Researching United States Slavery

| Locating Secondary Sources | Primary Sources: Books | Primary Sources: Articles | Primary Sources: Government |
| Primary Sources: Microfilm | Primary Sources: Manuscripts | Primary Sources: Web |

Locating Secondary Sources

Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server

	Books & Dissertations Find books located within the libraries by searching the UW Libraries Catalog. Other catalogs to try are Cascade, OhioLink, Melvyl (University of California), the Center for Research Libraries and OCLC Worldcat [UW only]. Find dissertations written nation-wide by searching Dissertation Abstracts [UW only]. Interlibrary Borrowing can get books and dissertations for you from other libraries.
	Journal Articles Find articles by searching relevant databases listed on the History Subject Page. The most important one for U.S. history is America: History & Life [UW only]. Others that can be useful are Expanded Academic Index [UW only] and Research Library [UW only]. Two collections of electronic journals contain some history journals and can also sometimes be useful (depending on your topic): JSTOR [UW only] and Project Muse [UW only]. Once you find some likely articles on your topic, locate them in the library by searching for the journal title in the UW Libraries Catalog. (If we do not have the journal, get a photocopy of the article through Interlibrary Borrowing.)
	Bibliographies Bibliographies are also useful for identifying secondary sources (and sometimes primary sources) on a subject. Bibliographies list articles and other material on fairly narrow topics. If you are lucky, there will be a recent bibliography on your topic. Examples available in Suzzallo Reference include: The Harvard guide to African-American history Blacks in the American West and beyond--America, Canada, and Mexico: a selectively annotated bibliography Indian slavery, labor, evangelization, and captivity in the Americas: an annotated bibliography To locate printed bibliographies related to your topic search the UW Libraries Catalog: Choose the Keywords search Type in your topic keyword(s) and the following phrase: and su:bibliography Examples: slavery and su:bibliography african american women and su:bibliography south carolina and su:bibliography

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 (e.g. during the antebellum period), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material.

Limit your search by publication date. Search for books written by key participants and organizations. Browse the shelves in the appropriate subject area. Use special subject headings that designate primary sources: sources, personal narratives, diaries, correspondence, interviews Example: slavery and su:(sources or narratives) african american women and su:(diaries or correspondence)

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

The libraries also has a basic collection of major U.S. newspapers on microfilm for the 19th and 20th centuries. Complete runs are available for such papers as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post. The libraries has a strong collection on Northwest papers. Newspapers are housed in the Microform and Newspaper Collections on the first floor of Suzzallo.

Magazines and Journals For general magazines, try the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature which covers American magazines from 1890 to the present. [Reference index area AI3 .R48] For material from the 18th and 19th centuries try APS Online [UW only]. Also see Index of Early American Periodicals [UW only]and The 19th Century in Print: The Making of America in Periodicals.

Newspapers There a few indexes to newspapers predating the 1970s. To see what indexing is available, use the Searchable Guide to Indexes. The New York Times is the only major American paper completely indexed. The Historical Index to the New York Times [UW only]covers 1863-1905 and 1913-1922. The complete index is available in print in the Suzzallo Reference Index area (AI21 .N44). 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. African American Newspapers [UW only] provides transcriptions of 7 newspapers such as Freedom's Journal and North Star. For Pacific Northwest history, use the Pacific Northwest Regional Newspaper and Periodical Index which is a cardfile in the Manuscripts, Special Collections and University Archives division (basement Allen south). This file indexes the major Seattle papers. An index to the Oregonian is available on microfiche and paper.

Finding Primary Sources -- Government Reports

Congressional hearings and reports dating back to 1789 are indexed in Congressional Universe [UW only]. The hearings and reports are available in microfilm. Other federal documents can be found by using the Monthly Catalog to United States Government Publications (GovPub. 328.73 Un37m) and its predecessors. The Library of Congress has digitized U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates from 1774-1873 and Documents from the Continental Congress. The National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) has digitized a tiny portion (124,000) of their collection (a hodgepodge of material). These can be searched by using the NAIL database. The regional branch is located on Sand Point Way.

• Microfilm edition of the papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society [31 reels]
  Microforms-Newspapers A4868
• Slavery Pamphlets [microcards]
  Microforms-Newspapers
• Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895-1992 [41 reels]
  Microforms-Newspapers A9701
• Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1895-1992 (Ladies Auxiliary) [10 reels]
  Microforms-Newspapers A9702
• Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War (series F only) [108 reels]
  Microforms-Newspapers A9699
• The American West: overland journeys, 1841-1880 [663 microfiche]
  Microforms-Newspapers M-3244
• American Indian Correspondence. The Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries' Letters, 1833-1893 [35 reels]
  Microform-Newspapers A8384
• Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1881 [86 reels]
  Microform-Newspapers A1783
• The Pacific Northwest tribes missions collection of the Oregon Province archives of the Society of Jesus, 1853-1960 [34 reels]
  Microform-Newspapers A8136

For manuscript collections elsewhere consult:

• National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
• OCLC Worldcat also includes citations to some manuscript collections
• Repositories of Primary Sources, a directory of web sites for manuscript repositories

• American Memory
  The premiere collection of primary sources created by the Library of Congress. There are over 80 multimedia digital collections dealing with American history such as the African American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920, From Slavery to Freedom: African American Pamphlet Collection, and African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection and Frederick Douglass Papers.
• Documenting the American South
  Collection of first person accounts including slave narratives, southern literature and confederate documents. Also see American Slave Narratives, Excerpts from Slave Narratives, Third Person, First Person, African American E-Texts and African-American Women.
• Virginia Runaways
  "The Virginia Runaways Project is a digital database of runaway and captured slave and servant advertisements from 18th-century Virginia newspapers."
• Valley of the Shadow Project
  Ongoing project to produce a multimedia historical database on the impact of the Civil War on two towns. Includes military records, census data, diaries, photographs and newspapers.

Illustration: "Fugitive slaves escaping to the protection of our army at Wilmington--scene on the Cape Fear River." Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 17 June 1865. Courtesy of the North Carolina Civil War Image Portfolio.