The UW Libraries has a strong collection of published primary sources dealing with American and British history. Primary sources for other regions and time periods are also available (though often in the original language).
These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the Russian Revolution), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material. Most books are printed but some are microfilmed.
Searching the UW Libraries Catalog for Primary Sources
Use the following strategies in the UW Libraries Catalog to find books that can be considered primary sources:
- Search for books written by key participants and organizations.
- Do a keywords search and limit your search by publication date.
- Do a keywords search for your subject and add special terms that designate primary sources:
- sources
- personal narratives
- diaries
- correspondence
- interviews
- church records and registers
- early works to 1800
- wills
- probate records
- sermons
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- Examples:
crusades and sources
women and suffrage and correspondence
yorkshire and (probate records or wills)
civil war and (diaries or personal narratives)
etiquette and early works to 1800
civil rights and interviews
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- Do a keywords search for items in major microfilm sets of early books:
- German Baroque Literature
- History of Women
- French books before 1601
- Early English Books*
- Eighteenth Century reel**
- Landmarks of Science
- Early American Imprints
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- Examples:
utopias and german baroque literature
history of women and birth control
french books before 1601 and canada
eighteenth century reel and treason
landmarks of science and origin and life
early american imprints and kickapoo indians
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*also search for items in this collection through Early English Books Online and the English short title catalogue (ESTC)
**add the word reel so that the catalog finds just those items in the microfilmed set rather than any citation with the phrase "eighteenth century"
