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History of
Leisure and Recreation in America
History 217
Fall 2007
FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES
What are primary sources?
Primary sources are records or objects that have
survived from the past, such as letters, photographs, diaries,
audio recordings, video recordings, newspaper articles written
at the time of an event, buildings, speeches, scrapbooks,
pamphlets, furniture, tools, household items, clothing,
toys...
Explanations and Examples
Gateway Websites for Primary Sources
These sites list links to other Websites with
primary source materials
- Primary
Sources in Research
from the Kalamazoo College Library
- OAIster (free
database)
Search engine for archives of digital resources, many primary sources, including
online books and journals, audio files (e.g., wav, mp3), images (e.g., tiff,
gif), movies (e.g., mpeg, quicktime), reference texts (e.g., dictionaries, directories),
etc..
- American Memory Project (free
database)
A project of the Library of Congress. Hundreds of collections! See especially Recreation
and Sports.
- Lileks.com (an "out of the box" source)
- eBay (another "out
of the box" source)
Online Sources for Newspapers and Journals
- New
York Times (1851-3 Years Ago) (ProQuest
Historical Newspapers) < about >
A full text archive of the entire historical
run of The New York Times. Includes every
page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page
and article images in downloadable PDF. Contains articles,
classified ads, comics and cartoons, photos, maps, graphics,
and editorials and commentary.
- Harper's Weekly < about >
Full text with illustrations of Harper's Weekly from 1857-1889,
searchable by keywords, by literary genre, by occupations
and role in society, and browseable by date.
- Godey's
Lady's Book (1830-1845) < about >
Poems, articles, and illustrations from one of the most
popular women's magazines of the 19th century.
- JSTOR < about >
Full text of about 117 core scholarly
journals many of which go back to the 1800s.
- Making of America (free database)
University
of Michigan, Cornell
University, and the Library
of Congress
A collection in the American Memory Project of approximately 1,600 full-text
books and 50,000 journal articles from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
- Chronicling
America (free database)
This site, from the Library of Congress, allows you
to search and read newspaper
pages from 1900-1910 and find information
about American newspapers published between
1690-present.
Indexes to 19th and 20th Century Periodical
Literature:
Primary Sources in the Kalamazoo College Library
Use these terms in Ariadne to locate primary
sources (search by subject and keyword):
- Diaries
- Correspondence
- Speeches
- Autobiographies
Local Repositories of Primary Sources
FINDING SECONDARY SOURCES
What are secondary sources?
Secondary sources analyze, restate, describe, or explain primary sources. Secondary
sources are generally at least one step removed from the historical event being
described. Examples of secondary sources
include textbooks, biographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias,
and books and articles that interpret or review
research works.
FINDING BOOKS
A Step-by-Step Guide
1.) Ariadne
- Search by Keyword
- Find and Use Subject Headings
- Browse by Call
Number
3.)
WestCat - Western Michigan's catalog
(also in MeLCat)
Subject Headings:
FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES
A Step-by-Step Guide
1.) Look for citations and articles
2.) Locate the journal when you have a citation
1.) Ariadne (print)
- Title search on Title
of the Journal to locate print journal
3.) WestCat -
Western Michigan's catalog
4.) Interlibrary
Loan
- Order item through Interlibrary
Loan
- Use *only* when the journal is not available
through Ariadne, the Electronic Journal Finder,
or WestCat.
JOURNAL INDEXES
Find citations to articles (secondary sources) with these indexes.
FULL TEXT DATABASES
Find full text articles (secondary sources) online with
these databases.
- JSTOR < about >
Full text of about 117 core scholarly journals many of which go back to the 1800s.
WEB SITES Use these points to evaluate the credibility of Websites:
1. Accuracy
How reliable is the information? Are there editors and
fact checkers?
2. Authority
What are the author's qualifications? Is the publisher
reputable?
3. Objectivity
Is the author trying to sway opinion? Is the information
free from bias?
4. Currency
Is the publication date indicated? Is the source up
to date?
5. Coverage
Does the site cover the topic comprehensively, or are
there information gaps?
Sites that provide guidance on evaluating Websites:
CITING YOUR SOURCES in the Chicago
Style Chicago Manual of Style
15th ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Reference, Z253 .U69 2003.
Chicago
Style
An online guide from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center
Chicago
Manual of Style Documentation
A web site for citing electronic resources in the Chicago Style
ALWAYS consult a style manual to create citations! Do
not rely on the examples on this page!
Book citation:
| Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. Disorderly
Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America. |
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New York: A.A. Knopf, 1985. |
Journal Citation:
| Edwards, Justin D. "Henry James's
'Alien' New York: Gender and Race in the |
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American Scene." American Studies
International 36, no. 1 (1998): 66-80. |
Chapter in a Book:
| Schlereth, Thomas J. "Country Stores,
County Fairs, and Mail-Order Catalogues: |
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Consumption in Rural America." In Consuming
Visions: Accumulation and Display |
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of Goods in America, 1880-1920 edited
by Simon J. Bronner, 251-300. |
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New York: Norton, 1989. |
Primary Sources:
Cite primary sources according to format -- unpublished
manuscript, film, audio recording, etc. See the print Chicago
Manual of Style for details.
See: How
to Cite Sources for help in citing print and electronic resources
in various bibliographic styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)
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