HOLLIS

Searching in HOLLIS

To find books, periodicals, manuscripts, videos, etc., on a topic in HOLLIS, put in likely keywords and choose Library Catalog.  Look at pertinent records and find the terms under Subject. For example, searching "forced removal" Indians yields

The Cherokee removal : a brief history with documents, by Theda Perdue, Michael D. Green. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005, 198 p.
Subjects
Trail of Tears, 1838-1839.
Cherokee Indians -- History -- Sources.
Cherokee Indians -- Government relations.
Cherokee Indians -- Relocation.
HOLLIS Record

Under Refine my results: Subject on the right of the results list there are more main terms (Indians of North America; Indian removal, 1813-1903; Indian land transfers) to try, but not the terms after the dashes ( -- Sources -- Relocation) which are called subdivisions.  NOTE: If you hit one of the terms in this Subject list, HOLLIS will find records with the term, say  Indian removal, only on records in the set originally formed by searching "forced removal" Indians.

Redo your search using the terms that HOLLIS uses.    Also, go to Starts with.../Browse (top black band) and put in Cherokee Indians, adjusting to Browse by Subject.  This is very useful in breaking down a large subject and in giving you more subdivisions, which can be applied to other Subject terms, to search.  Thus:

  • Cherokee Indians -- Legal status, laws, etc.

Whenever you have a reference to a useful book, look it up in HOLLIS and see what the Subject terms are.

Any pertinent book published during your era may be a primary source, but certain kinds of primary sources, including originally unpublished sources such as letters and diaries published later, have particular terms attached to their Subject terms in a HOLLIS record.  Change Any field to Subject for cleanest results.   

  • --Archives
  • --Caricatures and cartoons
  • --Correspondence
  • --Description and travel
  • --Diaries
  • --Interviews
  • --Manuscripts
  • --Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
  • --Personal narratives (refers to accounts of wars and diseases only)
  • --Sources (usually refers to collections of published primary sources)

Example:

Subject exact phrase: Indians of North America -- Government relations
AND
Subject contains: archives OR Correspondence OR Diaries OR Manuscripts OR Sources OR Narratives

When you find a pertinent book, go to Starts With.../Browse and put in the call number, adjusting the menu to Library of Congress (Wid-LC) or Other. This shows you other books on the same subject, even though they may be in storage or checked out.

See the Library Research Guide for History and the HOLLIS Help guide for more information on searching HOLLIS.

Bibliographies

Look for specialized subject bibliographies in HOLLIS: Search, e.g.,

Subject exact phrase: Indians of North America -- Government relations
AND
Subject contains: bibliography

Many bibliographies are available full text online in the Internet Archive.

When you find an old secondary book or article, or a printed primary source, in a bibliography, you can find articles (and books since 2005) that have cited it in:

Web of Science Citation Indexes which allow citation searching, that is, starting with a book or article of interest and finding more recent articles that have cited it. More information.