Spring 2008 - Neal Salisbury
reference contact: Pamela Skinner x2961

FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Use scholarly encyclopedias, such as those below, for an overview of your topic, a list of suggested readings, and (sometimes) a lead on related primary source material. Note that the list below is highly selective. Ask at the reference desk for other suggestions.

Reference Source	Call Number or Link
Dictionary of American History - 10 v.	ref E 174 .D52 2003
Encyclopedia of American Social History - 3 v.	ref HN 57 .E58 1993
Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies - 3 v.	ref E 45 .E53 1993
Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes - 4 v.	ref E 77 .G15 1998
Handbook of North American Indians. [v. 1. Introduction -- v. 3. Environment, origins and population -- v. 4. History of Indian-White Relations -- v. 7. Northwest Coast -- v. 8. California -- v. 9. Southwest -- v. 10. Southwest -- v. 11. Great Basin -- v. 12. Plateau -- v. 13. Plains -- v. 14. Southeast -- v. 15. Northeast.]	ref E 77 .H25
Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships. 5 v.	ref E76.2 .H43 1987
Biographical sources	Call Number or Link
American National Biography - 24 v.	ref E 176 .D56 and online

 

FINDING BOOKS: CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES & SECONDARY SOURCES

Five College Library Catalog

To start your subject search, click on SUBJECT BEGINS WITH and try the suggestions below. Remember to scrutinize the subjects listed on each record for other searching hints.

Finding narratives:	Try these searches:
To identify published narratives by Europeans or European Americans (in the Five Colleges):	Indian captivities - [place] Indian captivities - North America Indian captivities - Massachusetts CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLES
To identify published accounts of captive or "relocated" Native Americans (in the Five Colleges):	Peruse your secondary sources for names, and also try these searches: Culture conflict - Indian Territory - History Indians of North America - Cultural assimilation Indians of North America - Indian Territory Indians of North America - Relocation - Indian Territory CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLES
Once you select a specific narrative:	Use the subjects listed on each record to search for broader context
Mary Jemison	Iroquois Indians Pioneers - Genesee River Valley (Pa. and N.Y.) Seneca Indians - Captivities
Mary Rowlandson	Indian captivities - Massachusetts Indians of North America - Massachusetts - History - Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 King Philip’s War, 1675-1676
Pocahontas	Rolfe, John, 1585-1622 Powhatan Indians - Government relations Powhatan Indians - History Powhatan women
Richard Pratt/Carlisle Indian School	United States Indian School (Carlisle, Pa.) Indians of North America - Cultural assimilation Indians of North America - Education Indians of North America - Relocation
Standing Bear	Teton Indians Teton Indians - Government relations Indians of North America - Government relations

FINDING CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES IN DIGITAL COLLECTIONS:

Early American Imprints - 1639 to 1800 - Digitized reproductions of early American books and tracts, covering foreign affairs, diplomacy, politics, religion, etc.

Early English Books Online - 1475 to 1700

Eighteenth Century Collections Online - 1701 to 1800 - Includes every significant English- and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.

US Congressional Serial Set - 1817 to 1980 - Reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, constituting a rich array of primary source material on all aspects of American history; includes reports of the Superintendent of Indian Schools and reports of the Reports of the Indian Commissioner.

FINDING BOOKS BEYOND THE FIVE COLLEGES:

WorldCat - Use WorldCat to expand your search for captivity narratives and secondary literature (books) 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. If you plan to use interlibrary loan to request books and theses, please allow at least 2 weeks for delivery.

A SAMPLING OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Bibliographies list published research (and sometimes primary source material) on a topic. Watch for the words "bibliography," "indexes," or "abstracts" as you search by subject in the Five College Library Catalog. Examples:

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
Indian Slavery, Labor, Evangelization, and Captivity in the Americas	ref E 59 .S64 M25 1998
Narratives of North American Indian Captivity : A Selective Bibliography	(stacks) E 85 .V38 1983
The Female Experience in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century America	(stacks) HQ 1410 .C65 1982
Published Diaries and Letters of American Women: An Annotated Bibliography	ref CT 3260 .G66 1987
Sioux and Other Native American Cultures of the Dakotas: An Annotated Bibliography	(stacks) E 99 .D1 H66 1993
Slavery and Slaving in World History: A Bibliography - 2 v.	ref HT 861 .M544 1993

INTERNET

You may be able to find some captivity narratives - or narratives of "relocation," boarding school attendance, etc. - on the internet. If you choose this route, please check the suitability of the material with your course instructor.

Examples:

Zitkala-Sa. The School Days of an Indian Girl [from Atlantic Monthly, 85 (1900): 185-94] (Univeristy of Virginia e-text)

Zitkala-sa. An Indian Teacher among Indians [from Atlantic Monthly, 85 (1900): 381-86] (Univeristy of Virginia e-text)

More often, you will need to comb through secondary sources and websites, looking for names and other clues regarding published primary sources. For example:

Assimilation Through Education: Indian Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest (University of Washinton) - see especially the bibliography section

FIND ARTICLES & ESSAYS

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

• Use the 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 American history database:

America, History and Life - 1953 to present - Lists articles, book reviews, collections, and dissertations in American and Canadian history.

Other possibilities:

ATLA Religion Database - 1949 to present

Humanities Abstracts - 1984 to present - Covers the core journals in history, religion, literature, etc.

MLA Bibliography - 1926 to present - The major literature database

Project Muse - Full text articles from major history journals, among other disciplines; coverage limited to roughly the current 5-10 years

J-STOR - Full text articles from major history journals, among other disciplines; coverage lags roughly 3 years behind printed version of journals

EVALUATING AND CITING SOURCES

• Remember to cite your souce, when either quoting directly or paraphasing. In other words, 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.
• Remember to include a context for each quotation/paraphrase. Who said it? Why does it matter? How does this support or contradict the argument you're making?
• Use either Turabian or the Chicago Manual of Style for your papers for this class; links to brief online versions here. For the full online version of Chicago, click here.

For help with your writing, remember the writing services available at the Jacobson Center.

Evaluating internet resources (Univ. of Maryland)

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

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@email.smith.edu

YOUR FEEDBACK

Click here to provide feedback on this library session.

EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
Alder, Henry Clay - A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians	E 99 .S35 A45 2002
Black Hawk, Sauk chief, 1767-1838. Black Hawk; an Autobiography, edited by Donald Jackson.	E 83.83 .B635 1964
Geronimo, 1829-1909. Geronimo: His own Story. Edited by S. M. Barrett.	E 99 .A6 G3 1970
Jewitt, John Rodgers - The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt: Captive of Maquinna	Oversize (A Core) E 99 .N85 J47 1987
Lee, L. P. - History of the Spirit Lake Massacre: 8th March, 1857 and of Miss Abigail Gardiner's Three Month's Captivity among the Indians. According to her own Account, as given to L. P. Lee.	E 83.857 .L46 1971
Lee, Nelson - .Three years among the Comanches: The narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas ranger, containing a detailed account of his captivity among the Indians, his singular escape through the instrumentality of his watch, and fully illustrating Indian life as it is on the war path and in the camp	click here
North Country Captives: Selected Narratives of Indian Captivity from Vermont and New Hampshire	(stacks) E 78 .V5 N67 1992
Standing Bear, Luther, 1868?-1939. Land of the Spotted Eagle.	E 99 .T34 S72 1988
Tanner, John - The Falcon: A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner.	Amherst E 87.T16 A3 1994

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