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History Seminar: American Indian History

HIST 410; Prof. C. Meyer
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
 

September 10, 2007

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

• Library Homepage
• Find Books
• Reference Material
• Find Articles (Databases)
• Journal Finder & Interlibrary Loan
• Websites
• Bibliographies

 I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

• Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

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II. Finding Primary and Secondary Sources

Catalog: Use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles), government documents, reserve items, music, and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.

• Primary sources enable researchers to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. The information and ideas were either created during the time period or created later by a participant or observer of the event being studied, for example:

• Memoirs, diaries, letters, interviews, and other first-person accounts
• Government documents
  • You might want to limit your search to Online material (listed under Quick Links) or to the Documents Without Shelves collection)
• Newspaper articles
• Paintings

 

Searching the catalog for primary source material:   

• Use the Advanced Search option

  OR

• Use the Command line / Boolean terms search option under Basic Search

 

• Both these options allow you to enter additonal terms that will insure that your results will be primary source material
• For example
  • in Advanced Search, enter cherokee removal and sources
  • in Command line / Boolean terms option, enter "cherokee removal" and sources
• Using words like correspondence, memoir, letter, interview, autobiographies, or diaries will help you to locate source material
• Click on the Related Records tab on the top of a record to see the subject headings associated with that particular item. These linked subject headings will take you to other material on the same subject matter.

• Searching the catalog for secondary source material:

• In Basic Search, use the keyword default setting for a basic search to find material, for example:
• search for "indian problem" or "indian-white relations" to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
• Your results will come up ranked by relevance; you may then re-sort them by title, author, publish [=publication] date, or publish date descending (the  most recent items will be listed first)
• When you find an appropriate title, click on the Related Records tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical

OR

• Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example:

• Indians of North America

         See subdivisions, i.e.

  • --Treaties
  • --Legal statutes, laws, etc.
  • ---Economic conditions
  • --Government relations
• Indian land transfers
• Pueblo Indians
• Indian women--United States
• Indians in literature
• Tribal government--United States

 

Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Related Records tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
3. Can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.

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III. Reference Material

• The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).

• Useful reference material for your research:

American Indian Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic	Ref E77 .W47 2006
American History through Literature 1820-1870	Online reference
Annals of America	Ref E173 .A793 2003
A Bibliographical Guide to the History of Indian-White Relations	R Ref Z1209.2 .U5 P67
Dictionary of the American Indian	Ref E77 .S84
Documents of American Indian Diplomacy	Ref KF8202 1999
Encyclopedia of Native Tribes of North American	On Order
Encyclopedia of New Jersey Indians	Ref E78 .E2 E515
The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes	Ref E77 .G 1998
Handbook of North American Indians	Ref E76.2 .H36
Native America in the Twentieth Century	Ref E76.2 .N36 1994
The Native North American Almanac	Ref E77 .N37 1994
The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America	Ref E98 .S67 J65 2007
Atlases
Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States	Ref atlas tables G1201 .S1 P3 1932a
Historical Atlas of the American West	Ref atlas tables G1381 .S1 B4 1989
Mapping America's Past	Ref atlas tables G1201 .S1 C3 1996

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IV. Finding articles (databases)

Useful databases for your projects:

Tips

1. Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT and Quotation Marks when running a search. For Example: Indians and (United States or Canada) and Indians OR ("economic conditions" or "social conditions")
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are zero.
4. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link, if available, to find the best terms to use in a database.

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 V. Journal Finder & Interlibrary Loan

• Journal Finder: locate the full text of articles in specific periodicals (journals, newspapers, magazines) to which we have access either in our print or microform collection or through a full-text database.

  • See Quick Links on the library's homepage.

   

• Interlibrary Loan: allows you to borrow a book or article that our library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page and under Quick Links on the library's homepage.

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VI. Using Web Sources

To determine if a website is authoritative enough to use in your paper, see:

Techniques for Evaluating American Indian Web Sites by Elaine M. Cubbins, University of Arizona

Or use the more general Evaluating Websites

Useful websites:

• Native American Sites and Home of the American Indian Library Association Web Page, Lisa A. Mitten

• Index of Native American Resources on the Internet, Karen Strom

• The Library of Congress: American Memory (Also linked uder Subject Resources › History, see below.)

  Access to primary source documents: written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music

   

• National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)

 

• Native American Sites and Home of the American Indian Library

• NativeWeb: Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World

• PBS: American Experience

  American Experience and many other PBS programs are great sources of information

• Tribal Directory, part of the Resource Directory of Indians.org

Check the following Subject Resources linked under History:

• National Archives and Records Administration

• Making of America

Check the following Subject Resources linked under United States Government:

• FirstGov

 

Check the following Subject Resources linked under Newspapers & Electronic Media

• National Public Radio

• Television News Archives: Vanderbilt University

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VII. Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for "Works Cited" citation style guidance
  • Follow the examples given for the Turabian citation style

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Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574

Use QandA NJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat service with a reference librarian.