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HIST 4990: Vietnam War: Primary Sources

Primary Source Searching

Three especially useful ways to find primary sources:

  • Digital sources (subscription and freely available): see this page!
  • Archival sources: see our Archival Research guide for information about finding archival sources and local archives!
  • Mining footnotes: the footnotes/endnotes/references in your secondary articles and books can be goldmines for primary sources! See the Mining the Footnotes guide for more information.
  • Creative Commons licensed image from Flickr user katiew

    Life Magazine

    LIFE Magazine's photo archives are available online at Life.com.

    The GSU Library also has LIFE available in paper and on microfilm:

    Digital Collections available at GSU (GSU affiliates only)

    These collections are available to GSU students, faculty, and staff only.

    If you are off campus, you should be asked to provide your Campus ID and password after you click on the links.

    Free Online Collections

    Collections of Historical Periodicals (GSU affiliates only)

    (Newspaper collections are listed separately in the Historical Newspapers guide)

    Books Available Online

    These online collections include digital versions of many out-of-copyright works including government documents, historical magazines and other periodicals, and books published before 1923. Coverage can be spotty, but these sites are worth searching...  just in case.

    Is There a Website for That?

    George Mason University's National History Education Clearinghouse has published reviews of over 1000 history-oriented websites.

    The National Endowment for the Humanities' Edsitement! site's History/Social Studies section also includes many approved websites featuring historical material.

    Browse, or use keywords to search for a website or digital library relevant to your topic.

    Searching for Digital Collections

    Many libraries and organizations are making digital materials available online.

    To find these collections, use this search string in Google or another search engine, in addition to keywords relevant to your topic, for example:

    digital collection library site:.edu "vietnam war" (use quotes to search for a phrase)

    You can also try the same search limiting to site:org rather than site:edu BUT:

    Be careful!

    EDU = educational institution
    ORG = organization, which can mean almost ANY kind of noncorporate organization. If you aren't familiar with the organization, do some research on it! Who are they? What do they promote? Are they reliable?

    * * *

    For more information about evaluating websites, see the Evaluating Information guide.

    Looking for Resources on a Particular State?

    Many state-based libraries and organizations are digitizing materials relating to the their state.

    The Library of Congress has assembled this list of state digital libraries. Search by state, or check out the Multi-State options.