Published books and articles will include source citations and lists of works cited. Check these resources for references to primary sources which might be useful for your project. These citations should list the names of collections used and the archives, libraries, or institutions where they can be found.
Libraries = may be public or private institutions; collects a variety of media to support the educational, research, and entertainment needs of its community.
Archives = may be public or private institutions; manages the historical documents created and/or collected by its parent institution; generally focused on a singe topic or organization.
Some archives have microfilmed some of their collections which are then offered for sale to other institutions. While most archives and libraries will not loan manuscript or archival material to individuals or other libraries, they will sometimes agree to loan microfilm copies of these collections through interlibrary loan.
Important Keywords
Manuscript collections or archives of organizational records often include some of the following keywords in their titles or content descriptions. By including these words as keywords in a search, you have a better chance of finding collections of historical documents:
Published Books and Articles
Many published secondary sources will include a Works Cited or Bibliography of the books, articles, and manuscript collections used by the author. Primary sources are frequently listed together and will include the name of the collection, the name of the institution which owns the collection, and the city and state where they are located.
Library Catalogs
Library catalogs contain records for books, journals, databases, and other collections owned by a specific library. Some catalogs, such as OCLC's WorldCat, will include records for items held by thousands of libraries. Depending on the catalog's default search, the search results may include a wide variety of different formats. To limit your results to manuscripts, limit your search by type of material such as "archival" or "manuscript." Switch to advanced search for more search options.
Online Resources
Depending on the size of the institution, some libraries and archives will list their manuscript and archival collections online so that researchers can find them more easily. Lists of collection contents -- known as finding aids or research guides -- may also be available online. These guides often provide a box by box list of what's in the collection, making it easier to find specific documents.
The Special Collections Library hosts a Collections Guides database containing finding aids for many of our manuscript collections.
Some websites also provide lists of repositories within a geographic area or within a subject specialty.
