search UC Library Search for the name of an individual and if necessary, filter (on the left of the search results screen) by date of publication, author, etc. 
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced Search, pull down the "any field" menu to author, and enter the author's name, last name first 
  • If you do not have the name of an individual, search UC Library Search by  topic and add a term such as:

    -Correspondence
    -Diaries
    -Interviews
    -Personal narratives
    • Example:   japanese americans interviews

Note:  if the search results are too broad, try going to Advanced Search, then pull down the "any field" menu to "subject" and retry the search.

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

  • Go to  UC Library Search > Advance Search > pull down the "any field" menu to author and search by the name of the organization. 
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced Search, pull down the "any field" menu to author, and redo the search.

Manuscript collections

  • Search the library catalogs:   UC Library Search by names of author or organization; use the filters (on the left of the search results screen) to limit to format type: manuscripts or to limit by author.
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced Search, pull down the "any field" menu to author, and redo the search (for individuals, enter the  last name first.)
  • Search the library catalogs:   UC Library Search by topic; use the filters (on the left of the search results screen) to limit to format type: manuscripts

Speeches

  • Search  UC Library Search by names of authors and add the keyword:  speeches;
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced search, pull down the "any field" menu to "subject" and retry the search.

Fiction from a particular time period

Wikipedia:  List of years in literature

See American Fiction database listed below

Consult one of the following printed indexes:

to find titles of creative works; then check the library catalogs:   UC Library Search to see if we own the title(s) you want.

San Francisco Earthquake diary

 

source

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 the database includes:  , click on Get it at UC  to find the library location of the magazine/newspaper title
    • or use UC Library Search to find whether the UCB library has online or print access to 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) and sometimes the full text, of relevant articles
  • If you need to determine the dates of events before you can find newspaper articles, use a secondary source, or a national newspaper database, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) to pinpoint dates.

Specific newspaper or magazine title (example: Chicago Defender)

Newspaper titles by location or by subject

 

  • Search UC Library Search using  keywords and add the additional subject term: -newspapers (ex: subject keywords african americans los angeles newspapers)
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced Search, pull down the "any field" menu to author, and redo the search.

Daily Californian article "I have a dream"

 

source

Primary Sources - Government Information, Census and Polls

Records of government agencies

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

See the UCB Library guide about the US Census

 

Public Opinion Polls

Supreme Court cases

See UCB Library guide:  US Judicial Branch (Courts)

Opinions:

http://supreme.justia.com/     by year

Briefs:

Making of Modern Law: US Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

A fully searchable collection of briefs and other documents related to cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court.  It contains over 150,000 cases and 350,000 documents.  Search results are linked to the actual full-text PDF documents.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Supreme Court briefs, 1936 - onwards).

click on Advanced Options; in the window that appears, next to Source, enter    U.S. Supreme Court Case Briefs (or transcripts); accept the suggested text; click on Apply

back at the search screen, enter your additional search terms; your search will be limited to Supreme Court materials.

 Oral arguments:

    • Oyez Project:  Audio recordings of oral arguments before Supreme Court 1968 - 2010
      • selective before 1968 and after 2010
      • Briefs and opinions also selectively available.
    • Supreme Court of the US official web site:  transcripts of oral arguments 2000 - present
      • audio of oral arguments 2010 - present

 

1790 Census schedule

 

source

Primary Sources - Images and Sound

Earthquake panaroma photo

source

 

Photographs and Images

(example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works)

  • Search UC Library Search by names of persons or topics; limit (on the left of the results page) by resource type:  images
  • Search UC Library Search by names of photographers; limit (on the left of the results page) by author
    • alternatively, go to the Advanced Search, pull down the "any field" menu to author, and redo the search (for individuals, enter the  last name first.)

Audio recordings

Video recordings/DVDs- nonfiction

Movies from a particular time period

Cartoons

  • To find books that discuss and reproduce cartoons, go to UC Library Search > advanced search > pull down the "any field" menu to subject, enter your search terms and add the subject terms caricatures and cartoons:
    • example: Spanish-American war caricatures and cartoons

Advertisements