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Printed Sources
There are several ways to locate primary sources in the College of DuPage Library.
Reference Collection
- Annals of America
- Reference E 173 .A793 (see online version below)
- Cold War 1945-1991
- Reference D 839.5 .C65 (v.3 has primary sources)
- Early Civilizations of the Americas (v.3)
- Reference E 61 .B46
- Encyclopedia of the Korean War (v.3)
- Reference DS 918 .E53
- Great Debates in American History (1764-1913)
- Reference E 173 .M64
- Historic Documents
- Reference E 839.5 .H57 (also available online as CQ Historic Documents)
- Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Documents, Data, and Analysis
- Reference DJK 1.5 .R876
- Translations & Reprints from the Original Sources of European History
- Reference D 101 .P43a
- United States Supreme Court Reports
- Reference KF 101 .U6584
- Vital Speeches of the Day
- With the periodical collections. U.S. and world wide speeches in a variety of subject fields.
- The World's Best Essays
- Reference PN 6141 .B8 1971
- The World's Best Orations
- Reference PN 6121 .B85 1970
General Collection
There are a number of comprehensive collections in the general collection which may be difficult to find because the subject headings are very "generic". Some of them include:
- American Decades (1900-)
- E 169.1 .A47
- Great Books of the Western World
- AC 1 .G72
- Library of Original Sources
- Reference AC 1 .T4 1971
There are considerably more sources available in the General Collection. To locate them use the College's Library Catalog.
- Do an author search
- Anything written by a participant would be a primary source. For example, for a primary source about the war in Roman times, look up "Caesar, Julius" as an author and find his The Gallic War.
- Do a title search
- Some primary sources have no known authors. For example, a known primary source for Egyptian religious rites is the Book of the Dead also known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Doing a title search shows the Library owns several copies.
- Do a subject search
- Primary sources often contain one of these subheadings: sources, personal narratives, diaries, or correspondence. For example, look up Middle Ages and scan the results for those subheadings.
- Sometimes primary sources are found in broad collections with or without the subheadings above. Look up a broader heading and limit the search results to "source material" to find some useful collections.
Online Sources
History Databases
- Annals of American History : Writings and primary sources documents from more than 1,500 authors who made and analyzed American history through speeches, writings, memoirs, poems, and interviews.
- CQ Historical Documents : Published annually since 1972, the Historic Documents Series now contains 32 volumes of primary sources. Documents range from presidential speeches, international agreements, and Supreme Court decisions to U.S. governmental reports, scientific findings, and cultural discussions.
- Discovering Collection : Includes overview essays, critical analysis, biographies, timelines and multimedia elements. In general these are not considered to be scholarly sources, except for the primary source material.
- History Study Center : Primary and secondary history collections providing access to British, American and world history sources, full text articles, maps, and reference materials among other types of resources.
- Military and Government Collection : Although primarily concerned with U.S.history there are references to history and politics of other countries.
General Databases
- Academic Search Premier (1984-present) : Academic Search Premier contains indexing and some full text for 4515 journals. Contains both magazine and journal articles. To locate primary sources do an advanced search and limit the Publication Type to Primary Source Document.
Newspaper Databases
Primary sources in newspapers are eyewitness accounts and speeches.
Newspaper databases are useful for more recent history.
- Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune Historical (1849-present) : Digital image of every issue of the Chicago Tribune, cover-to-cover.
- New York Times and New York Times Historical (1851-present) :Digital image of every issue of the New York Times, cover-to-cover.
Web Resources
Check the History Web Sources page for sites designated as containing primary sources.
Using Primary Sources on the Web is an excellent guide to finding and evaluating web-based primary sources. Or check out Finding Primary Sources on the Internet
Ken Orenic, Reference Librarian
630-942-2338
orenick@cod.edu
September 2012
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