Hamilton College - Primary Sources

Research Aids

Finding Personal Accounts

Page Index

Indexes and Bibliographies
Library Catalog Searches

Indexes and Bibliographies

Arksey. American Diaries

Location: Ref CT214 . A77 1983
Coverage: 1492-1980
Annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals.

Cole. Civil War Eyewitnesses

Location: Ref E601 .C674
Annotated bibliography of personal narratives written by soldiers, civilians, and foreign travelers that were published as books or articles between 1955 and 1996. (2 volumes)

Goodfriend. Published Diaries and Letters of American Women

Location: Ref CT3260 .G66 1987
Coverage: 1669-1982
Annotated bibliography of published diaries and journals of American women.

In the First Person
Searchable index of more than 4,000 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world.

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Library Catalog Searches

Use the table below to develop search strings for locating primary source bibliographies and collections in library catalogs. Words in the table and accompanying examples are derived from Library of Congress subject headings. Words enclosed in [ ] must be replaced with specific descriptors (e.g., use american in place of [nationality].

Searching for . . .	Enter this phrase	+	modifier(s) [see examples]
bibliographies	bibliography	and	autobiography correspondence diaries [ethnic group] [location] [person] personal narratives
diaries (general)	diaries	and	[person] [nationality]
diaries (by topic)	diaries	and	[ethnic group] [gender] [location] [occupation]
letters	correspondence	and	[location] [person] [topic]
personal accounts	personal narratives	and	[event] [topic] [war]
travel narratives	description and travel	and	[location]

In ALEX

Choose the Advanced Search tab.
Place each phrase or modifier in its own box.
Change the defaults in the drop-down menus to the right to "as a phrase" and "subject" for entries shown in the "Enter this phrase" column from the table above.
Use a (?) to truncate words.

In WorldCat

Place each phrase or modifier in its own box.
Search by Subject for entries from the "Enter this phrase" column.
Use an (*) to truncate words.

Sample searches:

personal narratives AND united states AND slavery
bibliography AND autobiography AND women