HST 290: Local, National, Global: Writing the History of Civil Rights

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HST 290 Local, National, Global Writing the
History of Civil Rights

• Dr. Lisa Pollard
• Ms. Sue Cody

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How are your research skills?

• Do you like doing research?
• Why or why not?
• What confuses/frustrates you most about doing
  research?
• What questions do you have about conducting
  research for this class?
• How would you rate your current research skills?
• Strong/Satisfactory/Needs improvement/Poor (Take
  a vote.)

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Our plan

• Explore various finding aids.
• Learn to identify primary sources.
• Become familiar with special services.
• Interlibrary Loan
• Ask a librarian

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How much do you know about your topic?

• Where do you plan to start?

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Which finding aids are most useful?

• For books?
• For scholarly articles?
• For government documents?
• For articles written during the time studied?
• For other primary sources?

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Finding Books

• Library Catalog
• local UNCP/FSU
• WorldCat
• 9,000 libraries
• Google Books
• Some article databases lead to books
• Cited directly
• Book reviews

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Randall Online Catalog Keyword v. Subject

• Whats the difference?
• What are some useful Subject Heading for
• Civil rights history?
• Start with a keyword search, then look for
  subjects in the records retrieved.

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Keyword/Subject features

• Keyword
• Finds words anywhere in record.
• Look at records to see subject headings.
• Search lots of terms, word variations

• Subject Headings
• Controlled vocabulary
• May not be natural language but may find more
• Hierarchical arrangement helps narrow topic
• Searches only the subject field

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Suggested Subject Headings

• Civil rights, . . . Movements, . . .
  demonstrations
• Specific, e.g., Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Civil rights workers
• African-American civil rights workers
• Women civil rights workers
• Anti-apartheid. . .
• Chicano movement
• Discrimination in (education, employment,
  housing, etc.)
• Race discrimination in . . .
• Segregation in (education, public accommodations,
  etc.)
• Race relations

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Searching Personal Names

• Keyword searches
• Either order
• Try name variations, e.g., initials
• Author/Subject
• Last name first (Western names)
• Consistent use
• Examples
• Lewis, John
• Aung San Suu Kyi

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Online CatalogSpecial Features

• Subject links for related items
• Call numbers for related items (usually)
• Library of Congress outline
• http//www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html
• SuDoc arranges by agency
• Cover, summary, reviews
• Location maps
• Expanding search to UNCCLC
• Repeating search

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Journal Holdings Access

• Bibliographies will cite useful publications
• Follow the citation trail!
• Search your citation
• Does the library have it?
• What format or location?
• What online access?

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Working from a known citation

• Chabot, Sean. Framing, Transnational Diffusion,
  and African- American Intellectuals in the Land
  of Gandhi. International Review of Social
  History 49 S12 (2004) 19-40.
• Fultz, Michael. Black Public Libraries in the
  South in the Era of De Jure Segregation.
  Libraries the Cultural Record 41(2006 )
  337-359.

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Working from a known citation

• Hoover, J. Edgar. FBI and civil rights J. Edgar
  Hoover speaks out. U. S. News World Report. 57
  (November 30 1964) 56-58.
• McGrath, Ann.Consent, Marriage and Colonialism
  Indigenous Australian Women and Colonizer
  Marriages. Journal of Colonialism Colonial
  History 6, n. 3 (2005).

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Database Exploration

• America History Life
• WorldCat
• JStor
• Alternative Press Index
• Project Muse
• Search your topic

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Search tips

• And, Or, Not
• And narrows
• Or adds synonyms/related
• Not excludes (use carefully)
• Truncate for word variations
• (librarlibrary, libraries, librarian,
  librarians)
• Words anywhere or phrase?
• Civil Rights

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Primary Sources

• What types of documents should you look for?
• How do you know if they are primary?

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Primary Sources

• Dairies, journals, other writings of players
• Eyewitness/Observer accounts
• Memoirs, autobiographies (written later)
• Official documents
• Laws, treaties, reports, orders, transcripts of
  proceedings, addresses, etc.
• Advertisements, posters, photos

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Primary or Secondary?

• Scholarly article on caste discrimination in
  India during the colonial period.
• FBI file on Martin Luther King, Jr.
• An encyclopedia of American civil rights and
  liberties.
• Book compilation of photos from the American
  civil rights movement.
• A 2007 biography of A. Philip Randolph.
• A National Parks Service brochure on the Selma to
  Montgomery National Historic Trail.

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Primary or Secondary?

• Collection of transcripts of interviews with
  civil rights leaders published in a book.
• New York Times article about college students
  participation in voter registration drives
  published in 1964 from the New York Times Archive
  database.
• Chronology of major events in civil rights
  history.
• Autobiography of Virginia Foster Durr (white
  civil rights worker)

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Randall Online Catalog

• Standard Subheadings
• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Interviews
• Personal narratives
• Used only for specific events
• Sources
• Speeches, addresses, etc.
• See Primary Source guide for others

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Randall Online Catalog

• Search general headings, use indexes
• Race relations and sources
• Search specific headings or persons
• Julian Bond as author
• Biography is heading for autobiography
• Look for items not tagged as primary source
• Primary documents may be included in secondary
  sources
• Eyewitness authors may not be tagged as sources

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WorldCat

• May find items at Randall that catalog search
  didnt (records enhanced later)
• Finds items for ILL requests
• Rare items not lent
• Rare items may be reprinted available
• Websites included often w/ free access!

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Periodicals and Newspapers

• Readers Guide Retrospective
• New York Times Archive
• PAIS Archive
• Alternative Press Index Archive (1969-)

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Manuscripts

• Randall Library Special Collections
• UNCCH Southern Historical Collection
• Duke Special Collections
• WorldCat
• North American Womens Letters Diaries
  (Colonial to 1950)
• American Memory Project

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Official Documents

• CQ Electronic Library
• U.S. Statutes at Large (laws)
• U.S. Congressional Record
• Lexis-Nexis Congressional
• Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
• Catalog of US Government Publications
• A Century of Lawmaking (1774-1875)

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BibliographiesFollow the trail

• Book-length (Reference Collection)
• Secondary sources (books and journal articles)
• Types
• Classified (easiest to find primary sources)
• Alphabetical
• Footnotes/Endnotes

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Internet Finds

• Voices of Civil Rights
• Civil Rights Digital Library
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
• Civil Rights in Mississippi
• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library

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Questions?

• What will you do when you have questions?

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Ask for help its what we do!

• codys_at_uncw.edu
• http//library.uncwil.edu/askref.html