History 97D
Knowledge and the Worker: An Intellectual History of the American Working Classes
Fall 2007
Library Research Guide
Ellen Broidy
Librarian for U.S./British History and Women’s Studies
Office hours: Tuesday, 2:00-3:00
2216 Rolfe (and by appointment)
Getting to this page:
Go to the UCLA Library’s webpage (www.library.ucla.edu) and follow these simple steps:
Introduction
This guide is designed as an introduction to print ("real") and online ("virtual") resources critical for conducting research on topics related to U.S. labor history, with an emphasis on primary sources, located the UCLA Library and beyond. It is extremely selective, both in terms of the sources cited and the research strategies recommended (or implied). All reference and "finding" sources listed are available at UCLA; however, a number of these point to materials located at libraries, both real and virtual, beyond the campus borders.
The guide covers the following areas:
1. Basic research strategies and tips
3. Finding books/monographic materials
4. Finding articles
5. Primary sources
6. “Tertiary” sources
1. Basic research strategies and tips
1.1 Search tips ~ systems
and serendipity: Successful research is often a combination of systematic
approaches and, when appropriate, serendipity.
1.2 Topic identification
and description: Identify a topic of interest and describe it in as narrow and
focused a way as possible. Consider subtopics, perspective you wish to take,
geographic or chronological focus. As the four “W” questions: What” Who? When?
Where? If you are so inclined, asked Why?
1.3 Search vocabulary:
Make a list of search terms (“keywords”) that describe your topic. Include
synonyms, relevant proper names, etc. Avoid very common words if possible but
also include some general terms (e.g., violence) as well as precise descriptors
such as genital mutilation.
1.4 Truncation: Use truncation symbols (?, *, or #) to build on the root of a word or, if the system permits, within a word to expand your retrieval. The specific symbol depends on the system you’re searching.
Examples:
labor? = labor, laborers, laboring
wom#n = woman, women
1.5 Call numbers: Call
numbers are determined by the first/primary subject heading assigned to the
publication. Thus there is an excellent chance that most, although by no means
all, books on U.S. labor history will be classed and shelved together. Once you
find some promising call numbers for your topic, browse the shelves in that
area for serendipitous discoveries of other items that might be of interest or
use.
1.6 Search documentation:
Keep careful track of your research process and progress: sources consulted, date
ranges covered, search terms used, as well as all promising citations. Use a
notebook, index cards, e-mail messages to yourself, or an online system such as
EndNote.
1.7 What to keep in mind
when assessing the quality and usefulness of print and electronic resources:
Author: Credentials? Scholar? Academic field? Other publications?
Publisher: University press? Other scholarly publisher? Trade press?
Notes: Bibliography? Index? Footnotes?
Date: Original publication date? Date of revision, new edition?
Reviewed: If a book, can you locate a (favorable) book review?
This is the front door to a wide variety of print and electronic resources in Women’s Studies; MELVYL, the union catalog for the University of California libraries; and subject-related webpages developed at UCLA.
3. Finding books: UCLA Library and MELVYL Catalogs
Identifying and locating books on your topic is most conveniently done through a keyword or subject search in the UCLA Library Catalog or the UC systemwide MELVYL Catalog. Keyword searching is the most flexible, usually producing the largest retrieval (but also including “false drops” or unintended results) while subject searching can often be more precise (but limited) because it relies on an authorized list of subject terms called Library of Congress Subject Headings.
3.1 Library of Congress Subject Headings
Although the advent of online catalogs with keyword search capabilities has sounded the death knell for rigidly structured subject heading/classification schemes, it is still worth considering how language is used to organize materials in a research library.
A subject heading is a word or term that describes, often quite broadly, the contents of a book, videotape, dataset, etc. All nonfiction books and media are assigned one or more subject headings, allowing for multiple points of access to the same item. “Authorized” headings are listed in Library of Congress Subject Headings, a four-volume set with a bright red cover located near the reference desk in YRL.
One of the best and most efficient ways to identify subject headings for your topic is to do a keyword or title search in the catalog and then check the subject headings assigned to the book. Note the most promising heading(s) and click on the live link to execute a subject search.
The UCLA Library Catalog provides quick and efficient access to the holdings of the UCLA Library. The catalog should be your first stop for books, periodicals, media and other library materials.
·
The
UCLA Library Catalog is accessible via the link on this webpage and from the
Library’s homepage. Click on the Search and find” tab. The catalog is the first
item on the drop-down menu.
· The UCLA Catalog offers the following features:
Circulation status of materials – lets you know whether a book is available (on the shelf), checked out (and the date it’s due back), or missing.
Serials information – catalog lists both print and electronic serials, with UCLA holdings.
Personal circulation data – allows you to keep track online of materials you have checked out of the Library. Click on My Account and type in your UCLA Bruin Card number.
If your UCLA Library Catalog search does not produce the desire results, you may want to search the holdings of other libraries, particularly other UC libraries. The UC MELVYL Catalog opens up doors to worlds beyond UCLA (yes, the rumor is true. There is intelligent life out there).
To get to the MELVYL Catalog, use the link on this website or click on the Search and find and then Other catalogs. MELVYL is the first in this list. To research a topic, you may use either the default Basic search option or click on Advanced in the gold bar at the top of the page.
4. Finding articles: periodical indexes and abstracting services; full-text e-journals; “print” publications
Index and abstracts for articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present, published since 1964.
Provides selected full-text articles and images from 2,600 scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers, with the earliest citations dating back to 1980. Spans all academic disciplines from arts and humanities to social sciences, science, and technology.
A progressive journal of politics, economics, education, foreign policy, labor, law and other social issues, literature and the arts. Published since 1865.
The New York Times historical (1851-2003) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Index to millions of articles published in 4,547 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences from 1770 to 1995, including full text for 200 complete journal runs. Try searching for keywords working class united states and limiting dates to 1900-1950.
Full text of core scholarly journals from their beginning to approximately five years ago. Disciplines include botany, business, ecology, general science, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, statistics. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. Titles of interest include:
American
Historical Review
American Journal of Legal History
Comparative Studies of History and Society
Economic History Review
History and Theory
Journal of American History
Journal of Contemporary History
Journal of Social History
Journal of the History of Ideas
Law and Society Review
Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. See especially:
History
& Memory
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
History Workshop Journal
Journal of Social History
Journal of the History of Ideas
Daily Worker – YRL microform and Media Services
5. Primary sources
American Memory
Gateway to
"primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the
United States"; "offers more than 7 million digital items from more
than 100 historical collections").Produced by the Library of Congress.
Congressional Publications (Lexis-Nexis)
Contains fully researched CIS legislative histories with full text of bills, debates, reports, and testimony. Also contains clear explanations of the legislative process and search strategies.
CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index. YRL Ref. Index Table 1B
Hearings indexed by subject and organization as well as personal name.
CIS U.S. Serial Set Index. YRL Ref. Index Table 1B
Ongoing collection of U.S. government publications compiled under the direction of the Congress. Includes congressional journals and administrative reports, congressional reports on public and private legislation, and reports resulting from congressionally-commissioned or conducted interviews. Subject index.
Calisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 150,000 digitized items — including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history. Calisphere's content has been selected from the libraries and museums of the UC campuses, and from a variety of cultural heritage organizations.
Online Archive of California (OAC)
The OAC includes a single, searchable database of "finding aids" to primary sources and their digital facsimiles. Primary sources include letters, diaries, manuscripts, legal and financial records, photographs and other pictorial items, maps, architectural and engineering records, artwork, scientific logbooks, electronic records, sound recordings, oral histories artifacts and ephemera.
Oral History Online provides in-depth indexing to more than 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world. The collection also provides keyword searching of almost 285,000 pages of full-text by close to 10,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to nearly 3,500 audio and video files and almost 18,000 bibliographic records.
American Federation of Labor and the Unions: National and International Union Records from the Samuel Gompers Era. Sanford, N.J.: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1982. Request from SRLF
American Labor: A Documentary Collection. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. HD8066 .A728 2004
Federated Press Records: American Labor Journalism in the Mid-20th Century. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Sources, 2003. Microfilm PN4888 .3 F43 2003 – Request from SRLF. Guide: PN4888 .L3 F43 2003 (Microform and Media Services)
Minutes of the Executive Board of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1935-1955. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, c1991. Microfilm HD8055 .C75 M56 1991 – Request from SRLF. Guide: HD8055 .C75 M56 1991 (Microform and Media Services)
Records of the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor, 1918-1965, Part 1 reports of the Director, annual summaries, major conferences, speeches, and articles. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, c1986. HD6093 .U55 1986 – Request from SRLF
6. “Tertiary” sources
Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2007. YRL Ref. HD8066 .A78 2007