Search Tips and Tricks
Using Subject Headings
HCC Library and most other academic libraries use the LC (Library of Congress) system of organizing library materials. Each item is given a subject heading that describes its content. You can search the catalog for primary sources by changing the very first search field to say "Subject" and then entering any of the example subject headings listed below:
- Primary sources – correspondence
- Primary sources – personal narratives
- Primary sources – diaries
- Primary sources – speeches
- Primary sources – pictorial works
- Primary sources – archives
- Primary sources – material culture
- Primary sources – interviews
Remember: You should still also include your topic-related search terms in your search! The subject-heading searches above will help narrow your results to primary sources within those results.
Example:
Here is a search for correspondence-based primary sources from the Civil War. Notice that the first result is a book that perfectly meets this search criteria!
Primary Source Databases
- American Doctoral Dissertations, 1933-1955 This link opens in a new window This research database provides access to the only comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities between 1933 and 1955, the print index Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. Full page images of the original print index may be searched by author, title, subject and university.
- Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This link opens in a new window “Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Equality”. A free, open resource for students, educators and others who are researching U.S. Black history. The site features over 2,000 curated primary-source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Featured subjects: Slavery and Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860), Civil War and Reconstruction Era (1861-1877), Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932), New Deal and World War II (1933-1945), Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975), Contemporary Era (1976-2000s).
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a general knowledge database providing articles, images, charts, maps and other materials on thousands of topics. With 750+ searchable, full-text titles, Credo Reference places particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are more than 1,100 short reference videos, more than 475,000 high-resolution art images, photographs, and maps across all subject areas.
- Ethnic Diversity Source This link opens in a new window With its curated full-text materials, Ethnic Diversity Source is essential to support the study of African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Jewish Americans, Latino Latina Latine Americans, Multiracial Americans, and Native Americans, among others, with respect to their cultures, traditions, social treatment, and lived experiences. Scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, historical documents, and biographies are complemented by primary sources, such as speeches and interviews. Complete with robust collections of videos and e-books, Ethnic Diversity Source creates a dynamic research experience for students and researchers.
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window The Grove Dictionary of Art is the unsurpassed authority on all aspects of the visual arts, with 30,000 signed and peer-reviewed articles contributed by nearly 7,000 international scholars. Grove Art features entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods, as well as bibliographies for further research and thousands of searchable images made available through partnerships with museums, galleries, and other outstanding arts organizations.
- In Context: World History This link opens in a new window A range of topics such as Aztecs, Industrial Revolution, Silk Road, the Buddha, Space Race, and more provide a wide perspective across the globe. Rare primary sources, reliable reference, and multimedia content are aligned to curriculum and put this vast subject into context for students. World History is cross-searchable with Gale In Context: U.S. History for users with access to both resources.
- JSTOR Archival Journal & Primary Source Collection This link opens in a new window The JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection contains all licensed JSTOR archival journals and primary sources content in a single collection, including Archive Journal Collections and thematic collections; specifically, it includes Arts & Sciences I – XV, Business IV, Hebrew Journals, Ireland, Jewish Studies, Life Sciences, Public Health, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, and Sustainability journal collections. It also contains four primary source collections, 19th Century British Pamphlets, World Heritage Sites: Africa, Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa, and Global Plants. This collection contains 2,877 high quality academic journals from across a wide range of disciplines and hundreds of thousands of primary source items.
- MagillOnLiterature Plus This link opens in a new window Contains biographical essays that reflect extended coverage of the 2,500 most studied authors and include up-to-date lists of each author’s principal works and current secondary bibliographies. More than 8,500 writers of fiction, poetry, drama, and essays are featured. There are more than 400 comprehensive essays on specific literary genres, themes and settings round out the collection. A cross-referenced glossary of terms is also included to provide definitive explanations of more than 1,800 literary words and phrases.
- MasterFILE Premier This link opens in a new window MasterFILE Premier provides full text for magazines, reference books, and primary source documents and an Image Collection with photos, maps & flags.
- Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement This link opens in a new window The Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection from the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center is a unique resource for the study of the era of the American civil rights movement. Included here are transcriptions of more than 500 interviews with those who made history in the struggles for voting rights, against discrimination in housing, for the desegregation of the schools, to expose racism in hiring, in defiance of police brutality, and to address poverty in the African American communities.
History Databases
- African-American History This link opens in a new window This resource offers a fresh way to explore the full spectrum of African-American history and culture for the past 500 years. Hundreds of videos, as well as speeches, timelines, biographies, and countless informative articles are contained in this unique database. View the Topic Centers for specific subjects, such as the Underground Railroad, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which include articles, sharable slideshows, videos and primary sources.
- American National Biography This link opens in a new window The American National Biography provides portraits of more than 19,000 men and women who have helped shaped the nation. Specialized collections of related biographies explore the diversity of American history including Black History, Women's History, and Hispanic Heritage. Themed research guides provide editorially curated article lists on subjects such as American Literature and the Civil Rights Movement
- Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window This resource includes almost 1 million original biographical profiles, 700,000 full-text articles, including the following collections: Current Biography, New Grove Music, New Grove Artists, and H.W. Wilson Biographical series (Junior Authors, Composers, World Authors), Library of North American Bio Series. Search result limiters include occupation/activity, gender, place of origin, birth day or month, and lifespan.
- Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new window This resource contains many of the top-ranked biographical reference collections and magazines. It offers a comprehensive collection of full-text biographies, as well as thousands of unique narrative biographies. More than 390,000 reliable, full-text biographies and the complete run of Biography Today and Biography Magazine are available to browse. Advanced searching tools include name, date of birth or death, profession, or country of origin, portrait or genre. You may also search by important historical eras, major wars, and historic leaders, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Musicians, Inventors, and other important roles.
- Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This link opens in a new window “Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Equality”. A free, open resource for students, educators and others who are researching U.S. Black history. The site features over 2,000 curated primary-source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Featured subjects: Slavery and Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860), Civil War and Reconstruction Era (1861-1877), Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932), New Deal and World War II (1933-1945), Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975), Contemporary Era (1976-2000s).
- CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window CQ Press provides the reference resources for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. Includes access to the following collections: Congress Collection, CQ Almanac, CQ Researcher Plus Archive, CQ Magazine, Encyclopedia of American Government, Politics in America, Public Affairs Collection, Supreme Court Collection, Supreme Court Yearbook, Voting and Elections Collection.
- History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers. Covering both U.S. and world history topics, History Reference Center is a full-text database featuring historical reference books, magazines, journals and thousands of primary source documents.
- In Context: Biography This link opens in a new window Built on a foundation of more than 640,000 biographical entries, Gale In Context: Biography covers international figures from all time periods and areas of study.
- In Context: US History This link opens in a new window Gale In Context: US History provides a complete overview of our nations past that covers the most-studied events, decades, conflicts, wars, political and cultural movements, and people.
- In Context: World History This link opens in a new window A range of topics such as Aztecs, Industrial Revolution, Silk Road, the Buddha, Space Race, and more provide a wide perspective across the globe. Rare primary sources, reliable reference, and multimedia content are aligned to curriculum and put this vast subject into context for students. World History is cross-searchable with Gale In Context: U.S. History for users with access to both resources.
- Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement This link opens in a new window The Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection from the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center is a unique resource for the study of the era of the American civil rights movement. Included here are transcriptions of more than 500 interviews with those who made history in the struggles for voting rights, against discrimination in housing, for the desegregation of the schools, to expose racism in hiring, in defiance of police brutality, and to address poverty in the African American communities.
Newspaper Databases
- Chicago Tribune (1985-present) This link opens in a new window The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, which keeps readers informed of the latest news from the Chicago area, the nation and the world every day. The Tribune has a reputation for investigative and public service journalism earning 24 Pulitzer Prizes since 1932. Includes complete full-text content of local and regional news, community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community.
- Hartford Courant (1992-current) This link opens in a new window Daily newspaper from Hartford, Connecticut. Coverage: 1992 - current. The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in Connecticut. Founded in 1764, it also is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States.
- Historical Hartford Courant (1764-1922) This link opens in a new window This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. Coverage: 1764 - 1922. This resource includes The Connecticut Courant (1764-1774), Connecticut Courant (1778-1778), Connecticut Courant (1791-1837), The Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer (1774-1778), Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer (1778-1791), Daily Courant (1837-1839), The Hartford Courant (1887-1922), Hartford Daily Courant (1840-1887).
- Los Angeles Times (1985-present) This link opens in a new window The Los Angeles Times, abbreviated as LA Times, is a daily regional newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881.
- Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for 45 U.S. & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers, including the New Haven Register and New London Day. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided.
- New York Times (1985-present) This link opens in a new window New York newspaper with local, regional, national, and international news coverage. Includes backfile to the current issue.
- New York Times Online Edition This link opens in a new window Requires creation of free account using campus email address.
- U.S. Major Dailies This link opens in a new window U.S. Major Dailies provides access to the five most respected U.S. national and regional newspapers: The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal.
- Wall Street Journal (1984-present) This link opens in a new window The Wall Street Journal is an American business and economic-focused international daily newspaper based in New York City. The Journal is published six days a week.
- Washington Post (1987-present) This link opens in a new window The Washington Post is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C.
Online Government Document Collections
- Historical Census Data and Statistics
- Historic Government Publications from World War II (1939-1945)
- Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1929-2000)
- Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Thurgood Marshall Law Library, University of Maryland Law School)