Presentation presented at the ALHFAM Mt. Plains, Western, Western Canada Regional Conference, September 2013. How do you dig deeper and go beyond books for your research? The slides show how to find primary source material, search effectively, communicate with archivists to get the answers you need, interpret the materials, and organize and track your findings and sources.

1. Anne L. Foster, CA
ALHFAM Joint Western Conference 2013

2.  Find everything that is relevant (good hits)
 Find little that is not (false hits)
 Save time
 Develop authenticity
 Support accuracy
 Find stories that
resonate

3. Secondary Sources
 Site resources
 Stories & legends
 Books & articles
 Read footnotes
 Follow the threads
 Be critical & skeptical
 Don’t skip this step
 Yes, Google
 Ok and Wikipedia
 Be critical & skeptical
Internet

4.  Select keywords thoughtfully
 Look for unique terms or combinations
 Be generous in your synonyms
 Use controlled vocabulary when available
 Use advanced search when possible
 Study good hits for clues
 Learn your search engine

5. •AND
•OR
•NOT
•Wildcards
•Truncation
•Nesting

6.  Google: pickles recipe "hot water bath" extension .edu -.com
 Ebay: (antique, victorian, vintage) (garter, garters) -
(secret,belt,belts,new,mug,lace,stocking,stockings,shapewear
,hollywood,1950s,girdle,g-string)
 Worldcat: 'su:frontier life montana ti:homestead*' >
'1860..1920' > 'Archival material‘
 ContentDM: Coverage: 1896 to 1913 (and) All fields: woman
or women (and) Description: fairbanks (50 results)

7. Search
Engine
Boolean Default Proximity Truncation Fields Limits Stop Sorting
Google -, OR and Phrase No
Auto stem
word in
phrase
intitle,
inurl, link,
site, more
Language,
filetype,
date,
domain
Varies Relevance,
site
Bing AND, OR,
NOT,
( ), -, +
and Phrase No
Auto stem
intitle,
inurl, link,
site, more
Language,
filetype,
date,
domain
No Relevance,
site
Blekko - and Phrase No site date,
slashtags
No Relevance,
date
Procog - and Phrase No No Relevance
Gigablast AND, OR,
AND NOT,
( ), +, -
and Phrase No title, site,
ip, more
Domain,
type
Varies, +
searches
Relevance
Exalead AND, OR,
NOT,
( ),-
and Phrase,
NEAR
Yes and
stems
intitle,
inurl, link,
site
Language,
file type,
date,
domain
Varies, +
searches
Relevance

8. Find a Collection
The Hidden Web
Records ABOUT a place
are often not IN that place.
Archives follow the
principal of provenance.
Provenance is like
following a family tree.

9. Trace the
Family/Corporate Tree
 Who Might Have
Created a Document?
 What Would They
Have Documented?
 It is often not what we
now want . . .
 Where Are They From?
 Where Did They Go?
 Follow the Money
 Government
 Expeditions/Surveys
 Military
 Land Management
 Big Business
 Trading Companies
 Railroads
 Home
 Family
 Newspapers
Common “Roots”

10.  Library catalogs
 Archives catalogs/finding aid databases
 Museum catalogs
 Digital content databases
 No one-stop shopping
 Not everyone is online
 Not everything is online

11.  Minorities, women, children
 Always a challenge
 Think outside the box
 Clubs, organizations
 Newspapers, especially local & later
Society pages
Club news
Advertisements
 Women’s club cookbooks

12.  Send an email
 Be specific
 Be detailed
 Alternate spellings
 Names
 Estimated dates
 State what you’ve already
done/viewed
 Include full contact info.
 Be patient
Write to the Archives

13. Visit the Archives
 Email before making
plans
 Check the website for
forms & rules
 Consult search tools
before arrival
 Bring only what you
need

14.  The archivist is your search partner
 Be detailed about your search
 But don’t share your entire family history
 Rules are meant for the security and preservation of
the materials
 Rules about note taking & reproductions may vary
 Be patient
 If you aren’t finding what you need, consult the
archivist
 Don’t leave the housekeeping to the last minute
 Say thank you

15.  Don’t copy everything
 Do copy to save time
 Keep track of your citations
 Be prepared for gaps, conflicts, and challenges
 Follow threads

16.  Handwriting
 Faded, fragile,
incomplete documents
 Incomplete or broad
cataloging
 Bias, perspective,
personality
 Vagaries of records
management

19.  Track repositories
 Track collections/items
 Note boxes & folders
 Box & folder #s may change!
 Know enough about the document to find a new
location
 Take notes
 Track next steps/leads

20.  Zotero (www.zotero.org)
 Free
 Easy website citing
 Includes full text and/or notes
 Not supported by major bibliographic catalogs
 Commercial Utilities
 ProCite, EndNote, RefWorks
 Employer, school, library network may have
subscription
 Supported by bibliographic catalogs
 Level of notation/full text varies
 Old school index cards
 Still works great!

21.  Publish—traditional, web, conference
 Cite sources
 Footnotes or endnotes
 Skip the bibliographic chapter
summary
 Use catalog numbers for images
 Use the repository’s recommended
citation
 Offer SELECTED notes, lists, ids to
repository
 Don’t take offense if the archives
says no