Mobilized City: Interactions between the Military, Defense Industries & Urban Areas

Background Sources | Secondary Sources: Books | Secondary Sources: Journal Articles
Finding Published Primary Sources | Finding Unpublished Primary Sources

Background Sources

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. More importantly, because encyclopedias often cover the major issues surrounding the subject, they can help you narrow your research from a broad “who, what, where, when” topic to a “how or why” question. In addition many encyclopedia articles include short bibliographies that will lead you to the major works on the topic.
  • Cities of the United States: a compilation of current information on economic, cultural, geographic, and social conditions
    Suzzallo Reference -- HT123 .C49677 2001
  • Encyclopedia of American cultural & intellectual history
    Suzzallo Reference -- E169.1 .E624 2001
  • Encyclopedia of American social history
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- HN57 .E58 1993
  • Encyclopedia of the American military: studies of the history, traditions, policies, institutions, and roles of the armed forces in war and peace
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- UA23 .E56 1994
  • Encyclopedia of the United States in the twentieth century
    Suzzallo Reference -- E740.7 .E33 1996
  • Encyclopedia of urban America : the cities and suburbs
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- HT123 .E5 1998
  • War and American popular culture: a historical encyclopedia
    Suzzallo Reference -- E181 .W26 1999

Locating Books

 Use the following databases to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through the UWorld Express.
  • UW Libraries Catalog
    A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries.
  • Summit
    Joint catalog of the 26 Oregon and Washington libraries of the Orbis Cascade Alliance. Books can be requested online and sent to the UW.
  • OCLC WorldCat [UW only]
    A listing of books, journal subscriptions and other material available in hundreds of major libraries in the U.S. and abroad.
  • OhioLINK
    Use OhioLink to access chapters of recent books, use the "keywords" search option.

Finding Articles

 Use indexes (databases) to find articles (from scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers and sometimes books, dissertations, government reports, etc.) on a topic. There are indexes covering all sorts of subjects, use those which best fit your research topic. For a complete list of electronic indexes see Databases & Catalogs on the Information Gateway.

Once you identify articles you need make sure you have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year), then look in the UW Libraries Catalog for the journal name (do a title search for the journal name to see if the UW subscribes) to see if and where the journal is kept (library location and call number).

Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server. Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested through UWorld Express.
  • Multidisciplinary Databases
    • Expanded Academic Index [UW only]
      General index to magazine and journal articles in all subjects, includes some full-text. For other interdisciplinary databases see Research Library and the Web of Science.
    • JSTOR [UW only]
      Searchable collection of back issues of selected journals including the Historical Journal and the Journal of British Studies. For another collection of searchable electronic journals related to history and the humanities see Project Muse.

  • Specialized Databases
    • America History & Life [UW only]
      Major index to articles in U.S. and Canadian history. Also includes citations to selected books, dissertations and reviews.
    • AUL Index to Military Periodicals
      Indexes "significant articles, news items, and editorials from English language military and aeronautical periodicals."
    • EconLit [UW only]
      Major index to articles and books in the field of economics.
    • PAIS International [UW only]
      Index to articles, books and selected government documents dealing with public affairs and public policy.

Using Secondary Sources to Find Primary Sources

Secondary sources, scholarly journal articles and books, are a great source for identifying potential primary sources. Find a few articles, books or dissertations related to your topic and then mine the footnotes and bibliography. You will have the best luck finding published primary sources such as books, government reports, newspapers and magazines within the UW Libraries. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to determine if we have the primary source.

Finding Primary Sources -- Books

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of books that can be considered primary sources for history. These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the 1890s), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to search for these materials.

  • Limit your search by publication date.
  • Search for books written by key participants and organizations.
  • Use special subject terms that designate primary sources:
    sources, personal narratives, diaries, correspondence, interviews
  • Example:
    • world war and united states and su:sources

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of 20th century magazines and journals. Many of them are in print (either in Suzzallo Periodicals or in a storage area), others are on microfilm.

The libraries also has a basic collection of major U.S. newspapers on microfilm for the 20th centuries. Complete runs are available for such papers as the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Oregonian and Seattle Times. The libraries has a strong collection on Northwest papers. Newspapers are housed in the Microform and Newspaper Collections on the ground floor of Suzzallo.

Magazines and Journals
    Alternative Press Index, 1969+
    Indexes radical, labor, feminist, and socialist publications published in the United States. Suzzallo Reference AI3 A48
  • Reader's Guide Retrospective [UW only]
    General index to American magazines for the period of 1890 to 1980. Also available in print in Suzzallo Reference AI3 .R48.
  • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)
    Index to political/economic journals and selected books and government reports from 1915 to the present. [Reference index area Z7163 .P9]. Online for the period 1972 onward - PAIS.

Newspapers

  • New York Times Index
    Index to the newspaper is available in print from 1851 to the present. If you are using a paper without an index, use the one for the New York Times to pinpoint dates. If you are working on a particular event, then you can just browse newspapers from that week. A fulltext version of the complete New York Times is available via the Seattle Public and King County Public libraries -- public library card needed.
  • Pacific Northwest Regional Newspaper and Periodical Index
    Card index available in the Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives (MSCUA) division in the basement of Allen South. The regional index covers local newspapers, magazines, and other material dealing with PNW history from the 1850s to the present. Current years are available online.
  • San Francisco newspapers index, 1904-1959
    Microfiche index to San Francisco call (Jan. 1, 1904 - Aug. 31, 1913); San Francisco examiner (Sept. 1, 1913 - Sept. 23, 1928); San Francisco chronicle (Sept. 1, 1913 - Dec. 31, 1949). Microforms & Newspapers M 2810. Also see the San Francisco chronicle index, 1950-1980, M 2809.

Finding Primary Sources -- Government Reports

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of U.S. government documents including federal agency publications, congressional hearings and reports and other material. Some material is printed while others are available on microfilm. Some material can be found through the UW Libraries Catalog, for other material use the sources listed below. For more information about locating government documents check with the Government Publications section located on the ground floor of Suzzallo.

  • Congressional Universe [UW only]
    Full-text debates, bills, reports dating back to approximately 1989 and indexing of congressional reports and hearings dating back to 1789.
  • MarciveWeb Docs [UW only]
    Catalog to U.S. government documents published since 1976. For earlier documents see the Monthly Catalog to United States Government Publications (GovPub. 328.73 Un37m) and its predecessors.
  • Archival Research Catalog (ARC)
    Catalog of more than 120,000 digitized items from NARA's collection plus records for an additional 440,000 items (still only 13% of NARA's collection). Additional NARA material can be found in the Pacific Alaska Regional office of NARA located on Sand Point Way.

Finding Unpublished Primary Sources - Manuscripts

Manuscripts are unpublished materials and include material such as correspondence, notes, diaries, literary drafts, financial records, playscripts, and reports. The UW Libraries manuscript collection can be found in Special Collections. Special Collection focuses on the "history and culture of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest" including the institutional records of the University of Washington. For a listing of collections, as of 1980, check the Comprehensive guide to the manuscripts collection and to the personal papers in the University archives (Suzzallo Reference desk Z6621 W37 1980 and elsewhere). Some collections are also included in the UW Libraries Catalog.
Other local manuscript/archives repositories:

For manuscript collections elsewhere consult:

Image: "Pan American flyers and ships," c. 1927. Courtesy of American Memory's Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991.

History Subject Page | Special Collections | UW Libraries *

15 April 2004
Theresa Mudrock - mudrock@u.washington.edu
Carla Rickerson - crick@u.washington.edu