History, Memory, Nostalgia

The items listed on this webpage can help you find additional information on your research topic. Most printed material is available in Suzzallo Reference. Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server.

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 subect, 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.
  • The Blackwell companion to Jewish culture: from the eighteenth century to the present
    Suzzallo Reference -- DS102.8 .B46 1989
  • Encyclopaedia Judaica
    Suzzallo Reference -- DS102.8 .E53
  • The encyclopedia of Jewish life before and during the Holocaust (focuses on communities)
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- DS135.E8 E45 2001
  • The encyclopedia of Judaism
    Suzzallo Reference -- BM50 .E63 1999
  • The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- D804.3 .E53 1990
  • The Jewish encyclopedia (published in 1901)
    Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference, online -- DS102.8 .J47 1901a

Finding Books

 Use the following databases to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through the UWorld Express (interlibrary loan).

  • UW Libraries Catalog
    A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries.
  • Summit
    A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available in 26 university and college libraries in Oregon and Washington. 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 "Words" search option.

Finding Articles

Use indexes 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).

Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested through the UWorld Express (interlibrary loan).

  • Historical Abstracts [UW only]
    Major index to articles in world history (excluding US and Canada).
  • 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.
  • Antisemitism: an annotated bibliography (13 volumes)
    Suzzallo Reference -- Z6374.A56 A57 1987
  • Index to Jewish Periodicals (1964-present)
    Index to 150 American magazines and journals on Jewish studies. Suzzallo Reference -- Z6367 .I55
  • RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies
    Major index to articles on Jewish Studies, in both Hebrew and English. Print version, Reshimat ma'amarim be-mada'e ha-yahadut is in Suzzallo Reference (Z6367 .I53)

To locate printed bibliographies search the UW Libraries catalog:

Finding Published Primary Sources

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. For the history of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, most of the primary sources will not be in English. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to determine if we have the primary source. Borrow items not available on campus through UWorld Express.

Finding Primary Sources -- Books

The UW Libraries collection for this research area in English tends to be heavily concentrated on Holocaust memoirs with a smattering of American or British accounts of Jewish life or politics. Other primary sources are available in Russian, Yiddish, Polish and Hebrew. To find books that can be considered primary sources use the following tactics to search the UW Libraries Catalog.

  • 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, biography. Add "and not holocaust" to remove most of the Holocaust memoirs from your search result.
  • Example:
    • jews and poland and su:(sources or correspondence) and not holocaust

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

Much of the UW Libraries collection of magazines and newspapers from the 19th and early 20th centuries are Anglo-American. So sources dealing with Jewish life in Eastern Europe prior to World War II will be primarily those of outsiders. So for example, you may be able to get Times reports of pogroms in Russia. We do have a scattering of material from the region in Yiddish, Russian and other languages.

  • 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. For earlier American magazine coverage see American Periodical Series Online and for 19th c. British coverage see 19th Century Masterfile.
  • Historical Newspapers Online [UW only]
    Index to the Times of London from 1796-1980 and partial coverage of the New York Times (1863-1905, 1913-1922). Newspapers are on microfilm.
  • Examples of Newspapers:
    • Der fraynd - Yiddish, published in St. Petersburg and Warsaw, 1903-1913
      Microform & Newspapers A10043
    • Haynt - Yiddish, published in Warsaw, 1923-1939
      Microform & Newspapers A10320
    • Idishes Tageblat - Yiddish, published in Warsaw, 1906-1907
      Microform & Newspapers A10302
    • Novyi voskhod - Russian, published in St. Petersburg, 1910-1915
      Microform & Newspapers M-1054
    • Razsviet - Russian, published in Odessa, 1860-1861
      Microform & Newspapers M-1053
  • Other material:
    • Slavic Judaica, 28 reels
      350 Russian language books and pamphlets dealing with Jewish life and culture. Microform & Newspapers A9797
    • Jüdisches biographisches Archiv, 661 fiche
      Collection of biographies drawn from more than 100 sources. Microform & Newspapers M-3157
    • Oral History, 84 fiche
      Transcripts of oral histories mostly in German or Hebrew with brief English summary. Microform & Newspapers M-609

Selected Web Sites

 The following web sites may be useful in locating information dealing with Jewish history.

Image: Cover of Dos shtetl by Z. Tolkatshov published in 1946. Courtesy of the Joe Fishstein Collection of Yiddish Poetry at McGill University.

History Subject Page | Jewish Studies Subject Page | UW Libraries

22 October 2003
Theresa Mudrock - mudrock@u.washington.edu