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HIS 581: Research Seminar in American History

Getting help

Need help with the research for this assignment? Contact a librarian:

Steve Knowlton, Librarian for American History and African-American Studies (WASE)

 
 

Finding Archival Sources: Using Other Scholars' Bibliographies

If you have identified a research work (article, book, or dissertation) that addresses the topic or question  you are interested in  ---- please look in its bibliography.  You will surely find a list of archival sources that you may also wish to consult.

For example, here are some of the archives consulted for Kevin Kruse's White flight : Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism

CC

Calvin Craig Papers, Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta

FCSC

Records, Fulton County Superior Court, Atlanta

GGDP

Georgia Government Documentation Program, Special Collections, William Russell Pullen Library, Georgia State University, Atlanta

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Papers, Microfilm Edition

And many more

Finding Archival Sources: Using Google Books

You can also "triangulate" to additional archives if you know one archive you are interested in.

For example, suppose you know that you are interested in the Jacob M. Rothschild Papers.  But you are wondering, "what other archives have scholars used in conjunction with the Rothschild papers?"

Use Google Books.   Enter "Jacob M. Rothschild Papers" (in quotation marks).  The search results will include any book in the Google database that mentions the Rothschild papers. 

Then you can go to the bibliographies in those books and see what other archives are being used.

For example, the results from the Rothschild papers search include Clive Webb's Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights.

In Webb's bibliography, we find: 

  • American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio: David Z. Ben-Ami, copies of letters and newspaper clippings supporting Rabbi Ben-Ami's civil rights activities in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Julian B. Feibelman Papers, 1904-80; Emmet A. Frank, newspaper clippings, letters, etc., on the desegregation issue; Abraham Jehiel Feldman Papers, 1906-1977; "Freedom Riders" in Mississippi 1961; Joseph H. Gumbiner, "Taking a Stand in Dixie," summer 1961; Solomon Wallace Hoffman, autobiography, 1956; Clairee Levy, "Happy Child in the Deep South from 1899 to 1914," oral history, n.d.; Joseph Lyons, diary, 1833-1839; Charles Mantinband Papers, 1923-1968; Levi A. Olan Papers, 1924-1983; Rabbi Ira E. Sanders, Biographical File.
  • Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith Records, 1946-82; Botnick-East Papers; Rivers Frederick Papers,1874-1954; Rosa Freeman Keller Collection; Kim Lacy Rogers-Glenda Stevens Collection; Save Our Schools, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana Records, 1957-1963.
  • Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock: Jim Johnson Collection; Women's Emergency Committee Papers, 1958-1963.

And many more.