Access to Primary Resources

Print Tools for Locating Primary Material | Electronic Tools for Locating Primary Material
Locating Regional and Local Primary Resources | Guides to the Overall Holdings of Individual Repositories
Guides to the Contents of Individual Collections | Primary Source Content (full text)

Characteristics of Primary Resources:

have the character of origin or 'firstness'
not limited to unpublished materials
that which secondary sources interpret and are built upon

Selected Print Tools for Locating Primary Material

(these tools provide citations to primary resources)

Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States	Ref CD3020 .D49 1988
Directory of Business Archives in the United States and Canada	Ref HD2770.5 .D57 1993
The French Image of America: a Chronological and Subject Bibliography of French Books Printed Before 1816 Relating to the British North American Colonies and the United States	SpecCol Ref E141 .E24 1994
Guides to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography (Arranged in 13 subject areas, with single author, name, subject index)	SpecCol Ref CD3022 .A2 D48 1994
Guide to Ethnic Museums, Libraries, and Archives in the United States	Ref E184 .A1W95
Guide to Indian Manuscripts: Materials from Europe and North America	SpecCol Ref DS463 .R54 1993
Guide to Manuscripts in the Presidential Libraries	Ref CD3029.82 .B87 1985
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections	Ref Z663.74 .N3
Picture Researcher's Handbook: an International Guide to Picture Sources	Ref N4000 .E8 1992 SpecCol Ref N4000 .E8 1992
Subject Collections: A Guide to Special Book Collections and Subject Emphases dictionary catalog using LOC subject headings)	Ref Z731 .A78 1993 SpecCol Ref Z731 .A78 1993

Selected Electronic Tools for Locating Primary Material

(again, these tools provide citations to primary resources)

National Resources	Location
Center for Research Libraries See Handbook & Subject Brochures	CRL Web PAC or Connect via Merlin
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections	Library of Congress
Archive Finder (sign up for free trial)	C-H Database
National Museum of American History Archives Center	Smithsonian
The National Archives	National Archives
Monthly Catalog of the GPO	GPO Access
International Resources	Location
OCLC/WorldCat Catalogs primary sources: search accn #3244509	Merlin (FirstSearch) Database
Repositories of Primary Sources 4200 Websites describing holdings throughout the world	University of Idaho
The National Archives of the United Kingdom (including Public Record Office)	UK

Locating Regional and Local Primary Resources

Dr. Kenneth J. Labudde Department of Special Collections Fourth Floor Reading Room	Dr. Kenneth J. Labudde Department of Special Collections Marr Sound Archives
Western Historical Manuscript Collection
Kansas City Public Library: Special Collections
Missouri State Historical Society
Directory of Historical and Genealogical Societies in Missouri
Black Archives of Mid-America

Selected Print Guides to Overall & Specialty Holdings of Individual Repositories

American Indian Resource Materials in the Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma	SpecCol Ref E78 .O45 A69 1990
The Archives: a Guide to the National Archives Field Branches	SpecCol Ref CD3026 1988
Guide to the Archival Collections of the Kansas City Museum	Ref. CD3338 .K2 K26 SpecCol Ref. CD3338 .K2 K357
Guide to Civil War Maps in the National Archives	Ref E468 .G85 1986 SpecCol Ref E468 .G85 1986
Guide to the Holdings of the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives	SpecCol Ref CD3027 .S75 1990
Guide to the National Archives of the United States	Ref CD3023 .U53 1987
National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States	Ref CD3022 .N3
The Trans-Mississippi West, 1804-1912 (Records of the State Dept. & Dept. of Justice)	SpecCol Ref F591 .T73 1993

Selected Print Guides/Indexes/Finding Aids to the Contents of Specific Collections in Repositories

- Miller Nichols Library Special Collections - Collection Descriptions and Finding Aids	Uncataloged (visit Special Collections - finding aids will be put on-line in future)
Benjamin Franklin: a Register and Index of His Papers in the Library of Congress	Ref Z6616 .F83 U66
Index to the Archives of Harper and Brothers, 1817-1914	Ref CD3065 .H37 I6 1982
Index to the William Howard Taft Papers (all Presidential Papers indexes will be in the Z6616 area)	Ref Z6616 .T18 U6
Tales of the Supernatural: a Selected List of Recordings Made in the United States and Placed in the Archives of Folk Culture	GovDocs LC 39.13/2:13
The Virgil Thomson Papers	Music Ref ML134 .T385 R893 SpecCol Ref ML134 .T385 R893

Primary Source Content

(Full Text - transcriptions and virtual originals)

Internet/World Wide Web (see also: The history highway 2000 : a guide to Internet resources)
Academic Info History Gateway: Digital Library	Independent Internet subject directory
American Memory Project	Library of Congress
Making of America (UM) Making of America (Cornell) 19th century books & journal articles	University of Michigan Cornell University
The Avalon Project Text of Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy	Yale Law School
Documenting the American South Southern history, literature and culture	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library	Presidential Library System (NARA)
FDR Presidential Library	Presidential Library System (NARA)
Truman Presidency Student Research File	MNL Special Collections & Truman Lib
Presidential Speech Excerpts	MNL Spec Coll-Marr Sound Archives
Club Kaycee: KC Jazz Audio Resources	MNL Spec Coll-Marr Sound Archives
The Historic American Sheet Music Project 3042 pieces of 19th & early 20th C sheet music	Duke University
EDSITEment (History section)	NEH Top Humanities Sites
The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies	Georgetown University
Kansas City: Paris of the Plains The Jazz Age in Kansas City, 1920-40	University of Missouri - Kansas City
Government Documents
Government Documents in Miller Nichols Library (in print, on microform, & on CD-ROM)	Locate via Merlin
Microform Collections
UMKC Microforms collection - microfilm, microfiche, and microcard - - includes government documents, newspapers, periodicals - - all subjects covered, including much history -
UMKC Major Microform Collections: First Floor Major Microform Collections: Ground Floor including American Periodical Series; Early British Periodical Series; Hansards Parliamentary Debates; America, 1935-46: Midwestern States; The Plains and Rockies; Jotham Meeker Papers
UMKC Presidential Studies Collection
Newspapers
Missouri Newspaper Project (MNL & SHS) The Kansas City Journal Post The Kansas City Star New York Times Times of London

Compiled by Robert Ray
Special Collections Librarian
Miller Nichols Library
University of Missouri-Kansas City

For : History classes in Research Methodology and Historiography 03/18/00 - 09/17/03