Searching for Primary Sources
The following terms are found in the subject headings of records for published primary sources.
- sources
- diaries
- correspondence
- personal narratives
- biography
- pamphlets
- oral histories
- speeches
- interviews
- maps
- census
- archives
- caricatures and cartoons
- pictorial works (for compilations of photographs or other visual materials)
Here's an example of a search using a Library of Congress subject string.
Here's an example of an "advanced" search using subject headings and keywords.
Sample catalog searches
Use the BEGINS WITH option, select SUBJECT from the drop-down menu.
- African Americans -- Southern states -- Biography
- Civil rights -- United States -- History -- Sources
- United States—Politics and government—1963-1969
- Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931
For less precise results, use the KEYWORD search:
- African Americans AND autobiography or memoirs or narratives
- civil rights Johnson administration sources
- Ida B wells