Library Resources for History Day Projects

Save articles and files

It is important to save any articles or files you want to use later. We recommend either saving them to a flash drive or to an online cloud storage account like Google Drive. You can also download them to the computer and email them to yourself. DO NOT email the links- you won’t be able to open them from any other computer. 

Print, copy, and scan

Machines are on the basement level and the first floor. For books we recommend scanning and sending to your email address. Copying and printing are $0.10 per black-and white page ($0.20 double-sided) and color prints and copies are $0.50 per page ($1.00 double-sided). Printing also requires the one-time purchase of a GopherGold card for $1.00. Ask at an information desk for help.

Want the whole book?

If you find something you want to look at again, you can talk to your teacher or school librarian about doing an interlibrary loan through MNLINK.

 

This guide is designed for students working on History Day projects at Wilson Library find articles, sources, and get started with research.

Home

Search for physical materials at Wilson Library

These screenshots show you how to narrow down your search results. If you visit Wilson Library to find materials, this is how you can make sure what you want is available. 

How to read call numbers

table for reading call numbers

 

  1. Q 76 .K26
  2. QA 17 .F75 - QA comes after Q
  3. QA 17.1 .C98 - 17.1 after 17
  4. QA 17.1 .D22 - .D22 after .C98
  5. TK 29 .M49 - TK after QA
  6. TK 29 .M5 - .M5 after .M49

Primary sources

History, Humanities, Social Sciences

Primary sources in these disciplines are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories.

Examples include: Letters, manuscripts, diaries, rare books, historical photographs, first-hand accounts or documentary sources on a subject, person, event or issue; newspapers written at the time of an event, song, or film from time period, historical maps, government reports or data, etc.

Using Archives and Special Collections resources

Get full text articles

When using Library resources, the FindIt link is your connection to accessing the full text of articles if a PDF link is not already visible.

This short video will show you how to get to the articles you need for your research paper or other University of Minnesota assignments. Never pay for articles! If we don't have it online, request it and we will get it for you. 

 

Government Publications as primary sources

Government publications can be excellent primary sources. The Government Publications collection at Wilson Library contains United States federal documents as well as a comprehensive collection of publications from state departments, state extension services, and agricultural experiment stations.  Besides being a regional United States government depository, the Libraries also receive documents from Canada, the European Union, and the United Nations, as well as publications from other countries and international organizations.

 

Last Updated: Sep 25, 2023 9:58 AM