UNEARTHING THE INTERNET’S TREASURES Finding Free Primary Sources On The Web Kathy Snediker Reference & Instruction Librarian University of South Carolina

Primary Sources

Where are they?  The actual “stuff”  Museums, Archives, Libraries, Historical Societies, Private Collections  Digitizations  Free v. subscription  Published reproductions  Documentary sourcebooks, anthologies and collections, microfilm sets  In library collections

“I just need sources that are primary…”  Who was involved?  What central event/s are related?  What kinds of evidence would help you answer your question?  Whose perspective/s do you want to understand?  Who would have collected and/or published the information your looking for?

Other considerations  Assignment requirements and student level  Contextual information provided  Textual v. images Votes for WomenWhy I Want the Vote

Major International and National Platforms  World Digital Library World Digital Library  Europeana Collections Europeana Collections  Digital Public Library of America Digital Public Library of America

Hierarchy of online archival collections Items Collections Institutions Hubs Platform DPLASCDLHistoric CharlestonRichland LibraryRussell Maxey PhotosPhoto 1Photo 2Photo 3 Columbia Army Air Base Columbia City DirectoriesState MuseumNYPLNARA GA Digital

National, State, and Local  Library of Congress Library of Congress  South Carolina Digital Library South Carolina Digital Library  Richland Library/Columbia, SC collections Richland Library/Columbia, SC collections

Thematic collection examples  100 Milestone Documents – National Archives 100 Milestone Documents  Presidential Recordings Program – Miller Center at the University of Virginia Presidential Recordings Program  Documenting the American South – UNC Chapel Hill Documenting the American South  Holocaust survivor oral histories – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust survivor oral histories  Avalon Project – Yale Law School Avalon Project

Tips for using search engines  Use to identify sites, institutions or collections on your topic  Can also search for known major document/s by name  Include “historical documents” or “primary sources” in search  Or can try document type (e.g. letters, diaries, posters, photos)  Use evaluation skills to select website options  Institution/organization sponsoring  Documentation provided

Newspaper sources  Chronicling America ( Limited to 1836 – 1922) Chronicling America  State Digital Newspaper Programs State Digital Newspaper Programs  Texas (1829 – present) Texas  Oregon (1846 – present) Oregon

Searching in Historical Newspapers  Use the fewest words necessary to get relevant articles  Think about/look for terminology used at that time  African American v. negro v. slave  Draft v. conscription  Avoid nicknames/monikers applied after the fact  Use date limiters to narrow (as opposed to additional keywords)

Advice for students  Not looking for facts – looking for evidence to interpret  Single source can’t answer a historical question  Information about the source is as important as the source itself  Who wrote it? Why? When? Known affiliation or point of view? Who was the intended audience?  Be flexible and creative – might need to settle for what’s available

Wrap up  Questions?  Sources to share?