Slides from 9/27 Class Presentation
Black Studies Archival Collections (Primary Sources)
- Umbra Search African American HistoryA freely available search tool and widget that brings together over 400,000 digitized materials documenting African American culture and history from over 1,000 libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions.
- Afro-Americana Imprints (1535-1922)Search printed historic materials such as books, pamphlets and broadsides (early posters) which record African American history, literature and culture. Topics include descriptions of African American lifeslave and freethroughout the Americas, abolitionist movements and much more.
- American Memory - African American HistoryLibrary of Congress Digital Collections
- Black Freedom Struggle in the United StatesDigital collection of primary sources related to critical people and events in African American history. From Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement, through the Civil War, to the Civil Rights Movement and the Contemporary Era.
- Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowA wide range of Black Studies resources including scholarly journals from around the world, US Black Newspapers, scholarly essays, historic indexes of Black Studies literature, and historic photos and videos.
- Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle This link opens in a new windowContains digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries etc. on the civil rights movement.
- History MakersHistory Makers is the largest African American oral video history archive in the world.
- NAACP PapersFully-searchable database of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)'s archives. Contains nearly two million pages of internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices.
- Slavery, Abolition and Social JusticeThis digital collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery worldwide over six centuries, with 16 key areas of focus: slavery in the early Americas; African coast; the Middle Passage; slavery and agriculture; urban and domestic slavery; slave testimony; spiritualism and religion in slave communities; resistance and revolts; the Underground Railroad; the abolition movement and the slavery debate; legislation and politics; freed slaves, freedmen and free black settlements; education; slavery and the Islamic world; varieties of slave experience; slavery today and the legacy of slavery. The collection also includes case studies from America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba.
Historical Newspaper Databases (Primary Sources)
- Black Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowAfrican American newspapers that are included in the ProQuest Historical Newspaper collection: Atlanta Daily World (1931-2010), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Defender (1909-2010), Cleveland Call and Post (1934-1991), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), Louisville Defender (1951-2010), Michigan Chronicle (1939-2010), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2010), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2010)
- African American Newspapers (1800s)Search a collection of African-American newspapers dating from the 1800s. It contains large numbers of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements, which illustrate the African-American experiences.
- African American Newspapers (1827-1998)Use this database to find newspapers published by or for African Americans exploring such diverse disciplines as cultural, literary and social history, ethnic studies, political science, ethnic studies, diaspora studies, and womens studies.
- ProQuest Historical NewspapersSearch old editions major U.S. newspapers and the Times of India. Papers include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Other titles include the Atlanta Daily World, Chicago Defender, Christian Science Monitor, Jewish Advocate, the Jewish Exponent, Los Angeles Sentinel, the New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, South China Morning Post, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
Primary sources in arts, humanities, & social sciences
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.
Scholarly Journal Articles (Secondary Sources)
- Academic Search PremierA great place to start your research on any topic, search multidisciplinary, scholarly research articles. This database provides access to scholarly and peer reviewed journals, popular magazines and other resources. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- Black Studies Periodicals DatabaseFind articles from scholarly journals in the field of Black Studies from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. Coverage is international in scope and multidisciplinary; spanning cultural, economic, historical, religious, social, and political issues of importance to the Black Studies discipline.
- Google Scholar (Setup connection to get to PDFs)Use Google Scholar to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, research institutes, and scholarly repositories from colleges and universities. If you are using from off-campus access, change the "Library Settings" to University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Look for the "FindIt@U of M Twin Cities" links in your Google Scholar search results to access full text and PDFs. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- Sociological AbstractsThis core database for the field of sociology contains information on sociology and social policy worldwide. Sociological Abstracts includes citations from the 1952-present. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of journal publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.
Magazine Articles
- African American Periodicals, 1825-1995Features more than 170 wide-ranging magazines by and about African Americans.
- MasterFile CompleteSearch magazines, with a small number of journals and newspapers, covering a broad range of disciplines and topics. Includes photos and multimedia.
- Reader's Guide RetrospectiveUseful for researching popular culture in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. Search for articles from popular magazines from 1890-1982.
Checking out books and other items
- Checking out or borrowing itemsYou can borrow books and other materials by using your U Card. As a UMN student you can check out an unlimited number of items and have full access to online library resources both on and off campus.
Get It
Use the Get It link to have physical materials delivered to your home, campus office, or another library.
Off-campus access to library resources
Current University students, staff and faculty should be able to get full text and online access to the University Libraries from anywhere. Here are three ways to access the library full text from off campus.
- Search the University of Minnesota library website. Log in with your UMN Internet ID and password to access resources.
- Log in using the U of M Virtual Private Network (VPN). You will need to download it VPN software to your computer from campus OIT (Office of Information Technology).
- Install the Libraries' Proxy Bookmarklet to your browser and click it to reload the page with your U of M login to get access to full text. Watch a proxy bookmarklet video (3 min) to learn more.
View examples and learn more on our How to get to full text from on and off campus Guide.
Getting full text
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.
Get help from the U Libraries - Online!
- Peer Research ConsultantsMake an online 30 minute appointment for one-on-one peer assistance with your research. Get help with researching your topic, finding sources, citing sources and more. Peer Research Consultants can also help you get started with faculty-sponsored research.
- Chat 24/7 online with the LibrariesAsk us anything! Chat with a librarian, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with any research or library questions.
- Meet with a librarianSchedule an online consultations for personalized research support primarily for University of Minnesota faculty, instructors, graduate and undergraduate students and staff.
Tutorial: Database search tips
Improve your searches! This guide will help you:
- Apply search modifiers AND, OR, and NOT to your database searches
- Recognize phrase searching and other advanced search techniques
Tutorial: Getting the most out of Google Scholar
- Identify the differences between Google and Google Scholar
- Understand how to access University of Minnesota Libraries-licensed materials through Google Scholar’s “Library Links”
- Search more effectively using Google Scholar’s advanced features and settings