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Home > Research Help > History > strategies page of Research Guide
Use library catalogs to find books, videos, manuscript materials and the locations of newspaper and journal titles. To find individual newspaper and magazine articles, see Indexes, below. | Access to materials in all of the JHU Libraries. Includes sophisticated search capabilities such as limiting by language and format or combining subject headings. Also allows users to request materials online, sort results, and email records. Here are some methods for using the JHU Libraries Online Catalog to find primary source material. | |
| Search by Subject (Library of Congress Subject Headings)
| In order to use the library catalog to find primary sources on a subject, you must first identify the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). LC Subject Headings are standardized terms developed by the Library of Congress to describe materials listed in catalogs. To determine the appropriate subject headings associated with your topic you can: Ask a Librarian Look in the five red volumes of the Library of Congress Subject Headings book located near the reference desk in most libraries. Look up the catalog record for a book that you already know about, display the full record and then do a subject search based on the subject headings listed. You should know that the official subject heading assigned to a book is not necessarily a commonly-used term. For instance, the LCSH for the Vietnam War is NOT "Vietnam War" but rather "Vietnamese conflict, 1961-1975." Once you have identified the appropriate Library of Congress Subject Heading, you can pair that heading with specific subheadings that identify materials as primary sources. Some of the subheadings are: - correspondence
- diaries
- early works to 1800
- interviews
- pamphlets
- periodicals
- personal narratives
- sources
You can combine any of the subheadings listed above with a Library of Congress Subject Heading to specifically search for primary source material. For example: - world war 1939-1945 england personal narratives
- student movements japan history sources
- anarchism united states pamphlets
- france revolution correspondence
- soviet union history revolution 1917-1921 pamphlets
- women suffrage united states history sources
You can also limit your search to archival or manuscript materials in the library catalog. For example: (Advanced keyword search)
Subject: wolman, abel
Type of material: manuscript text
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| Look up the people, organizations, and agencies as authors.
| Materials that were written or produced by them either at the time of the event or later will, in most cases, be primary sources. Look up individual names as author - sanger, margaret
- pankhurst, christabel
Look up group names or organizations as author or corporate author. - american birth control league retrieves a collection of pamphlets, conference papers, and other publications they issued
- association of american universities retrieves the Association of American Universities records, 1900-1982
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| Identify Contemporary Books from the ERA
| If you wish to identify textbooks or other contemporary books of a particular era, you can either use a trade bibliography such as Cumulative Book Index which lists books published year by year, or you can use the Libraries Catalog and limit your search by date. (Advanced keyword search)
Subject: etiquette
limit to 1900-1910 (date)
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| | Finding newspaper and magazine articles from the time period you are researching is a usually a two-step process. To find citations to individual articles, use a newspaper or periodical index. These indexes are available in print and/or electronic formats. After you use the index, search the Libraries Catalog to determine whether the periodical or newspaper is available at JHU. The JHU Libraries also have some full-text newspaper and periodical databases that may cover the time period you're interested in. For example, the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database allows full text, full image searching of the New York Times from 1851-1999 and Wall Street Journal from 1889-1985. |
| | Go to libraries that have collections of manuscripts, papers, organizational records, ephemera or other unpublished materials relating to the people, organizations and agencies involved in the events. These are often original, one-of-a-kind materials. | Special Collections at Johns Hopkins University
| The Special Collections Department, located on A-Level of the Eisenhower Library, maintains collections particularly strong in economic and political thought, English, French, and German literature, architectural history, and American sheet music. For the history of the Johns Hopkins University, check the University Archives in Special Collections. The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives is the official archival repository of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. The holdings contain institutional records, personal papers of individuals associated with the Medical Institutions, and fine arts and artifactual property of the Medical Institutions. | |
| Find Archival Collections
| Access to the special collection details of more than 4,400 repositories. Includes records, complete with detailed indexes, for approximately 100,000 individual collections. |
| | To identify works of literature, films or popular fiction dealing with a particular theme or topic, you can consult one of the following print indexes: - Fiction Catalog
- Short Story Index
- Play Indes
- Bestseller Index
You may be interested in seeing how a particular ethnic group was portrayed in the popular media of the time, or you may wish to see old television commercials or view episodes of popular TV shows. To find popular films and television programs on video or DVD in the JHU Libraries, go to the advanced keyword search in the JHU Libraries catalog and limit your search by format. Example: - Subject: feature films
Type of Material: DVDs, videos, films, slides, etc. - Subject: television programs
Type of Material: DVDs, videos, films, slides, etc.
To find old television commercials on video or DVD in the Libraries' collection, do an advanced keyword search: - Subject: television advertising
Type of Material: DVDs, videos, films, slides, etc.
There are also handbooks and websites that can be used to identify films by theme, such as: | | Information on about 90,000 entertainment films dating back to the introduction of sound, and information on about 38,000 individuals who have been involved in making films. | | | For more information about film resources, see the Research Guide for Film and Media Studies. |
| | To identify public opinion polls, talk to the librarians on M-Level of the Eisenhower Library and in the Government Publications, Maps and Law Library on A-Level. Among the most important sources are: | | | | |
| | Publications generated by a government body, public records, reports and statistics such as census records, laws, Supreme Court decisions and treaties, are excellent sources of primary materials. Ask at the Government Publications, Maps and Law Library on A-Level of Eisenhower Library for assistance in locating government documents related to your topic. |
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