Researching the American South
All call numbers and special locations are in Davis Library Reference Department unless otherwise noted.
Research guides help conceptualize a research project, plan it wisely, identify basic resources, and provide initial bibliography.
A Student's Guide to History. 8th ed. Jules R. Benjamin. Boston: Bedford & St. Martin's, 2001. This provides a basic overview of doing historical research, from what history is as a discipline to researching and writing an historical paper. It also offers a 40-page appendix listing basic reference sources and other tools for doing this research.
D 16.3 .B4 2001
Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies.
James L. Harner. 4th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2002. This is now the standard guide for the study of British and American literature.
Ref Desk PR83 .H34 2002
History 200. This is a selective guide to reference resources for researching historical topics at Carolina,
particularly at the graduate level.
Online Resource
English & American Literature: A Selective Guide. Similar to the guide just above, this one focuses on literature research tools
available locally.
Online Resource
To search for similar research guides in the Library's online catalog, use the following Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) as examples:
Tools such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, atlases, and chronologies provide basic, contextual information and they can help you choose or refine a topic. Also, many provide bibliographies.
Dictionary of American History. 3rd. ed. Stanley I. Kutler, ed. in chief. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 10 vols.
E 174 .D52 2003.
Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, coeditors. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1989.
F209 .E53 1989. Also in UL Reference, North Carolina Collection, Manuscripts Dept. Reference.
Encyclopedia of Southern History. David C. Roller and Robert W. Twyman, eds. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c1979. Though
older, this is still a useful starting point.
F 207.7 .E52. Also in Davis Library, Undergraduate Library, and the North Carolina Collection.
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History. 5 vols. + supplement. Ed. Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, c1996.
E185 .E54 1996. Also in UL Reference.
The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs.
Joseph M. Flora, Lucinda MacKethan, Todd Taylor, eds. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c2002.
PS261 .C55 2002.
To search for similar encyclopedias and dictionaries in the Library's catalog, use the following LCSH as examples:
You can also use the subheadings dictionaries and encyclopedias in Keyword searching, e.g.:
Back to topAtlases are useful in historical research for visualizing the interaction of peoples, events, places, and trends.
The Routledge Historical Atlas of the American South. Andrew K. Frank. New York : Routledge, 1999.
G 1281 .S5 F7 1999 (Also in NCC.)
The Routledge Historical Atlas of African American History. Jonathan Earle. New York : Routledge, 2000.
E 185 .E125 2000 (Also in Stone Center Library Reference.)
Typical LCSH in the Library's catalog for finding maps:
Another option today is finding maps on the Web, for instance, at site listed below.
Back to topThese sources help the researcher grasp the chronological relationship among different series of events.
The American Years. 2nd ed. Ernie K. Gross. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, c2003. 2 vols: The Colonial Era to 1900 and 1901-2002.
E 174.5 .G753 2003.
The African American Years. Gabriel Burns Stepto. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Thomson/Gale, c2003.
E 185 .S797 2003.
You can also find other chronologies in the Library's online catalog by using the following LCSH or Keyword search as examples.
You might also find useful chronologies on the Internet.
Back to topStatistical data can actually serve a number of research purposes. They can be merely illustrative, they may provide support for a key argument, and they can be primary source material. The following sources can at least provide data for illustration and support.
Statistical Data Finder. This is a locally-produced, and steadily
growing, guide to statistics and statistical sources.
Online Resource
Many of the statistics the Library can offer are actually gathered, compiled, and published by the United States government.
To find additional statistical sources in the Library, use the following Subject Headings in the Library's catalog, as examples.
Another approach to the online catalog is Keyword searching.
Back to topDepending on one's topic, biographical materials may, in fact, be primary resources, but for this guide, they are considered as tools for background and secondary information. Entries often provide bibliographies also.
The three following resources help you find biographical material in thousands of books, articles, and "who's who" type dictionaries.
National biographical dictionaries are important resources for brief, factual information about usually famous or significant persons. The entries often also list primary and secondary bibliography. The two major titles for Americans are the following.
To find collective national or state biographies such as the ones above, use a LCSH search in the catalog such as:
To find individual biographies in the library's catalogs, use your subject's name as a LCSH.
To find biographies of specific groups of people, try a LCSH search such as
Back to topSecondary sources are books, articles, reports, etc., written after an event, usually by a non-participant, which describe, interpret, and/or analyze the event. They are often written by scholars for a scholarly audience, but not always.
Because a bibliography lists books, articles, and other sources, they can save a researcher time. One way to identify bibliographies, and even better, bibliographies of bibliographies, is to use broad-guaged, general guides to primary and secondary sources, such as the following.
You can identify similar broad subject bibliographies using LCSH such as the following as examples.
You can also find more specific bibliographies by using the term bibliography as a subdivision of other LCSH in the library's catalogs.
You can also use the term in Keyword mode:
A valuable electronic resource for finding subject bibliographies is the following.
These help identify books published in particular countries, at particular times, and libraries at which they can be located. Some are organized or indexed by subject.
National Union Catalog, pre-1956 Imprints. Library of Congress and American Library Assn. London: Mansell, 1968-1981. This is very useful to identify titles published before 1956 and held in the Library of Congress and other American libraries. The listings are usually by author's name.
WorldCat
This is an "online union catalog" of thousands of libraries, mainly in the United States.
Online Resource
Early American Imprints, Series I, Evans
(1639-1800). This is a record of publication in what became the United States for the period noted. It is based on the classic
reference work, American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications
Printed in the United States. . .from. . .1639. . .to. . .1820, Charles Evans, ed. Chicago, 1903-59. 13 vols. plus index.
Often simply called "Evans." Many of the actual works are also available on Microprint 1-6 and 1-7.
Online Resource and print available at Z 1215 .E92
Early American Imprints, Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker
(1801-1819). Based on the famous American Bibliography 1801-1819 by Ralph Shaw and Richard Shoemaker, this continues
the record of publication begun by Evans.
Online Resource
Some examples of Subject Headings that can help locate resources such as the above in the online catalog:
Back to topSerendipity is one means of finding books on your topic, by browsing among books that share the same or nearby Library of Congress call numbers, which the Library uses to arrange books on the shelves.
Our Library uses Library of Congress Subject Headings applied to books in our catalog. Some important points to remember about these headings are listed below.
Below are a few selected examples.
The Keyword mode in the online catalog allows a more flexible subject search and indicates appropriate exact subject headings. For example, the search, African Americans and vot** and South** retrieves 61 records which you can examine for particular Subject Headings of greater precision.
Subject searching for books on a topic is also available in the database WorldCat listed above. Books identified here can be requested through the Library's Interlibrary Loan service.
Back to topContemporary scholars usually advance their research through scholarly journal articles. You can identify these by browsing selected journals, and an excellent starting point for that is the resource listed below.
The Library provides two online paths to finding tools that help you identify pertinent journal articles and other scholarly material.
For many topics, the following resources will be likely starting points.
The scholarly content of dissertations is another important source of secondary analysis for your research. Perhaps of equal, and maybe even more, importance is the bibliographies contained in dissertations. Currently, in the United States, the major tool for identifying dissertations, and some master's theses, is the following.
Similar tools, though more likely in paper format, can be found by using such LCSH or Keywords in the online catalog as the following.
Lastly, to find dissertations and theses completed at UNC Chapel Hill, please consult our guide, Dissertations and Theses in Libraries of UNC Chapel Hill.
Back to topBook reviews are helpful in identifying relevant books and are often indexed in scholarly indexes such as ones listed above.
For additional help in locating book reviews, check our Book Review Research Guide.
Online Resource
You may also find reviews of scholarly books at the following site: H-Net Reviews.
Back to topPrimary sources are "firsthand" or "eyewitness" records, such as letters, diaries, autobiographies, travel accounts, government documents, oral histories, and organization records. They are not always easy to identify and locate, but aids are available. Bibliographies often list primary sources, as do monographs and articles. Primary sources are often preserved in microform, and increasingly, electronically.
You may want to look over the Library's guide to Finding Primary Source Documents as a starting point.
Archives USA. This online source combines the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, the National Inventory of Documentary Sources, and a directory of manuscript repositories. It may also be useful for finding organizational records.
Online Resource
Typical Subject Headings in the library's catalogs to find similar material:
The Research Guide and some of the cumulated subject bibliographies listed above can also be useful.
The terms papers, memoirs, archives, archival resources, sources, letters, correspondence, and personal narratives are also often useful in a Keyword search in the catalog, e.g.,
Such materials may also be found on the Internet, such as in the following examples.
Organizational correspondence, papers, and archives are included and/or referred to in a variety of sources. For letters or papers, search the library's catalogs under the organization's name as subject or author.
More generally, the following terms are useful in Subject and/or Keyword searches for this type of material: letters, papers, memoirs, archives, archival resources, sources, and correspondence. For instance:
Back to topInterviews with actual participants of historically important events are becoming a significant source of research material, especially for events of the 20th century. Often you can access transcripts of such interviews if not the actual tapes. Two general guides to oral history sources are listed below.
Oral History: A Reference Guide and Annotated Bibliography.
Patricia P. Havlice. MacFarland, 1985.
Z 6201 .H38 1985
Oral History Index: An International Directory of Oral History Interviews.
Meckler, 1990.
D 16.14 .O74 1990
To find more information about oral history collections, try Subject Headings in the online catalog such as the following.
Or try a Keyword search.
Two online sources of information about oral history collections might also be useful.
Of particular interest are popular periodicals published in the place and time period of interest. Though often treated as secondary sources, popular periodicals can serve as primary sources for the time period in which they were published. For the historical researcher, they can document both mass and elite opinion, current fashion, religious thought, political events, popular culture, etc.
Newspapers also reveal then-current perspectives, attitudes, and behavior. For help in finding newspapers here, use our Newspaper Research Guide. Additional tools are listed below.
For North Carolina related topics, our own North Carolina Collection has extensive newspaper clipping collections and should be consulted. For topics that touch on UNC Chapel Hill, use the Daily Tar Heel Headline Archive covering from 1970 to 2003. You can also search Daily Tar Heel full text from 2000.
Back to topMicroform, either microfilm or microfiche, is used heavily for long-term storage and easier dissemination of research materials. The two titles below are general guides.
Microform Research Collections.
Suzanne Cates Dodson. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1984. This provides
descriptions, annotations, and other information about several
hundred major microform sets.
Guide to Microforms in Print. Author, Title. We keep the
current year only in Reference. The earlier editions are in the
Davis stacks.
Books in Print Stand
Typically useful Subject Headings in the online catalog for finding material that has been microformed are as follows.
Advanced Searches in the online catalog might also be useful.
Back to topDavis Library has rich, extensive collections of United States government material, American state government resources, and United Nations and other international organization documents. The Library also has extensive collections of documents from certain other governments. For some of these sets, we have good indexing tools; for other, less so. A good approach is to locate published guides to official publications of nations and international organizations and use them to identify materials relevant to one's topic. Three such guides are listed below.
Many of our US government documents are now cataloged in our online catalog, so a search will often retrieve records for these. More general sample Subject searches in the Library's catalogs include:
The Reference Department offers many indexes to government sources, especially the U. S. Government, such as the following.
Lexis/Nexis Congressional. This indexes Congressional publications from 1789 on and includes the full text of the Congressional Serial Set from 1789 - 1969.
GPO Monthly Catalog. This indexes U.S. government publications, from 1976 on.
GPO Access. This offers full-text access to U.S. government information, for recent years.
Many U. S. government records are retained by the National Records and Archives Administration. You can check their Web site for materials we might be able to acquire by Interlibrary Loan.
In addition, check our Government Information Resources Web page, and the Web sites of international and non-governmental organizations.
Back to topIncreasingly, research related materials, both primary and secondary sources, are being provided in various electronic formats such as CD-ROM and on the World Wide Web. The title below is a guide to history resources on the Internet.
The History Highway 3.0: a Guide to Internet Resources.
3rd ed. Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott Merriman, eds. Armonk, NY:
M. E. Sharpe, 2002
D 16.117 .H57 2002
Various text archives are available on the Internet at a variety of sites. A few sample sites are listed below.
Various Web search engines or directories can be useful.
You may also need tools for "managing" what you find on the Web.
Back to topFor additional assistance, please contact
Robert Dalton,
Reference Librarian.
Phone: 962-1151
Email: dalton@refstaff.lib.unc.edu
