Primary source materials & Encyclopedias
Africa and the Americas by Call Number: FIrestone DT31 .A43 2008ISBN: 9781851094417Publication Date: 2008-03-12This encyclopedia explores the many long-standing influences of Africa and people of African descent on the culture of the Americas, while tracing the many ways in which the Americas remain closely interconnected with Africa.
Caribbean Women and Their Art: An Encyclopedia by Call Number: Firestone NX523 .S66 2020ISBN: 1538117193Publication Date: 2019Overlooked in the history of artistic endeavors are the contributions of female writers, painters, and crafters of the Caribbean. The creative works by women from the Caribbean proves to be as remarkable as the women themselves. In Caribbean Women and Their Art: An Encyclopedia, Mary Ellen Snodgrass explores the rich history of women's creative expression by examining the crafts and skill of over 70 female originators in the West Indies, from the familiar islands--Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico--to the obscurity of Roatan, Cura ao, Guanaja, and Indian Key.
Documents of the Harlem Renaissance by Call Number: E185.61 .D646 2021ISBN: 9781440855566Publication Date: 2021-01-13This book explores the transformative energy and excitement that African Americans expressed in aesthetic and civic currents that percolated during the opening of the 20th century and proved to be a force in the modernization of America. Collects more than 100 primary source documents, excerpting literature and commentary on arts and activities that produced illustrative images- Encyclopedia of African Art and CulturePublication Date: 2009
- Encyclopedia of the African DiasporaCall Number: Firestone AAS RR: DT16.5 .E53 2008
Encyclopedia of the Black Arts Movement by Call Number: AAS Reading Room-NX512.3.A35 E53 2019ISBN: 9781538101452Publication Date: 2019-05-15The Black Arts Movement (BAM) encompassed a group of artists, musicians, novelists, and playwrights whose work combined innovative approaches to literature, film, music, visual arts, and theatre. With a heightened consciousness of black agency and autonomy-along with the radical politics of the civil rights movement, the Black Muslims, and the Black Panthers-these figures represented a collective effort to defy the status quo of American life and culture.
- American History & Culture Online This link opens in a new window
Digital library of works written or published in the United States, as well as items printed elsewhere, that document the history of the Americas from 1492 to the mid-1800s. Based on Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana.
- British Online Archives This link opens in a new windowProvides online access to several collections on the history of the Atlantic world, from British archives.
- Nineteenth Century U. S. Newspaper Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of U.S. newspapers from the 19th century.
Primary Sources
- Identifying & Utilizing Historical Primary SourcesHelpful guide from Steve Knowlton, History librarian
To identify primary source materials in the library catalog, look for the word sources within a subject term: e.g. perform a Subject (keyword) search: e.g. cultural sources; or, sources food, etc.
Additional Subject (keywords) or (regular) Keywords to bring up primary sources or books with primary source content include the following: (these are several examples of words that would identify a source as primary)
* charters
* correspondence
* diaries
* documents
* early works
* interviews
* letters
* manuscripts
* oral history
* oratory
* pamphlets
* personal narratives
* sources
* speeches
* transcripts
Firestone and Mudd Libraries comprise the Special Collections Department, which includes collections of unique or rare items like author manuscripts and other (unpublished) materials, letters, rare books, music manuscripts, works on paper (prints), coins, death masks, etc. There are great opportunities for you to work with original materials, some of which may never have been investigated or worked on before.
Use the Finding Aid search for archival collections at Princeton. While you can find many of these collections in the library catalog, you can search by keyword here across collections within the guides that exist to help you navigate what’s contained in collections of papers for an important author, company, statesman, woman, etc.
PUL Digital Library: The old site is here, while the new digital platform is here. Take some time to browse for the unique and interesting content from Special Collections that has been digitized.