21H.931 Seminar in Historical Methods

Finding Primary Sources

How do I find . . .

• Print sources: Use Barton and WorldCat
  • Subheadings such as "correspondence," "sources," "biography," and "speeches" can point to primary sources. Pair these subheadings with keywords or topical subject headings in Barton to identify relevant sources in the MIT Libraries. See this table for other possible subheadings.
• Contemporary periodicals and newspapers:
  • ProQuest Research Library
    http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=SU5UPTAmREJTPUc2
  • Lexis/Nexis Academic
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/lexis-nexis
  • Readers' Guide Abstracts (1983-present)
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/readers-gd
  • Ethnic NewsWatch
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/ethnic
• Historical periodicals and newspapers:
  • Use indexes:
    • Periodicals Index Online (1770-1990)
      http://libraries.mit.edu/get/perodicals
    • Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)
      http://libraries.mit.edu/get/readersretro
    • International Index to Periodicals, v. 1-18, 1907 - 1965. REF AI3.R2861
    • The Wellesley index to Victorian periodicals, 1824-1900
      (Hayden Library - Humanities Reference Z6956.G5.H838)
      A description of Wellesley Index: http://c19index.chadwyck.com/marketing/aboutwellesley.jsp
    • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1907. REF AI3.P822 1893
      A description of Pooles's Index: http://c19index.chadwyck.com/marketing/aboutpooles.jsp
  • The Boston Central Public Library at Copley Square is an excellent resource for US and foreign newspapers, many of which are archived from their inception, including the Times of London in microtext. Lists of BPL newspaper archive holdings can be found at <http://bpl.org/research/newspapers/index.htm>. They also have the "Early British periodicals" collection in microtext.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
  http://libraries.mit.edu/gis/index.html
• Library digitized sources:
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
  • Boston Globe Historical Archive (1872-1922)
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/bgjhist
  • New York Times Historical Archive (1851-2002)
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/nythist
  • Wall Street Journal Historical Archive (1889-1987)
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/wsjhist
  • Washington Post Historical Archive (1877-1988)
    http://libraries.mit.edu/get/wphist
• Digital National Security Archive (1945-present)
  http://libraries.mit.edu/get/digital-nsa
• Historical Statistics of the United States
  http://libraries.mit.edu/get/hsus
• Early English Books Online (EEBO)
  http://libraries.mit.edu/get/eebo
• JSTOR
  http://libraries.mit.edu/get/jstor
• Other members of the Boston Library Consortium (esp. Boston Public Library, Tufts University, and Boston College) have many important digitized collections--pay them a visit!
  • Guide to digitized primary sources at Boston Public Library
  • Guides to digitized primary sources at other BLC Libraries:
    • A-Z List
    • List by School
• See also free web sites with primary sources

For more strategies and information on finding primary sources in history, see this draft guide.