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• New Database: American History in Video

  21Jan

  Categories: Databases, History, Humanities, Library News, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  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

• New Reference Book: Daily Life through World History in Primary Documents

  12Jan

  Categories: History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  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

• New Reference Book: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science

  19May

  Categories: History, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  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

• World Collections Online: Expanding our Global Perspective

  14May

  Categories: Fine Arts, History, Humanities, Research, Technology, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  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

• Primary Source Round-up: Something for Everyone

  08May

  Categories: Databases, History, Humanities, Periodicals, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian

  Gathering primary sources for your Fifth Form paper?  Ohrstrom Library offers the following sources and suggestions:

  Online Databases:
  These databases, available through the Library’s website, are those most commonly used by Fifth Formers looking for primary source periodical material.

  • London Times – Provides the full-text of this newspaper from 1785-1985.

  • Historical Newspaper Collection – Provides the full-text of 6 major U.S. newspapers from 1851 through the early 2000s.

  • JSTOR – features a collection of 750+ journals, most dating from at least the 1800s forward.  (Note, be sure to watch the date.  A recent article on your topic represents current research, not a likely primary source.)

  Books – More Primary Source Potential:
  You can locate primary sources published in book form by using the following terms as subject searches in the Library’s Online Catalog.  Or, conduct a keyword search using one term below combined with your topic (i.e. Correspondence, Darwin; or Sources, Inquisition).

  • Correspondence
  • Diaries
  • Interviews
  • Personal narratives
  • Speeches
  • Sources

  

  Frequently, primary sources are embedded within books considered secondary sources.  For example, a book about the Cold War may contain the text of a relevant speech, letter and/or legal document.

  Venturing Online – Visit the Library @ Delicious:
  The Library has begun collecting high quality websites in its own Delicious account.  Click on the “Primary Sources” tag to generate a list of websites housing exceptional collections of primary sources.  Top picks are also listed in the Fifth Form paper research guide.

  

  Google Advanced Search Techniques:
  As a final online tip, try searching your subject in Google, but first, limit the domain to .edu and add the word archives to your search string.  If a University or College library has digitized a special collection in your area of research, this search could help you find it.

  

  

  Tags: Databases, Delicious, Google, primary sources, WebCat

• A Friend Indeed: Fifth Form Paper Research Guide

  30Apr

  Categories: Databases, History, Humanities, Periodicals, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy - Archives Assistant

  

  Just in time for the Fifth Form Humanities research paper assignments, Ohrstrom Library staff members have prepared an online research guide to help you through the process. The Fifth Form Paper Research Guide has been added to the Ohrstrom Blog and contains key information, such as:

  • A list of reference books in the library that can help you find a topic
  • Step-by-Step guide to the research process
  • Search strategies for finding periodical articles in magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, reports, and more
  • A list of librarian approved web resources for accessing photos, artwork, video and other documents and primary sources
  • A link to our Delicious account where you can access more, newly added librarian approved web resources

  You can access this research guide by clicking HERE. There are also permanent links in the blog sidebar under the “Research Guides” list heading, a link in the fly-out menu of the Ohrstrom Library website under “Research > Research Guides”, and a link on the Ohrstrom Library main page in Blackboard (Click on “Ohrstrom Library” in your course list).

  This research guide will be your best friend over the next few weeks, so be sure to bookmark it and visit it often throughout the research phase of the assignment. For additional research assistance contact Ms. Sanborn or any of the Ohrstrom Library Staff.

  Tags: Blackboard, Fifth Form Paper, Humanities V, primary sources, reference, Research, Research Guide

• Selected Websites: They’re “Delicious” and Good For You Too!

  07Apr

  Categories: History, Humanities, Library News, Literature, Research, Social Sciences, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Ohrstrom Library is now collecting links to high-quality web sites and storing them in our own Delicious account. For those of you unfamiliar with Delicious, it is the leading social bookmarking website where users store, share and discover bookmarked websites.  The links stored in the “OhrstromLibrary” Delicious account are selected based on quality, stability, relevance to SPS curriculum, authority and currency of information.

  Students will find this collection of links very useful when pursuing a wide range of research projects.  Working on your Humanities V paper topic?  Click on the “Humanities5″ tag and see all the links helpful for starting your research.  Looking for those seemingly elusive primary sources?  Now you can click a tag and have access to a number of great websites chock full of primary sources.  Library staff have pre-selected only the best online sites, and organized them in a way that makes them immediately useful for students. “Tagging” organizes the links into useful subgroups, allowing easy access to web resources without a lot of browsing.  New links are being added all the time, so the collection, while selective, will continue to grow.

  For quick access to the latest links, a page has been added to the Ohrstrom Blog sidebar to the left.  Look for the “Selected Websites” link under the Research Guides heading.

  Tags: Delicious, Humanities IV, Links, Ohrstrom Library, primary sources, Selected Websites, tags

• New Book Acquisition: Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

  26Mar

  Categories: History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Ohrstrom Library has acquired a copy of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt published by Cambridge University Press in 2009 (133.43 R72R).  One of the ten Associate Editors for this ambitious publishing project is St. Paul’s own Language Center Director, Margo Burns.  Ms. Burns also served as Project Manager for the hefty two inch thick 996 page book that was ten years in the making. The General Editor of the volume is Bernard Rosenthal.

  John Murrin of Princeton University offers this review:

  “Bernard Rosenthal and his exceptionally talented, international team of associate editors have produced the most comprehensive and carefully edited collection of legal documents from the Salem witch trials ever published. Unlike the three-volume collection of The Salem Witchcraft Papers, edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, who used the typescript prepared by the Works Progress Administration during the New Deal, the Rosenthal team has gone back to the original manuscripts and, in the process, corrected a number of serious errors of transcription. They have included more than thirty new documents either never published before or only printed in part.”

  Ms. Burns has also created an in-depth website that provides links to primary resources on the web relating to the Salem Witchcraft trials as well as a link to the Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt – materials specifically covered in this book.  Together, the book and website offer an excellent comprehensive resource for anyone with interest in this fascinating period of early American History.

  Tags: American History, Margo Burns, primary sources, Salem Witch Trials, Salem Witch-Hunt, U.S. History

• New Reference Set: Milestone Documents in American History

  11Feb

  Categories: History, Humanities, Research Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

  Milestone Documents in American History (four volumes) edited by Paul Finkelman.  Dallas: Schlager, 2008.

  Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 973 F495M

  133 primary source documents key to U.S. history are included in this set.  Each primary source is provided alongside a history of the source, its impact and information about the creator(s).

  Examples include: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor” speech, Federal-aid Highway Act and Bush v. Gore.

  Also available online through the Ohrstrom Library website HERE.

  Helpful for:  Humanities IV, U.S. History Research, Primary Source Research.

  Tags: American History, Humanities IV, milestone documents, New Reference Book, primary sources, Research, U.S. History

• Desperately Seeking Primary Sources: The 4th Form Paper Research Guide

  04Feb

  Categories: Databases, History, Library News, Periodicals, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy - Archives Assistant

  

  Just in time for the Fourth Form research paper assignments, Ohrstrom Library staff members have prepared an online research guide to help you through the process.  The Fourth Form Paper Research Guide has been added to the Ohrstrom Blog and contains key information, such as:

  • A list of reference books in the library that are chocked full of primary source materials
  • A list of reference books in the library that feature chronologies and timelines
  • Search strategies for finding other books on your topic
  • Tips on finding periodical articles in magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, reports, and more
  • A list of librarian approved web resources for accessing photos, census data, artwork, video and other documents

  You can access this research guide by clicking HERE.  There are also permanent links in the blog sidebar under the “Research Guides” list heading, a link in the fly-out menu of the Ohrstrom Library website under “Research > Research Guides”, and a link on the Ohrstrom Library main page in Blackboard (Click on “Ohrstrom Library” in your course list).

  This research guide will be your best friend over the next few weeks, so be sure to bookmark it and visit it often throughout the research phase of the assignment.  For additional research assistance contact Ms. Sanborn or any of the Ohrstrom Library Staff.

  Tags: Fourth Form Paper, primary sources, reference, Research, Research Guide