Society of American Archivists
- Using Archives: A Guide to Effective ResearchFrom the Society of American Archivists
Finding an Archive
- WorldCat via FirstSearchMost libraries will catalog their archives in the Database Worldcat.
Google what you're looking for with the word archive. ex. "Ithaca Gun Company" and archive
Research Libraries
What is a Research Library?
- Association of Research LibrariesThe mission of a research library is to preserve media for deep research. They have historical copies of directories, almanacs, newspapers, etc. Their collection is deeper than a college library.
- HathiTrusta partnership of academic research libraries that have digitized much of their material, including scores
- Google Books: Advanced Book SearchLimit to Full View Only to get fulltext books.
- Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office
- Chronicling America: Historic American NewspapersSearch America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963.
- Newspaper NavigatorNewspaper Navigator allows users to search visual content in American newspapers dating from 1789-1963.
- Cornell University LibraryLook at About Us > Visitor Information
Cooperative Borrowing (Cornell & Ithaca College)
Ithaca College students, staff, and faculty members are eligible to apply for a local resident library card.
Local Museums & History Centers
Taking Ithaca as an example
- Association of Public Historians of NYSAll NYS counties have an historian. Ours is Carol Kammen; she writes columns for the Ithaca Journal and holds workshops at TCPL.
- The History Center Tompkins CountyThe History Center is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to preserve and encourage access to its unique collections, while designing learning experiences and services that create opportunities for people to learn about themselves and their place in the world.
- Tompkins County Public LibraryLook at the Research & Learn tab.
- Wharton Studio MuseumWharton Studio Museum’s mission to preserve and celebrate the role Ithaca and the region played in the history of American filmmaking drives the organization to broaden awareness — locally, regionally and nationally — of this unique history through programming of all kinds. Also central to our mission is WSM's plan to develop the Wharton Studio Museum and Park Center in the historic Wharton Studio building in Stewart Park, one of a handful of silent film studios still standing in the country.
- New York Heritage Digital CollectionsDigital collections about people, places, and events from New York State history.
Contents: Photographs, letters, diaries, newspapers, and books. - NYS Historic NewspapersContents: Full-text access to New York State newspapers including some in the public domain. 1725-2019.
- Clerk of the Court: Tompkins CountySee the county clerk for local deeds, permits, and court records.
Vendor Collaborations
Research Libraries have been contracting with commercial vendors to scan and index special collections. The labor involved in doing this alone is costly for non-profit libraries.
- American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society (Gale Primary Sources)This primary source collection contains over six million pages of American periodicals covering over 400 years of American history.
Contents: Historical periodicals. - Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part 1 (Gale Primary Sources)Collects primary source materials from 20 collections including:
GLBT Historical Society; Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation, Inc.; Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives; National Library of Medicine (United States); British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics; and Women's Energy Bank.
Contents: Newsletters, papers, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, and other primary source materials. 1940-2014 (mostly 1950-1990). - Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century (Gale Primary Sources)This collection of primary source material covers far-right and left political groups in the US, Europe, and Australia. Material is sourced from the following collections: American Radicalism Collection (Michigan State University), Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda (Brown University), Searchlight Archive (University of Northampton in the UK), and National Archives in the UK.
Contents: Campaign materials, propaganda, government records, ephemera, oral histories, and other primary source materials.
- Readex: A Division of NewsbankReadex has published many of the most widely used collections of primary source research materials in academic libraries, first as Readex Microprint Corporation and since 1984 as a division of NewsBank, inc
- ProQuest: Primary SourcesDigital Collections from the vendor ProQuest.
- Alexander Street PressDigital content for libraries.
- Hein OnlineHeinOnline is a premier online database containing more than 173 million pages and 270,000 titles of historical and government documents in a fully searchable, image-based format.
