Archival Resources and Collections

Unpublished papers and publications that are not widely held in libraries can be difficult to locate using traditional literature search tools. The following tools are best used after you have completed a thorough literature review and have some knowledge of your topic and the primary sources you might expect to find.

WorldCat

This ubercatalog, discussed in session one, is a good place to look for any publications with limited distribution, including public documents of state and local governments, policy publications of special interest groups, or alternative press publications. Many libraries and also provide information about special collections and archives via WorldCat.

Include the terms -- Sources, -- Manuscripts, -- Correspondence, or --Archives in your WorldCat search to help limit your search results to primary documents.

Archive Finder

Archive Finder is a current directory of over 5,000 repositories and nearly 120,000 collections of primary source material across the United States and the United Kingdom. Use to search and read descriptions of a repository's holdings and to find contact information.

Repositories of Primary Sources

A project of the University of Idaho Libraries to identify the web sites of archives and special collections. Browse by geographic location.

Created by: Dena Hutto, Sociology Liaison & Marc Schneiberg, Associate Professor of Sociology