Library Home
 

Primary Sources

 
 


Blue Ridge Community College
Houff Library

 
 
Online Reference Sources - read these and you will be in good shape
 
Avalon Project at Yale Law School - documents in law, history and diplomacy from pre-18th century to 21st century.
Using Primary Sources on the Web - Written by the Instruction & Research Services Committee of the Reference and User Service Association History Section of the American Library Association.
(Web Site Evaluation Information - four questions you should ask yourself before using any website.
 Primary Sources Tutorial - from Yale's Library.  Yes, we aren't at Yale but it still has good practical information.
 Primary Source from Wikipedia - Wikipedia is not always the best source, but this entry is excellent.
 Primary Sources - written by the Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

The different types of primary sources include:

books
serials
government documents
manuscript and archival material
maps
realia/artifacts
tablets
visual materials
music
sound recordings
oral history
dissertations
 
 Books and Print Resources - limit by date.  Try the subheadings correspondence, diaries, interviews, personal narratives, etc.
 
 
- To find books in the Library, search the BRCC Online Catalog  
 

Quick Book Search:          

  
Resources for locating books from other libraries.  

WorldCat- a worldwide catalog of over one billion items held in more than 10,000 libraries.
 Augusta County Library
Bridgewater College
Eastern Mennonite University
James Madison University (Click here on info on how to obtain library privileges at this library)
Mary Baldwin College (Click here on info on how to obtain library privileges at this library)
 Massanutten Regional Library (the public library in Harrisonburg)
Staunton Public Library
Waynesboro Public Library

If you find a title you would like, use the Library's Interlibrary Loan service.   Print or e-mail the information and contact the Library. 
 
Online Sources
 
History Matters:  The U.S. Survey Course on the Web - Many Pasts feature contains more than 1,000 primary documents that portray the lives of ordinary people throughout U.S. history.
 Repository of Primary Sources
 
 
 Periodical Databases - here are the three we subscribe to that will have primary articles
 
Periodical Indexes containing full-text articles be sure and follow all the steps on our Remote Access Directions page to be able to access these databases from your home computer.

Peer Review in Five Minutes - a succinct little video that explains exactly what is a peer reviewed/refereed article.
HarpWeek: The Civil War Era (1857-1865) - Harper's Weekly, 1857-1912, full text available
 Historical New York Times Newspaper  - full text articles from 1851 - 2004.
JSTOR  - scholarly journals, a few going back to the 19th century, full text available
 
Style Guides - for your bibliography
 
Online Citation Builders - There are also MLA and APA websites listed on this page as the online citation builders are not 100% accurate, so double check your results.
 
Assistance
 
E-mail a Librarian
 LRC Live - like instant messaging a librarian.  Open days, evenings and weekends.
Library Hours
Directions to Houff Library

8/3/09