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HI338—“Revolution, Repression, Rock n’ Roll: The United States in the 1950s and 1960s

Finding Primary Sources in Books

While there are many primary source documents available online, through the BU Libraries and on the Web, printed books can also be a rich source of primary sources in U.S. history. These include printed collections of diaries, speeches, correspondence, personal narratives, and other materials.

The search page screenshot below shows a search page pre-configured to search for these and other kinds of primary sources in books.  Clicking on the screenshot will bring up a completed search of more than 35,000 such books on all topics. To focus the search on a particular topic, simply enter some keywords on the second line and click on the blue Search button.

Here are some examples of primary sources books searches on specific topics:

NOTE: Changing the second line search from All Fields to Subject will bring back more precise results. Some searches will bring up books about the subject in other countries as well as the U.S.

BUL primary sources search

Librarian

Profile Photo
Donald Altschiller
Contact:
Mugar Memorial Library
617-358-3955
Subjects: History, Religion

Librarian

Profile Photo
Donald Altschiller
Contact:
Mugar Memorial Library
617-358-3955
Subjects: History, Religion