Research Guides
HSTRY 498: Indigenous Pacific Northwest: Primary Sources: Books
Why Use Primary Sources?
One way to get a glimpse of the past is to read what people read and to see what people saw. In other words, to use primary sources -- evidence left by the past. There are many kinds of primary sources including texts (letters, diaries, government reports, books, newspaper accounts, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisements, posters), artifacts (buildings, clothing, sculpture, coins) and audio/visual (songs, oral history interviews, films).
Books are some of the most easily-accessible primary sources. The UW Libraries has a fairly good collection of books published in the 19th and 20th centuries as well as digital access to books going back to the late 15th century. In addition, primary sources such as letters or diaries may later (even a century or more later) be published in book format.
Keep in mind the most published primary sources dealing with Native American history, especially prior to the mid-20th century, are coming from non-natives, including missionaries, government officials, anthropologists and others. You will need to be aware of, and take into consideration, inherent biases of documents created by these people.
UW Libraries Search and other tools can be used to find these primary sources which may be available in print, online and in microfilm.
This page focuses on finding primary sources in book format. Use the resources listed under the other Primary Source tabs to find other types of material.
Using UW Libraries Search to Find Primary Sources
One of the best ways to find a primary source at the UW Libraries is to search UW Libraries Search for the title of a published work (book, magazine, newspaper, etc.) that you've identified in the bibliography or footnotes of your secondary sources.
You can also try these search tactics to identify published primary sources (in book form):
- Keep in mind that when searching for books dealing with Native Americans that the official term used is "indians of north america." You can also search by tribe ("tulalip indians," "apache indians," etc.)
- Use special subject terms that designate primary sources in conjunction with your topic:
- personal narratives
- diaries
- correspondence
- sources
- interviews
- Example: nez perce indians sources
- Search for books written by key participants and organizations. For example: "dover harriette"
- Limit your search by publication year. Use the Advanced Search option in UW Libraries Search and use the start and end dates of your publication range.
Using HathiTrust to Find Pre-1924 Books
If you are looking for books published before 1924, check HathiTrust. More than million books (also some magazines and government reports) free of copyright are available full-text and can be downloaded as pdfs. Plus you can search through the entire text to find the information you seek.
The Advanced Catalog Search provides options to search for specific titles, authors and keywords and to limit your search by fulltext availability (full view only) and publication date.
Current books and books still in copyright are not available full-text but you can usually use the search feature to pinpoint the pages you might need. Then search the UW Libraries to find a copy of the printed book.
