Ohrstrom Blog

Lura Sanborn May 20th, 2010

Are you too looking for primary sources? Most Humanities V teachers are requiring at least two for completion of a successful research paper.  If you’ve looked in all the usual places (such as those listed here in our primary source round-up), yet still aren’t finding quite what you want, consider OAIster.

What is it? OAIster is an online catalog of digitized sources.  It is made available by OCLC, a company that provides many library-related services.

It might help to compare this to Ohrstrom Library’s catalog.  The Ohrstrom Library catalog searches through the records of our 70,000 print titles.  OAIster searches through the records of 23 Million digitized sources from over 1,000 contributors.

What might you find?

• A copy of Redon’s journal, contributed by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
• Correspondence from Sigmund Freud to Albert Einstein regarding war contributed by I-Revues.
• Sanitary Statistics of Native Colonial Schools and Hospitals by Florence Nightingale contributed by University of California Libraries.
• An image of an Alice in Wonderland Float, from Mardi Gra 1938 contributed by the Indiana University Digital Library Program (see image above).
• An abstract of a report from the National Program for Inspection of Non-Federal Dams regarding the St. Pauls School Dam contributed by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Repository.

Is it hard to use? The search function is very straightforward, offering a basic search or advanced search.  As always, if you would like a little help using this resource please be in touch!

Tags: Databases, Global Studies, Humanities, Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, Humanities V, Humanities V Research Paper, primary sources, reference, Research, Web Resources

• Databases , History , Humanities , Research , Social Sciences , Web Resources
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Lura Sanborn January 21st, 2010

Ohrstrom Library is pleased to announce its subscription to American History in Video.  This database provides access to over 5,000 titles from the 1920s to 2008 including: newsreels, documentaries and government footage.

Every video includes a complete and fully searchable transcript, readable alongside the video.

Videos can be selected from the database by keyword searching, or by multiple categories, including: subjects, historical eras, years, historical events, people, places and topics.  Consider browsing by year to locate primary source videos created during the time period you are studying.

Click HERE to access the database.

To cite this source, be sure to give credit to both the creator of the video and to the database.
Example:

Burns, Ken, dir. Civil War. Episode 3, Forever Free (1862). PBS, 1990.

American History in Video. Web. 12 Dec. 2009. <http://ahiv.alexanderstreet.com/Playlists/326964>.

Tags: American History, Databases, History, Humanities, Humanities IV, primary sources, reference, Research, U.S. History, Web Resources

• Databases , History , Humanities , Library News , Research , Web Resources
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Lura Sanborn January 12th, 2010

Daily Life through World History in Primary Documents edited by Lawrence Morris, Greenwood Press, 2009.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 909 M832D

Each volume in this three-volume set features worldwide primary source documents from a different time period.

• Volume 1 – The Ancient World
• Volume 2 – The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
• Volume 3 – The Modern World

Examples include:

• An excerpt from the first-century A.D. text Jewish Antiquities: “Jewish Laws on Marriage and Family.”
• A passage from Lankavatara Sutra, a Buddhist religious text estimated to be from the fourth century B.C.: “Do Not Eat Meat.”
• A document written by a third-century Egyptian lentil merchant, requesting tax relief.
• A poem by Chinese poet Po Chu-I (A.D. 772-846): “The Charcoal-Seller.”
• An excerpt from the writings of a millworker, Harriet H. Robinson: Loom and Spindle, or Life Among the Early Mill Girls.
• An excerpt about fast food from Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal.

Helpful for: Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, Humanities V, Humanities V Research Paper, Topic Finding, Global Studies

Tags: American History, Global Studies, History, Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities V, New Reference Book, primary sources, reference, Research, Topic Fining

• History , Humanities , Research , Social Sciences
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Lisa Laughy May 19th, 2009

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Research and Discovery: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science edited by Russell Lawson, M.E. Sharpe, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 509 L44R

This three volumes set presents scientific biographies, topics and inventions from fourteen different branches of science.  A handful of primary source documents conclude each section.

Read about Weather in Early America, John Josselyn’s Description of Seventeenth-Century Fauna, Psychoanalysis in America, Count Rumford and/or browse the entry on New Hampshire’s own Mary Baker Eddy and her connection to Medicine & Health.

Helpful for: Science, Humanities IV, Ecology

Photo credit:

Count von Rumford, Benjamin Thompson. Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical. 2 vols. Boston: Manning & Loring, 1799. Thomas Jefferson’s Library. Lib. of Congress. 17 Apr. 2009 <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html>.

Tags: Count Rumford, Ecology, Humanities IV, New Reference Book, primary sources, psychoanalysis, reference, Research, Science, weather

• History , Humanities , Natural Sciences , Research , Social Sciences
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Lisa Laughy May 14th, 2009

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The World Digital Library is a partnership between UNESCO and the U.S. Library of Congress.  The site aims to provide free access to digitized treasures currently housed in libraries, museums & other institutions around the world.

Search by keyword or browse using different methods including: place, time or topic.

Europeana is collaboration between dozens of European institutions including: museums, libraries, archives and galleries.  Currently housing 4 million items, the project aims to have 10 million items online in 2010.

Search for James Bond, Descartes, hippos or Alice in Wonderland.  Searches may be further narrowed by item type including: texts, images, videos and sounds.

Helpful for:  Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities V, Religious Studies, Art, Science, books, Primary Sources

Tags: Art, books, Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities V, primary sources, Religious Studies, Science

• Fine Arts , History , Humanities , Research , Technology , Web Resources
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