Sources in Colonial and Early American History
Sources in Colonial and Early American History
Preparation for Research
Become familiar with your library and its resources and services. The Library Website will lead you to information about the physical layout of the Rivera Library, hours, and descriptions of services useful to researchers (such as Reference Services and Interlibrary Loan). It is also the gateway to a variety of electronic resources, including journal article databases like America:History and Life & Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the UCR Library Catalog SCOTTY (books and journals at UCR), the MELVYL Catalog (books at all UC libraries), and electronic journals.
Many of the electronic resources you will use are made available by the California Digital Library (CDL), the University of California's electronic library system, including databases of various kinds, electronic journals, and the MELVYL Catalog. New resources are constantly added.
Remote Access - - Critical Information!
To make the fullest use of our electronic resources you will need to access one of the campus remote access servers. Visit http://library.ucr.edu/?view=help/remoteaccess.html for more information.
Getting Started/Background Information
With the aid of some good background reading, concepts can be isolated, appropriate terminology determined, and related subjects or disciplines identified. In addition to course readings and human resources (e.g., your professor), some sources for background information are specialized encyclopedias:
Become familiar with your library and its resources and services. The Library Website will lead you to information about the physical layout of the Rivera Library, hours, and descriptions of services useful to researchers (such as Reference Services and Interlibrary Loan). It is also the gateway to a variety of electronic resources, including journal article databases like America:History and Life & Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the UCR Library Catalog SCOTTY (books and journals at UCR), the MELVYL Catalog (books at all UC libraries), and electronic journals.
Many of the electronic resources you will use are made available by the California Digital Library (CDL), the University of California's electronic library system, including databases of various kinds, electronic journals, and the MELVYL Catalog. New resources are constantly added.
Remote Access - - Critical Information!
To make the fullest use of our electronic resources you will need to access one of the campus remote access servers. Visit http://library.ucr.edu/?view=help/remoteaccess.html for more information.
Getting Started/Background Information
With the aid of some good background reading, concepts can be isolated, appropriate terminology determined, and related subjects or disciplines identified. In addition to course readings and human resources (e.g., your professor), some sources for background information are specialized encyclopedias:
| Encyclopedia of American Social History
Dictionary of American History Dictionary of the History of Ideas Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies |
Ref. HN57 E58
Ref. E174 A3 1975 Ref. CB5 D52 Ref. E45 E53 1993 |
Most good encyclopedias, books, and articles include bibliographies listing further sources that can be checked by author or title in SCOTTY or the Melvyl Catalog.
Locate a Guide to the Literature of History
A guide to the literature is a reference book which identifies the standand works and major writings in a particular discipline. Guides can save considerable time by recommending the most important material in the field. Suggested guides for the purpose of this course are:
| American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature
Harvard Guide to American History Handbook for Research in American History United States History: a selective guide to information sources |
Ref. Z6201 A55 1995
Ref. Z1236 F77 1974 Ref. Z1236 P78 1994 Ref. Z1236 B57 1994 |
Locate Bibliographies
Specialized bibliographies exist to provide listings of articles and books on specific subjects. To locate a bibliography on your topic, check the SCOTTY, Melvyl, or WorldCat Catalogs under your subject with the subdivision BIBLIOGRAPHY.
| Example: United States History Colonial Period Ca 1600 1775 Bibliography |
| Bibliography of the Public Archives of the Thirteen Original States
Bibliographies in American History : Guide to Materials for Research Books about early America : 2001 titles Revolutionary America 1763-1789 |
Ref. Z1237 H38 1908
Ref. Z1236 A1 B4 Ref. Z1236 I57 1989 Ref. Z1238 G43 1984 |
Identify and Locate Primary Sources
Primary sources include diaries, letters, autobiographies, documents, & newspapers and periodicals published during the period you are studying. Listed here are some suggestions for finding primary sources, as well as some primary source collections available on microfilm.
- Manuscripts and Archives: to locate guides to manuscripts and archival collections, use the subjectheading MANUSCRIPTS CATALOGS, and/or ARCHIVES UNITED STATES.
Some of the major guides to manuscripts are:
Guide to Archives andManuscripts in the United States
Directory of Archives and Manuscripts Repositories in the U.S
National Union Catalog Manuscript Collections
Index to Personal Names in the NUCMC
Guide to the National Archives of the United States
Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the U.S.Ref. CD3022 A45 1961
Ref. CD3020 V54 1978
Ref. Z6620 U5 N3
Ref. Z6620 U5 I53 1988
Ref. CD3023 U53 1987
Ref. CD3022 A2 D48 1994
- Collections of primary source materials:consult the SCOTTY, Melvyl or WorldCat catalogs under your subject heading with the subdivision SOURCES.
Example: United States History Colonial Period Ca 1600 1775 Sources Example: The public records of the colony of Connecticut [1636-1776] ...
- Microform collections: many primary sources are now available in microfilm or microcards. Some useful sources for identifying appropriate microform collections are:
American bibliography
Supplement to Charles Evans' American bibliography
National index of American imprints through 1800; the short-title Evans
Microform Research Collections: a guide
Guide to Research Collections on Microform in the UC LibrariesRef. Z1215 E9
Ref. Z1215 E93
Ref. Z1215 E9 1969
Ref. Z1033 M5 D64 1984
Ref. Z1033 M5 G85
Some selected microform collections: (Check SCOTTY, Melvyl, and theWorldCat catalog for the collection guides and availability)
Early American Imprints, Series I 1639-1800
Early American Imprints, Series II 1801-1819
Pamphlets in American History
American Culture Series, 1493-1875
Records of the Ante-bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War
Black Abolitionist Papers
American Women's Diaries
- Newspapers: to identify newspapers published during your time period, consult:
See Colonial and Early American Newspapers for more information
Early American Newspapers
History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820
Chronological Tables of American NewspapersRef. Z6947 R4 1978
Ref. Z6951 B75 1947
Ref. Z6951 L35
- Periodicals: to identify periodicals published during your time period, consult:
A History of American Magazines
American periodicals, 1741-1900 : an index to the microfilm collectionsRef. PN4877 M68
Ref. Z6051 H65
- Diaries: to identify diaries of individuals, use Laura Asker's:
American Diaries, Vol. 1: 1492-1844 Ref. Z5305 U5A74 1983
- Miscellaneous:
Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800 Science Map Ref. GA405 W47 1978 - Primary Sources Online
American Periodicals Series Online, 1740-1900
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (NWLD)
American Drama, 1714-1915
American Poetry, 1600-1900
Pennsylvania Gazette (Colonial Newspaper, 1728-1800)- CD-ROM Network
Colonial Connecticut Records [1636-1776] ...
American Memory Collection via Library of Congress
OurDocuments.gov
Last modified: 4/22/2008 3:08 PM by by Z. Wang
