| Where to Start |
| Primary Resources in the Proctor Library |
| Journal Articles |
| Websites |
| Cite Your Sources |
Frequently college papers can be written without consulting primary resources, but sometimes this is simply not possible. This quick guide should help you find some of the primary sources you need.
- Conduct a search in the Library Catalog to see if the Proctor Library has the source you need. Consult the section Primary Resources in the Proctor Library for more information.
- You may find some primary resources in a database; particularly if you are looking for articles by the author you are discussing in your paper. See Journal Articles to learn more.
- In this day and age of electronics many libraries and organizations are digitalizing primary resources. To see a list of some sites go to Websites.
- Visit Cite Your Sources to find out where you can go to learn how to cite all the wonderful primary documents you have found.
- If you would like more information about primary resources please read Princeton University Library's Primary Sources: A Guide for History Majors.
Archives can be a great place to find primary resources. In the Fall of 2007, Flagler College hired archivist Christine Wysocki, cwysocki@flagler.edu, who started organizing the archives. Included in the College Archives are such works as: Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes, Staff Welfare Meeting Minutes, College Handbooks, and College Yearbooks. There are some materials about the Ponce De Leon Hotel, but not much. There are some invoices, brochures, an interview with a former employee of the Hotel, and two dissertations: First Spanish Renaissance Revival by Rafael Crespo, and Two Gilded Age Hotels: The History, Restoration, and Adaptive Use of the Tampa Bay and Ponce de Leon Hotels by Anna Castillo; neither are Flagler College gradutes. If you anticipate needing anything, Ms Wysocki warns that it may take a couple days for the Archives to process requests.
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The following is a list of examples of the types of "primary" resources in the Proctor Library. All would in fact be considered facsimilies since the original document(s) are either rare (limited number of copies of the originals), in an unknown location, or for those items that were originally oral - non-existent.
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain | -- PS1306 .A1 1977 |
| The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Ben Franklin | -- E302.6 .F7 A2 1984 |
| Beowulf | -- available through netLibrary |
| Best Loved Songs of the American People | -- M1629 .A388 B5 1975 |
| The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock | -- VHS PN1997 .B5287 1985 |
| The Civil Wars, Julius Caesar | -- PA6238 .B2 1966 |
| The Complete Work of Michelangelo, Michelangelo | -- Quatro ND623 .B9 S34 1967 |
| The Constitution of the United States of America and The Declaration of Independence | -- JK14 1948 |
| Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostovesky | -- PG3326 .P7 1953 |
| Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, Galileo Galilei | -- QB36 .G2 A25 1957 |
| The Great Charter (The Magna Carta) | -- JN145 .F55 1965 |
| Historic Documents (1972, 1984-1988, 1990-2000, 2002-2008) | -- REF E839.5 .H57 |
| The Holy Bible, The Catholic Bible Douay-Rheims Version | -- BS180 1941 |
| The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version | -- BS191.A1 1952 .N4 |
| Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyderdahl | -- G530 .T463 1950, G530 .H463 1963 |
| Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches, Sir Winston Churchill | -- DA566.9 .C5 A5 2003 |
| The Odyssey, Homer | -- PA4025 .A5 M74 1995 v.1-2 |
| The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin | -- QH365 .O2 1936, and available through netLibrary |
| Plato in Twelve Volumes | -- PA3612 .P6 1914 |
| Cicero in Twenty-Eight Volumes | -- PA6156 .C5 1968 v.7-8 |
| The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America | -- PT7281 .G7 E53 1965, McAlister PT7281. G7 E53 1966 |
These are the databases where you are most likely to find primary resources. Databases are clearinghouses for journal articles, and most articles will be secondary resources rather than primary resources. If you do not find what you are looking for ask a librarian at the reference desk for help.
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ArchiveGrid
Online access to nearly a million descriptions of archival collections owned by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies and archives worldwide. ArchiveGrid is an important destination for searching for historical documents, personal papers and family histories held in archives. -
Art Museum Image Gallery
An online collection of high-quality, digital documentation of works of art from around the world. Works from major European, American, and Canadian artists in the collections of member museums are included. Cultures and time periods represented range from contemporary art, Native American and Inuit art, to ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works, along with Japanese and Chinese works. The database includes numerous multimedia files. Art Museum Image Gallery documents over 90,000 works of art. -
CQ Weekly
CQ Weekly is useful for accessing current news and analysis on Congress and major public policy issues. It is also useful for tracking votes and legislation in Congress, locating recent Congressional documents and related material in full-text, and learning more about members of Congress and the legislative process. -
History Resource Center: U.S.
Provides integrated access to over 4,000 historical (primary) documents, articles from more than 30 reference titles, and over 110 full-text journals covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present. The material also includes citations from over 180 additional history journals from the Institute for Scientific Information's Arts and Humanities Citation Index, as well as the entire "American Journey Online" series. -
Issues & Controversy
Provides up-to-date, in-depth and objective information on approximately 600 current topics, combining objective analysis and clear explanations of opposing points of view. Chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information augment the balanced coverage of current and historical events. -
LexisNexis Academic
Provides access to thousands of news, business, legal, and medical publications and information sources, including: newspapers, newsletters, magazines, trade journals, wire services, and broadcast transcripts. The legal component of the database includes comprehensive, current legal information. This consists of federal and state case law, statues, secondary sources such as law reviews, and state legal materials. -
Proquest Newspapers
Contains The New York Times from 1999 to the present and 500 national and international newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal from 1984 to the present and 13 Florida newspapers. -
Westlaw
Comprehensive online database providing current (updated every twenty-four hours) law and legal information. Over 13,000 databases are offered. "WestNews" is an excellent starting point for news and business information. You can search using "natural language" and then advance to using more formal legal-based terminologies. This database is located on a single computer in the Research Lab. A Reference Librarian will be happy to assist you in locating and using this valuable legal resource.
This is just a sampling of websites where facsimilies of various primary resources can be found.
Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide -- available from the Library of Congress, this is a link to a digitization project to make Lincoln's writings available to the public
Chronicling America: Historical American Newspapers -- from the Library of Congress, limited full-text access to some newspapers from different states for 1860-1922, with information on other newspapers back to 1690
Footnote.com -- various U.S. documents (letters, photos, pension records, Pennsylvania Archives, etc.) available online, much of this site is freely available, but detailed information or images are only via membership
Hansard -- this website contains transcriptions of debates from the United Kingdom House of Commons and House of Lords
The Library of Congress: American Memory -- rather than provide links to all the exciting primary resources available through this site take some time to explore it on your own. Everything from documents by the Founding Fathers to various medias produced by the WPA work of the 1930's, and anything else Americana in between and beyond is included on this site.
Making of America -- from Cornell University Library, this site focuses on primary sources from the Antebellum to Reconstruction period of American history
Our Documents -- a website created through the help of the National History Day, the National Archives & Records Administration and the USA Freedom Corps, this site provides access to what they call 100 milestone documents in American history.
Papers of the War Department: 1784 to 1800 -- thought destroyed by a fire in the War Office in 1800, many scholars spent more than 10 years in the late 20th and early 21st century visiting libraries and archives in the U.S. and Europe to find and digitize around 55,000 of the documents presumed lost. The headquarters for this project is George Mason University in Virginia.
Primary Sources at Yale -- despite the name of this webpage this link actually provides access to a very nice explanation of all the different kinds of primary resources
September 11, 2001 Oral History Narrative and Memory Project -- a project at Columbia University to save and record the impressions and memories of those who lived through September 11th
Small Town Papers: Newspaper Archives -- 250 newspapers from small communities available online
Southeast Asia Visions: A Collection of Historic Travel Narratives -- from Cornell University Library, this site provides some full-text access to some of the Cornell holdings
Using Primary Sources on the Web -- from the American Library Association's RUSA, this site explains and gives examples of sites that provide access to online primary documents
Veterans History Project: A Project of the American Folklore Center at the Library of Congress
WorldVitalRecords.com -- this is a genealogical website with both free and member access to documents such as marriage, birth, death, land records, census, newspaper articles, etc.
| The Chicago Manual of Style | -- RREF Z253 .U69 2003 * |
| MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers | -- RREF LB2369 .G53 2009 * |
| Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association | -- RREF BF76.7 .P83 2010 * |
If your professor is requiring a different style guide, see Resources for Writing to find out if the Proctor Library has the guide you need.
* RREF stands for Ready Reference near the reference desk on the first floor.
Need more help finding resources? Email me at kowens@flagler.edu or visit the Library's Reference Desk.
Last Updated: July 27, 2010