Research Guides: HIS 400: Irregular Warfare [Fall 2020]: Finding primary sources

The source-driven junior paper

Often, the best work arises from close engagement with a primary source. As you read, you'll think of questions or begin to shape an argument. The hard part is to find a primary source that addresses the broad general area of interest. Here are some strategies for finding primary sources:

Check the footnotes, endnotes and bibliography of a good academic book on your topic.
Use the word sources as a keyword when searching the Main Catalog.
Consult the subject guides at http://libguides.princeton.edu
Search the finding aids for collections in Special Collections and Mudd Manuscript Library.

Help! I can only read English

If you can't read the language of the country you are researching, your best options are:

1. Use British or American foreign relations documents:

U.S. Department of State records: for historians
by Steven Knowlton Last Updated Dec 19, 2023 362 views this year
Twentieth-century U.S. foreign affairs
by Steven Knowlton Last Updated Dec 19, 2023 90 views this year
Finding British government documents at Princeton
by Alain St. Pierre Last Updated Dec 19, 2023 653 views this year

2. Use the English-language mass media:

Finding historical U.S. newspapers at Princeton
by Steven Knowlton Last Updated Apr 2, 2024 1104 views this year
Finding historical world newspapers at Princeton
by Alain St. Pierre Last Updated Jan 8, 2024 377 views this year
Television, radio and documentary film
by Steven Knowlton Last Updated Dec 19, 2023 617 views this year

World history

Finding world newspapers at Princeton
Periodicals
Television, radio and documentary film
Travel: literature and guidebooks

Africa
Canadian history
Latin American & Iberian Primary Sources
Middle East
Russia, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia
South and East Asia

History of science, technology & medicine
Religion
History of women, gender & sexuality
Human rights: primary sources
Historical statistics
Public opinion polls for historians

Some ideas

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Contains page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473–1700. Based upon the Pollard and Redgrave Short Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and the Wing Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700).
Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Traces the history of printing in Europe from its origins through to the close of the 17th century, offering full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of rare and hard-to-access printed sources.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Partially searchable digital images of books, primarily British, printed in the eighteenth century.
Loeb Classical Library
Online access to all of the in print volumes of this major series of Greek and Latin texts with facing translations.