It is terrific for collocating the work of one person that may be scattered in many different archives across the country, as correspondence and other material often is. Search ArchiveGrid and you can see amazing connections between collections. You can limit your search in WorldCat to archival collections, but OCLC also harvests these records into a separate, prettier database called ArchiveGrid, which is just a few years old and not widely known to researchers yet. You can also get copies of articles from obscure journals and magazines this way.Įvery catalog record for an archival collection in WorldCat is tagged as such. If you need a book that’s not at your local library, ask your local librarian about interlibrary loan, a service whereby librarians can have books from other libraries shipped to your library for you to use, sometimes at the library only, and you will likely be charged a fee. ![]() If you’re looking for a rare book or an archival collection you think might exist out there, this should be your first stop. ![]() Library catalogers use it to download catalog records for popular books into their own systems and upload records for their own unique materials. You probably have a retired relative obsessed with genealogy ask if you can borrow their log in perhaps they might even be interested in helping out with your research project.ĭid you know that there is a centralized, global library database that you can search for any book at any library? It’s called WorldCat and it’s been around for decades, maintained by OCLC (Online Library Computer Center). These databases can be incredibly complex and difficult to search, so head to your public library to use it for free and ask your local genealogy librarian for tips. I probably don’t need to tell you about, but it and other genealogical databases are definitely worth a whirl. Every town in American in pretty much every era had at least one newspaper, if not several, and they are full of not just factual, hard news, but also great local gossip. Wikipedia maintains an extensive list of digitized newspapers and databases. Other databases like, and will charge a hefty individual subscription fee but they may be available for free along with ProQuest’s newspaper database for free at your local public or academic library if they subscribe. They are adding new pages to it every day. A terrific free one is Chronicling America at the Library of Congress, although most of the newspapers available are from before the 1930s. Google Advanced Search and boolean searches are your friends.ĭigitized newspaper databases are a complete gold mine for information about the past. ![]() You probably know all about the different kinds of Google searches you can do - if not, Google it. It can lead to many great nuggets of information, especially buried in footnotes of digitized books on Google Books (keep in mind that if such books exist, your research may not be that original). There is no shame in starting with a Google search.
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