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The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

Alternate Literary Histories: The Underground Railroad: Primary Sources

 

Primary Sources

Sources created by those who lived it

Any document, image, or artifact created at the time of the topic being researched is a primary source.
Examples include: eyewitness accounts, autobiographies and memoirs, diaries, letters, speeches, reports, newspapers, household and day-to-day objects, clothing, works of art, architecture, and photographs.
Please note: primary source documents are a reflection of the time and culture in which they were created and may contain language or images that are considered offensive today.

 

 

FIND PRIMARY SOURCES IN

HISTORICAL NEWSPAPER DATABASES

 

  • ALWAYS limit your search to the date range relevant to your topic.

  • Try searching terms, phrases, etc. that were commonly used at the time in relation to your topic. For example: For World War I, try "Great War" or simply "World War." Parentheses around phrases such as Great War will produce better results.

  • Look for document-type limiters that may improve your results, such as article, commentary, editorial, front page / cover story, letter to the editor, etc.

Resource Allows NoodleTools Export  Citations can be exported from this source to NoodleTools.

 

 

FIND PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL IN 

BOOKS / eBOOKS and REFERENCE BOOKS / eBOOKS

USING RHINOCAT

 

Find PRIMARY SOURCES by or about a person relevant to your topic in RhinoCat.
  • Do an Author search using the name of a person relevant to your topic to find books, letters, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies written by that person.
  • Do a Keyword search using the name of a person to identify writings, interviews, and speeches in anthologies and collections.
 
Find PRIMARY SOURCES on your topic in RhinoCat using Advanced Search.
  • Click here to open the Advanced Search page.
  • In the first Keyword search line, substitute your search term for xxxxx.
  • In the next Keyword search line, change Keyword to Subject and paste in (sources OR diaries OR narratives)
  • You may add additional Keyword search lines, but the Subject search line should be the last line of your search.

 

 

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: A Selection of Primary Sources 

This open website from ProQuest features approximately 1,600 curated primary-source documents related to critical people and events in the African American freedom struggle. Documents include historical newspaper articles, pamphlets, diaries, correspondence and more.

If you have any questions, see
Mr. Previti, Mrs. Lovallo,
or Mr. Padgett
OR email us at 
rpreviti@taftschool.org
  blovallo@taftschool.org
spadgett@taftschool.org  
We're here to help!