Spring 2007 - F. Cheung
reference contact: Pamela Skinner x2961

FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

FIND BOOKS

5 College Library Catalog
To start your subject search, click on SUBJECT BEGINS WITH and try such search terms as those listed below. Note that the "correct" subject heading isn't always obvious. If a subject search doesn't work, try a keyword search to find a few relevant titles. Then click on the subject headings on those records to conduct a more comprehensive subject search.

Examples of relevant subject headings:

Concentration camps California
Concentration camps United States
Japanese Americans [place]
Ex: Japanese Americans California San Francisco Bay Area
Japanese Americans evacuation and relocation 1942-1945
Japanese Americans evacuation and relocation 1942-1945 Personal narratives
Loyalty oaths United States

World War 1939-1945 Concentration camps California
World War 1939-1945 Concentration camps West
World War 1939-1945 Concentration camps United States
World War 1939-1945 Evacuation of civilians
World War 1939-1945 Japanese Americans
World War 1939-1945 Participation Japanese American
World War 1939-1945 United States

You may also search under the names of assembly centers and individual internment camps:

Tanforan Assembly Center (San Bruno, Calif.)
Central Utah Relocation Center
Manzanar War Relocation Center

Remember to search people and agencies as both authors and subjects:

Adams, Ansel
United States War Relocation Authority

WorldCat
Use WorldCat to expand your search for books, theses, etc. beyond the Five-College area. Watch for items that are owned by only one library: such unique material is often not obtainable via interlibrary loan (though a listing of archival material might suggest the location of an answer to your question). If you plan to use interlibrary loan to request books and theses, please allow at least 2 weeks for delivery.

FIND ARTICLES & ESSAYS

Use the databases below to identify articles and essays on your topic.

• Use the SC Links buttons within the databases below to see if Smith has the article you need either in electronic or print format
• If you identify an article from another source, use the Journal Locator to locate the article online or in print
• If you need to use interlibrary loan to requests articles, allow a week or so (though often the articles arrive within days)

The major database for American history:

America, History and Life (articles published 1953+ on American history) - Lists articles, book reviews, collections, and dissertations.

Recommended Aggregators/Full-Text Sources:

J-STOR - Full-text articles from major history journals, among other disciplines. Coverage lags ca.3 years behind printed version of the journal.

ProjectMuse - Full-text articles from major history journals, among other disciplines. Coverage limited to issues from the past 5-10 years.

Other possibilities:

Biography Index - 1984+ [1946-1984 = ref Z 5301 .B5]

Index to Legal Periodicals - 1981+ [1926-1981 = ref KF 8 .I5]

FIND PRIMARY SOURCES

• Use secondary literature for leads on primary sources.
• As you search the online catalog; watch for the words "personal narratives," "interviews," "correspondence," "diaries," "pamphlets," and "sources" as part of the subject headings. Other clues may be buried in the title, authorship, date of publication, etc.
• The form your primary source material takes will vary from topic to topic. It may be a diary, correspondence, or personal writings; the public papers of a president; newspaper accounts or editorials; or the records of an organization. It may be a law, court case, or other legal document. For some topics, there will be compilations of significant documents.
• Articles published in the 1940s may constitute primary source material; editorials and letters to the newspaper certainly do. And, scholarly journals may publish articles years later that may not only assess--but even reproduce--primary source material. [See the indexes and databases listed above.]

  5-College Library Catalog

  WorldCat - Lists not only books and theses, but also primary source materials held by other libraries.

  Archives USA - Lists manuscript materials held by US repositories.

Databases with full-text from the 1930s-1940s:

Nation Archive - 1865+ - Archive of The Nation from 1865 through the present, including PDF page images and searchable text.

New York Times Historical - 1851-2003

Los Angeles Times Historical - 1881-1985

Washington Post Historical. 1877 - 1990

Indexes listing additional articles from the 1930s-1940s:

Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective - 1907-1965

Periodicals Index Online - 1770+

PAIS International - 1900+

Readers' Guide Retrospective -1890-1982

FIND GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

Congress:

Lexis-Nexis Congressional - 1789+ - Indexing for Congressional publications, hearing, bills, and laws.

The President:

Roosevelt, Franklin D. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. New York : Random House, 1938-1950. 13 volumes. - 973.917 R677p

Roosevelt, Franklin D. Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hyde Park, NY : Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. (24 sound cassettes) - audio E 742.5 R66 1999 [ask at the Neilson front desk] and online

Laws:

United States Statutes at Large - 1790+ - US doc GS 4.111

Supreme Court Cases:

United States Supreme Court Reports, 1937-1975
in print: United States Supremer Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition - US doc Ju 6.8

LII/Legal Information Institute (Cornell University)

INTERNET LINKS

Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese American Internment at Manzanar (Library of Congress)

Civil Liberties Archives and Study Center (Japanese American National Museum)

Children of the Camps: Resources & Links

Documents and Photographs Related to Japanese Relocation During World War II (National Archives and Records Administration)

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Executive Order 9066

Evacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese (Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco)

Japanese-American Internment Camps during World War II (University of Utah)

JARPA: Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives

Manazar (National Park Service)

EVALUATING AND CITING SOURCES

• Remember to cite your souce, when either quoting directly or paraphasing.
• Cite your source whenever you present an idea that isn't your own.
• Websites must be cited in your notes/bibliography, too; if you cut and paste--or
  paraphrase--from a website, cite the webpage.
• When in doubt, cite your source.
• Use this link to connect to online versions of Turabian, MLA Style Guide, etc.:
  Style Manuals & Citation Guides

  Using Primary Sources on the Web: Evaluating Primary Source Websites (Instruction & Research Services Committee, Reference and User Service Association History Section, American Library Association)

  Evaluating internet resources (Univ. of Maryland)

  Jacobsen Center: Writing Services

REFERENCE DESK HOURS

Click here for Neilson Library reference desk hours.

CONTACT THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Pamela Skinner, the instructor for your library session: pskinner@smith.edu

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