LibGuides: John Adams High School Library Media Center: Find Primary Sources

Locating Primary Sources in Books

Locating Primary Sources in Books

How do I find primary sources in books?

Often books contain excerpts or entire transcripts of primary source materials. When searching the online catalog, look for subject headings that use the terms "personal narratives" or "sources." These terms indicate there are primary sources located in a book.

Below is a partial list of general reference sources that contain primary source documents.

American Civil Rights by Phillis Engelbert (Compiled by); Betz DesChenes (Editor)
Call Number: R 305.8 AME
ISBN: 0787631701
Publication Date: 1999-07-23
Allows students and researchers to review approximately 19 full or excerpted speeches, memoirs, and other documents arranged in broad subject chapters for easy comparison.
Colonial America by Peggy Saari
Call Number: 973.2 SAA
ISBN: 0787637661
Publication Date: 1999-12-01
Presents the historical events and social issues of colonial America through twenty-four primary documents, including diary entries, poems, and personal narratives.
Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America by Jeffrey Lehman (Editor)
Call Number: R 305.8 GAL v.1
ISBN: 0787639907
Publication Date: 1999-12-01
Contains 210 primary documents associated with ninety national, ethnoreligious, and Native American cultures residing in the U.S., arranged alphabetically according to group and including autobiographies, speeches, letters, oral histories, poems, political cartoons, photographs, and recipes
How Should Obesity Be Treated? by Stefan Kiesbye
Call Number: 616.3 HOW
ISBN: 9780737744224
Publication Date: 2009-07-31

Websites for Primary Sources

The Digital Public Library of America combines the websites of libraries, museums, and archives to provide sources freely to the world.

Thousands of primary source documents bring the past alive and present excellent learning opportunities for the classroom. Also available are maps, graphs, charts, audio and video sources that span U.S. history.

Primary source sets on a specific topic. Easy to use PDF's provide historical background information and teaching ideas.

Themed Resources - The best Library of Congress rescources on commonly taught themes.

Browse by Topic - Broad topics conveniently arranged by subject.

This database allows for the user to search over 10 million pages.

The databases selected for searching offer a combined 1,521,918 documents

Provides access to critical information in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science, and more.