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Barnard College Library Research GuideBC3998
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This guide is intended as a starting point in your research; the
databases and reference tools listed here are a
selective list. Always remember that you can ask for assistance at the Barnard Reference Desk at any point in
your research, and you can always request a consultation.
Finding Primary Sources | Electronic Resources with Primary Sources
SECONDARY SOURCES
Secondary sources can give you background information to help you choose your topic and to give an overview of the subject. They can also provide useful bibliographies.
REFERENCE BOOKS:
American Decades
BARNARD REF. E169.12 .A4192
This is a series going back to 1900. The Barnard Reference Department has it from the 1910-1920 edition up to
current editions. Each title in American Decades is devoted to a 10-year period. A fun way to find out
about political, social, cultural and scientific events that happened during the time period you are investigating.
Chronology of World History
BARNARD REF. D11 .M39 1999
What else was happening in the world?
Encyclopedia of African American
Culture & History
BARNARD REF. E185 .E54 1996
A comprehensive 5 volume set of articles devoted to African Americans and the African American experience.
Encyclopedia of American Cultural and
Intellectual History
BARNARD REF. E169.1 .E624 2001
Three volume compendium of articles on aspects of American thought and expression from early America to the present.
Agrarianism, manhood and science and religion are sample article topics included in this set.
Encyclopedia of American Social
History
BARNARD REF. HN57 .E58 1993
Excellent overview essays with bibliographies to secondary resources. Use to gain a quick understanding of your
topic and some background of the time period you are searching.
Encyclopedia of the United States in
the Nineteenth Century
BARNARD REF. E169.1 .E626 2001
This work includes numerous articles on events, trends, movements, inventions, cultural & social changes, and
intellectual changes relevant to 19th century America.
The Reader's Companion to American
History
BARNARD REF. E174 .R43 1991
Use for quick facts. Answers the who, what, when, where questions that may crop up as you read primary source
material.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular
Culture.
Barnard REF. E169.1 .S764
2000 5 vol.
Overview articles on many topics, circuses, pets and many more.
INDEXES AND DATABASES:
Use periodical indexes to identify journal articles about specific topics; secondary articles'
footnotes and bibliographies may point you to primary resources.
For example:
America: History and Life
A major periodical index to scholarly journals containing articles on all aspects of American history. This index is
useful for finding articles about topics and it can also lead to primary material. Check the Documentation Field
(available by viewing the full citation) to see if the article has footnotes, is based on primary material, etc.
Includes citations from 1954 to present.
INDEXES:
These indexes (some are online and some are in print) cite
articles and essays written during the time period you are interested in.
Some include links to full text articles. If you do not find a title in
CLIO, you can check the Union List of Serials BAR REF Z6945.U45 or WorldCat,
a composite catalog of many libraries' catalogs. Interlibrary Loan and/or
Borrow Direct can borrow or supply complimentary copies of articles from
other institutions for library patrons.
Essay and General Literature
Index
BARNARD REF. AI3 .E752 (Library has: 1900 - 1994)
Use to find essays published in anthologies (books). Remember that terminology has changed. For example, if you look
under "African American" you won’t find anything, nor under "Afro-American" or "Blacks." You have to use "Negroes."
Try CLIO first to find which library owns the book; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the card catalog at
Butler Library.
Historical Newspapers
Online
This is an electronic form of the print index (not the full-text of the newspaper); some people may find the
paper copy of the index easier to use. Includes the New York Times and the Times of London.
Humanities and Social Sciences
Retrospective, 1907-1984
Indexes both humanities and social sciences topics and includes some links to full text articles.
Index to Nineteenth Century American Art
Periodicals
Citations with some abstracts for articles, poems, and illustrations from over 40 19th century American art
journals.
International Index; a Guide to
Periodical Literature in the Social Sciences and Humanities
BARNARD REF. AI3 .R49 (1907 - 1974)
Covers early 20th Century scholarly journals that are not in the Readers Guide, which covers more
popular magazines. When you find a citation for an article, the title of the journal is abbreviated. Look at the
front to find out what the abbreviations stand for. Use CLIO to find which library owns the periodical. If the title
does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials to see whether Columbia used to subscribe to the
journal. If Columbia stopped subscribing many years ago, it would not show up in CLIO.
The New York Times Index
BARNARD REF. (1933 - present) and BUTLER REF. R070 N481 (1851 - present).
The New York Times Index for 1851-1923 is also available online in
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide
to Periodical Literature
BARNARD REF. AI3 .R496 (1890 - 1899, 2 volumes)
Index to about 60 periodicals including Atlantic Monthly, Edinburgh Review, Political Science Quarterly, Popular
Science Monthly, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Scientific American, etc. These are primarily magazines written
for the general public, but some are more scholarly. Use CLIO to find which library owns the periodical; if the
title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials or
WorldCat.
Nineteenth Century Masterfile
Includes a number ofl 19th-century periodical indexes as well as indexing of the New York Daily Tribune
(1875-1906) and the New York Times (1863-1005).
PCI Periodicals Contents Index
An international, interdisciplinary index especially useful for finding articles published in the 18th, 19th, and
early 20th centuries. Use CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO
check the serials catalog in Butler Reference or the Union List of Serials.
Poole's Index To Periodical
Literature
BARNARD REF. AI3 .P7 1938g(1802 - 1881)
Use CLIO to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO check the serials
catalog in Butler Reference or the Union List of Serials.
Poole's is also available online in Nineteenth Century Masterflile.
Readers' Guide To Periodical
Literature
BARNARD REF. AI3 .R48 (1900 - 1997)
Use CLIO to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO check the serials catalog
in Butler Reference or the Union List of Serials.
Readers' Guide Retrospective
Citations to articles in popular and general interest periodicals published
between 1890-1982.
JOURNALS AND NEWSPAPERS - online full-text:
Accessible Archives
Searchable collection of U.S. history resources including the Pennsylvania Gazette, the Civil War coverage of
three newspapers, Godey's Lady's Book, a group of African American and abolitionist newspapers and selections
from several 19th century Delaware Valley newspapers. 1728-1870.
American Periodical Series
Over 1,000 full-text periodicals including special interest and general magazines, literature and professional
journals, children and women's journals and more.
HarpWeek
Page images of Harper's Weekly, the popular illustrated American magazine, covering the years 1857 to
1912, a rich record of all aspects of life during those years. Contents may be accessed by any of four
detailed indexes.
JSTOR, the Scholarly Journal Archive
Full-text articles from about 457 scholarly journals, some of which go back to the 1890s. Use the advanced search
for more precise results.
Nation Digital Archive
Searchable full-text page images of a major U.S. journal of left/liberal opinion with coverage from 1865-1999.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Full-text and full image articles from the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The
Washington Post
and the Wall Street Journal back to their first issue.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES WITH PRIMARY SOURCES:
Barnard Library Subject Guide: History
Barnard and Columbia Subject Guide: Women's Studies
Other large collections:
American Memory
From the Library of Congress, with over 80 collections online (texts, music, photographs, films).
The Gerritsen Collection: Women's
History Online, 1543-1945
Full-text collection of books and periodicals, the bulk of the collection dates from 1880-1920.
Guide to Microforms: Primary Sources
in U.S. History
African American Studies, American Civil War, FBI Documents, Political History, Southern and Western U.S. History
and American Women's History.
Making of America
A digital library currently containing approximately 1,600 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century
imprints.
North American Women's Letters and
Diaries
Diaries, journals, and letters written by women visiting or living in North America. Release I, February 2001
includes the letters and diaries of 69 women.
Oral History Online
actual online oral histories covering a various time periods.
Primary Sources in African American
Studies
Provides access to the full-text of selected primary sources (including autobiographies, speeches,
legislation, Supreme Court decisions) and secondary sources (articles from reference books and scholarly
journals). Includes prints and photographs. Contains material from colonial times up to the recent past.
OTHER:
American Newspapers in the Columbia
University Libraries
A checklist of U.S. newspapers owned by the Columbia University Libraries, dating from 1704 to the present, arranged
by state and city of publication.
Union List of Serials in Libraries
of the United States and Canada (ULS)
Printed guide. BARNARD REF. Z6945 .U45 1965
This multi-volume set is arranged alphabetically by the title of the publication and indicates which periodicals
major libraries subscribed to up until 1965. The code for Columbia is NNC; the code for the New
York Public Research Libraries is NN. If ULS indicates that Columbia had a
subscription to a title you must still check Butler Reference's Serials Catalog to find the call number and whether
Columbia has the volume you need. Using ULS will give you a good idea of what's available at Columbia
before trying to use the Serials Catalog.
United States government documents
on women, 1800-1990 : a comprehensive bibliography. (1993)
BARNARD REFERENCE HQ1410 H85 1993g
Women's Journals in the Columbia and
Barnard Libraries
A checklist of women's magazines and journals held by the Columbia/Barnard Libraries. You can display the titles
alphabetically by title, or by date.
Women's Studies : Microform Collections
Guide to some of these microform sets available at Columbia University, for example:
Americans for Democratic Action Papers, 1932-1965.
Black workers in the era of the great migration, 1916-1929.
Committee of Fifteen Records, 1900-1901
Japanese Camp Papers, 1942-1945.
DIARIES:
American diaries : an annotated
bibliography of published American diaries and journals (1983)
BARNARD REFERENCE Z5305.U5 A74 1983
The published diaries and letters
of American women : an annotated bibliography (1987)
BARNARD REFERENCE Z5305.U5 G66 1987
CLIO and the card catalog:
Columbia is a major research library and you
can find primary sources in CLIO. For
example if you do a keyword search: maine and travel, you will find some descriptive books about Maine
written by people who wrote about their experiences when traveling in Maine during the 19th Century. In any
CLIO search you can sort by "ascending order". This will display the items with the earliest publications
listed first.
When doing a subject search in CLIO or the card catalog look for the subdivision "sources".
For example:
subject: women--united states--social conditions--sources
subject: united states--history--1865 1921--sources