Alkek Library News

Featured Author: Joe Nickell on Historical Forgeries

You should check out author Joe Nickell - he got started as a forensics investigator and then moved on to investigate historical document forgeries and real-life X-files (always with a skeptical mind of course).

Here's the table of contents for his book Real or Fake?

pt. I. Documents -- Investigating documents -- Diary of Jack the ripper -- Novel by an American slave -- Lincoln's lost Gettysburg address -- An outlaw's scribblings -- Out of the archives -- pt. II. Photographs -- Photo sleuthing -- A second photo of Emily Dickinson -- Likenesses of Lincoln -- Assassin or look-alike -- From the album -- pt. III. Other artifacts -- Authenticating artworks and other artifacts -- Lost icon found -- Jefferson Davis's musket -- Debris from the Titanic -- Off the shelf.

Highly recommended for the historian's thought process. Clues reside in the strangest places: a turn of phrase, hairstyle, kind of stamp, anachronisms, as well as technical analysis of ink, paper, handwriting styles and more. 

 

How to Find Primary Sources

Primary sources are documents that are direct records of an event, raw data, documents, magazines or newspapers from the time, photos or other material created at the time of an event. Even audio recordings, buildings, or just about anything could be considered primary sources.

Our historical primary source databases are located here.

Again, if you're working in the field of history, you can search our catalog for published collections of primary sources.

Our history maven Margaret Vavarek suggests the searching the following key words in the catalog: Correspondence, Description and Travel, Diaries, Interviews, Personal Narratives, Sources, Letters or Speeches

Another way to identify primary sources is to go to Dissertation Theses Full Text, find relevant dissertations (they are fulltext online) and read their bibliographies.  You could then search to see if we our other libraries have the primary sources mentioned in these bibliographies. 

Primary sources in other disciplines can mean studies, experiment results or original research. These can be found by searching the appropriate databases and finding articles that contain primary research results.

New Database: Pop Culture Universe

Pop Culture Universe is a full-text database that includes American and world popular culture, past and present. You can choose to do the quick search or use the more advanced search options which enables you to limit your search to people, places, time period, or subjects.

Subjects include: 

• Arts and Visual Culture
• Business and Advertising
• Ethnic and Group Culture
• Fashion and Appearance
• Film
• Food and Drink
• Literature * Music
• Politics
• Recreation and Leisure
• Religion and Spirituality
• Sports
• TV and Radio
• Technology and Media

Search results  include tabs which link you to the full-text article, biographies, and/or images, if available. When you click on an entry, first you will notice information about where the entry originally appeared. There are also tools on the right side of the entry that can be used to cite in MLA or Chicago style, email, print, or "permalink" the article/entry into a course site, etc.  Another cool feature is a link to the American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition in case you need a definition.

Pop Culture Universe contains 390 books, 5,450 book chapters, 18,282 encyclopedia entries, and 8,165 images. Decade overviews from 1920s to 2000s. Lesson plans are included in the Teacher's Corner.