Conquering Call Numbers!
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Books, Articles and More!
Vanderbilt University Library Catalog
Selecting the best search scope for your research needs:
Library Catalog vs. VU Collections vs. Articles
| Search Scope | What is included? | When should I use it? |
| Library Catalog |
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| VU Collections |
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| Articles |
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For a more detailed explanation of your search scope options consult What am I searching?
Keyword vs. Subject Searching
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Step 1: Start your search process by brainstorming a list of keywords that describe the main concepts of your topic or question. |
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Step 2: Use these keywords for your initial searches. Step 3: Use the Subject Heading links in the Library Catalog record to refine your search. |
Useful Keywords When Searching for Primary Sources
| Diaries | Correspondence | |
| Sources | Personal narratives | |
| 19th century | Biography |
What are primary sources?
A primary source is a document or other sort of evidence written or created during the time under study, or by one of the persons or organizations directly involved in the event. Primary sources offer an inside view of a particular event. Some types are:
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Original Documents (excerpts or translations acceptable) |
Creative Works | Relics or Artifacts |
| Diaries | Poetry | Jewelry |
| Speeches | Drama | Pottery |
| Letters | Novels | Furniture |
| Minutes | Music | Clothing |
| Interviews | Art | Buildings |
| News Film Footage | Films | Tools |
| Autobiographies | ||
| Official Records |
The following resources contain primary sources documents: letters, diaries, speeches, slave narratives, goverment documents...
General Collections
- American National Biography Online This link opens in a new windowBiographical essays profiling people from all periods of American history and culture. Bibliographic information, some illustrations, and online resources are included.
- American Memory This link opens in a new windowWritten and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowNewspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
- HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Digitized collections of some of the nation’s great research libraries, established in this repository to archive and share their digital content.
- Making of America (Michigan) This link opens in a new windowPrimary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
- Proquest Congressional Publications This link opens in a new windowU.S. Congressional materials (hearings, bills, Congressional Record and compiled legislative histories) and Executive Branch documents.
African American Focus
- Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new windowArticles primary source documents, images, maps, charts, tables, and government documents from five Oxford University Press encyclopedias and reference sources. Also includes The African American National Biography.
- Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new windowPrimary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States with some coverage of the abolitionist movement in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Canada,
- Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowCollection of non-fiction writings of leading African-Americans. Includes interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters and other fugitive material.
- African American Experience This link opens in a new windowArticles, audio clips, images, primary source documents, maps, monographs, and government documents covering all aspects of the African American experience from Greenwood Press, Negro University Press, etc.
- African American Newspapers (Accessible Archives) This link opens in a new windowThis database of eight African-American Newspapers provides information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and reports on major events and issues of the day. Newspapers are: The Christian Recorder (1861-1902), The Colored American (1837-1841), Frederick Douglass' Paper (1851-1855; 1859-1863) , Freedom's Journal (1827-1829), The National Era (1847-1860), The North Star (1847-1851), Provincial Freeman (1854-1857), Weekly Advocate (1837-1837)
- African American Newspapers (Readex) This link opens in a new windowExtensive African American newspaper archives. Includes the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society, Freedom's Journal (NY), The Colored Citizen (OH), Rights of All (NY), Wisconsin Afro-American, New York Age, Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser, Richmond Planet, Cleveland Gazette, The Appeal (MN), etc.
- African American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowHoldings of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Based upon James P. Danky's African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography (Harvard, 1998).
- Black Studies Center / Proquest Black Studies This link opens in a new windowAfrican American content compiled from many Proquest resources. Scholarly essays and journals articles, recent periodicals, historical newspapers, archival records, reference books, and films are included. Content sourced from the African American Biographical Dictionary, The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and many others for historical newspapers and archival records.
- Documenting the American SouthDocumenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
- History Vault This link opens in a new windowSee the Southern Life and Slavery category which contains three modules: Slavery and the Law and two modules of Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records. Slavery and the Law features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Southern plantation records document the far-reaching impact of plantations on both the American South and the nation. Plantation records are both business records and personal papers because the plantation was both the business and the home for plantation owners.
Native American Focus
- Native American Manuscripts - University of OklahomaThe Western History Collections has more than two hundred manuscript collections about Native Americans. Most of these collections date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some include earlier materials as well. The collections focus on Indian history in Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and the southwestern United States.
The following databases will help you find articles on your topic:
- Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new windowAbstracts covering scholarly research in all areas of philosophy. Journal articles, books, book chapters, such as contributions to an anthology, and book reviews.
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new windowIndex of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Journal articles, book titles, book reviews, and dissertations.
- Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America This link opens in a new windowCitations for books, essays, journal articles, and government documents of the United States and Canada covering all aspects of native North American culture, history, and life on topics including archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new windowSearch all ProQuest databases simultaneously. Includes arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.
What is 
?
FindIt@VU provides direct links from a database citation to the fulltext of the article (if available) and other supporting resources.
An FAQ for FindIt@VU is also available.
