Finding Sources - Black Studies 103 - Brown - Research Guides at Santa Barbara City College

Finding Sources Through OneSearch

Use OneSearch to find sources on a topic. Try combining some of the terms below with words that describe your specific topic. For example, if you are doing research on music, you might search for African Americans AND culture AND music.

Suggested Search Terms

African American
African American children
African American men
African American women
African Americans
Afro-Americans
Black Studies
Culture
Popular culture
Social conditions
Social history

Finding Primary Sources Through OneSearch

Use OneSearch to find primary sources on a topic. Choose from the search terms listed below and add them to your search to explore what primary source material we have on your topic.

Suggested Search Terms

personal narratives
Sample search: slavery and "personal narratives"
sources
Sample search: music and sources
correspondence
Sample search: "civil rights" and correspondence
diaries
charters
early works
interviews
manuscripts
oratory
pamphlets
speeches
letters
documents

Finding Sources Through Library Databases

To find articles from periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and academic journals), search the library databases. To access databases from off campus, you will need to log in with your Pipeline username and password.

Use one of the following general databases, or ask a librarian to suggest the best database for your specific topic:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window This database provides full text for more than 8,500 periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals), including full text for nearly 7,300 peer-reviewed titles, in all subject areas. The database includes PDF content going back as far as 1887. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window The Oxford African American Studies Center provides more than 20,000 articles by top scholars in the field, with over 2,500 images, more than 700 primary sources with specially written commentaries, and nearly 200 maps have been collected to enhance this reference content.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Provides full-text coverage of more than 200 periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals) and nearly 100 books, and selective indexing for 1,700 periodicals from 1955 to the present.
Ethnic News Watch This link opens in a new window Included are journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and minority presses. The current collection, Ethnic NewsWatch™, covers 1990-present, and the historical collection, Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, spans 1959-1989. Ethnicities include: African American/Caribbean/African; Arab/Middle Eastern; Asian/Pacific Islander; European/Eastern European; Hispanic; Jewish; Native People.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Covers all time periods of U.S. and World History. Provides full text from more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, and cover to cover full text for more than 150 leading history periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals). Includes primary source material such as historical documents, photos, and maps. Also includes biographies of historical figures, and more than 80 hours of historical video.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Provides full text articles from scholarly journals in a range of subject areas in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, dating from the first issue (sometimes going back over 100 years) until five years ago. The Luria Library subscription includes the following collections: Arts & Sciences II; Arts & Sciences III; and Life Sciences.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window Provides complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals in subject areas such as: ethnic studies; art and architecture; literature; education; film; theatre and performing arts; history; language; medicine and health; philosophy; religion; science, technology, and math; social sciences; and gender and sexuality. Contains over 525 journals, 335 of which are full text. An good source of scholarly articles for advanced literary criticism.

Finding Primary Sources Through Library Databases

Some of the library databases include primary source materials. When you access these resources from off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your Pipeline username and password.

Artstor This link opens in a new window To find images of artwork, search by the artist's name or the title of the work.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Primary source material in this database includes treaties, photos, maps and videos. Use the advanced search and select “primary source document” in the “publication type” menu. Or, select the “primary sources” tab found in the menu to the left of the list of results after your search.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Some journals found in JSTOR were published as early as the mid 19th century and could be considered primary sources depending on your research topic. Use the advanced search and limit your search by date to find materials written during a particular time period.

The following website, created by database company ProQuest, is freely available and will not require a Pipeline login:

Black Freedom Struggle in the U.S. Includes a selection of freely available primary source documents related to the challenges and triumphs faced by African Americans in the pursuit of equality. Compiled by ProQuest, the collection includes historical newspaper articles, pamphlets, diaries, correspondence and more from specific time periods in U.S. history.

Finding Primary Sources on the Internet

You can also find primary source materials through many free websites. View a list of recommended websites on our Resources for Black Studies Research Guide, as well as those listed below.

Daily Life

Digital Harlem

American Black Journal Digitized episodes of the series produced by the Detroit Public Television that began airing in 1968.
Freedom Summer Digital Collection Digital collection includes newspaper clippings, oral histories, correspondence and more from the summer of 1964.
White Hate Groups FBI documents on the KKK.
Who Speaks for the Negro? Collection of interviews from the mid-1960s with civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and others.

Civil Rights

Civil Rights Archives Collection of documents, photographs and other material from the collections of Queens College.
Freedom Riders FBI documents on the Freedom Riders.

Slavery

African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts 117 documents including letters, warrants, bills of sale and antislavery material.
Black Abolitionists Archive Collection of black abolitionist speeches and editorials.
DAACS: Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery Archaeological database that includes some images.
Digital Library on American Slavery Database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color.
Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally: 1764-1765 Narrative with accompanying documents including manifests, letters and contracts.

Finding Primary Sources in Person

This archive collection in housed at UCSB:

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) At the UCSB Library. CEMA includes several collections related to African American history and culture, which you can view by visiting UCSB.

Black Studies 103 - Brown: Finding Sources

Using OneSearch

Finding Sources Through OneSearch

Suggested Search Terms

Finding Primary Sources Through OneSearch

Suggested Search Terms

Finding Sources Through Library Databases

Finding Primary Sources Through Library Databases

Finding Primary Sources on the Internet

Daily Life

Civil Rights

Slavery

Finding Primary Sources in Person