Finding Other Primary Sources

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HOLLIS

You can use HOLLIS not only to find sources, but also to explore and analyze your topic of interest. It is worth rummaging around in HOLLIS even before you have focused your topic.

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 Native American college students yields

I am where I come from: Native American college students and graduates tell their life stories, by Dan Goodley. Los Angeles, Calif; London: SAGE, 2011, 217 pages.
Subjects:

  • Dartmouth College -- Students -- Biography
  • Minority college graduates -- New Hampshire -- Hanover -- Biography
  • Indian college students -- New Hampshire -- Hanover -- Biography
  • Indians of North America -- Education (Higher) -- New Hampshire -- Hanover

HOLLIS record

Under Refine my results: Subject on the right of the results list there are more main terms to try. For example: Education; Universities and colleges; Education, Higher; Minorities. NOTE: If you select one of the terms in this Subject list, it will only bring up relevant records from the original search.

Redo your search using the terms that HOLLIS uses. Also, go to Starts with.../Browse (top black band) and put in Indian college students, adjusting to Browse by Subject. This is very useful in breaking down a large subject and in giving you more subdivisions (the words after the --). These subdivisions can be applied to other Subject terms, to search.

  Thus:

  • Indian college students -- Attitudes
  • Indian college students -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- History
  • Indian college students -- United States

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. However, keep in mind that originally unpublished sources such as letters and diaries may also be published later. HOLLIS uses specific Subject terms for certain kinds of primary sources. Change Any field to Subject for cleanest results.

  • --Archives
  • --Correspondence
  • --Description and travel
  • --Diaries
  • --Interviews
  • --Manuscripts
  • --Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
  • --Oral histories--Personal narratives (refers to accounts of wars and diseases only)
  • --Sources (usually refers to collect>ons of published primary sources)

Example:
Subject contains: Indian college students
AND
Subject contains: Archives OR Correspondence OR Diaries OR Manuscripts OR Sources OR Narratives OR Interviews OR "Oral histor*"

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.

You can limit to Show only: Online, BUT):

  • You can request Scan & Deliver for two chapters from a book. Tables of contents are often included in HOLLIS records, in Google Books, Amazon Look Inside, or can be requested via Scan & Deliver.
  • Journals and some book series are not linked from HOLLIS, so check HathiTrust directly.
  • Full text may be available outside of HOLLIS/HathiTrust.

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

WorldCat

For material not available at Harvard, search in: WorldCat which searches many libraries worldwide but largely U.S. Includes books, periodicals, archives and manuscripts, maps, videotapes, computer readable files, etc. Includes Boston-area libraries.

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery searches the digitized finding aids for special collections and archival material at Harvard. 

Harvard Athletics Digital Archival Materials

This box contains links to Google folders of archival materials scanned specifically for this class.

HathiTrust

  • HathiTrust Digital Library is a huge collection of digitized books and periodicals. Each full text item is linked to a standard library catalog record, thus providing good metadata and subject terms. Most items pre-1925 will be full text viewable.  After 1925, a much smaller number will be full text viewable.  You can search within non-full text viewable works and obtain the pages numbers where your search terms occur.   Most US, and some state, government documents will be full text viewable.
  • In Advanced Full Text Search you can search within sets of books bearing a particular Subject term (as used in HOLLIS) or books or periodicals by title. Sample searches
    • Full Text + All Fields all these words: Quad
      AND
      Subject any of these words: "Radcliffe College" "Harvard University
    • Full Text + All Fields this exact phrase: Winthrop House
      AND
      Title this exact phrase: Harvard Graduates' Magazine
  • Video: Searching HathiTrust full text search (Hathi is super useful but just as picky about how you search)

Internet Archive offers full text for a variety of digitized print materials and archived web pages (Wayback Machine), as well as films, audio files, TV News, and more.

Instructions for HathiTrust and Internet Archive

Newspapers

  • NexisUni (1980s- ) is the usual first choice for finding recent newspaper articles, with full text (pictures omitted) coverage of numerous U.S. and overseas newspapers.  Note that the default search on the initial screen is OR between words.  Tips for Advanced Search.
  • Ethnic NewsWatch (1959- ) offers full-text of 90 newspapers and other periodicals (1990- ) and of 30 African American, Hispanic American, and Native American newspapers and other periodicals (1959-1989).
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers (mostly 19th-20th century) include illustrations, editorials, and advertising from large city newspapers across the United States. 
  • Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection - includes Cambridge Chronicle (1846-2015), Cambridge Press (1887-1889), Cambridge Sentinel (1903-1947), Cambridge Tribune (1887-1941)
  • America’s Historical Newspapers (1690-1993)  (Readex) offers full text of over a thousand U.S. newspapers. 

More newspapers available on the Newspapers guide.