Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas , vols. 1&2.  RR E77.N62 1996
Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 4  History of  Indian White Relations .  RR E76.2.H36

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Bridge

Bridge will offer subject access to individual materials on your topic (but not individual journal articles -- see below for that). A stop at the Library of Congress Subject Headings list will save you a great deal of hit or miss time -- you will be able to identify the topic label which is used by most libraries across the United States (and often abroad) to describe your subject. Lovingly referred to as the "big red books," they are found in the reference area of each library on campus. Specific headings include:

Trail of Tears, 1838-1839

Cherokee Indians (with many subdivisions)

Indians of North America -- History
Indians of North America -- Government Relations

Once you have relevant subject headings identified, search Bridge by subject to find the holdings on your topic in Northfield. For a broader perspective, search World Cat , the cataloging database for most libraries in the United States and many abroad.  

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C.  For subject access to journals and newspapers, consult:

Indexes and Abstracts

Indexes to Scholarly Journals in Specific Disciplines
A complete list of indexes and databases is available through the Libraries' Electronic Research Tools Page .   This includes online databases and indexes published in paper format. I have included a sampling here so that you can get an idea of the breadth available and because I believe they may be the most useful for your research.

America:  History and Life   The main starting point for historical research for America and Canada. Don't skip this source. [The other option, when you get there, is Historical Abstracts which covers everything beyond the U.S and Canada.] I suggest you click on Advanced Search -- basic is so basic you'll miss things. The thesaurus is only available from the advanced site. Watch for journal titles like Ethnohistory and Chronicles of Oklahoma.
Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History, 1838-1974 RRD1.C71977

Multidisciplinary Indexes to Scholarly Publications
Academic Search Premier Indexes articles in both popular magazines and academic journals, although the default is only for scholarly materials. Covers 1500 core titles, many back to the mid to late 1980s. Full text of articles often an option.
GoogleScholar [scholar.google.com] is easier for those who know the names in the field. However, it is searchable by keyword -- just know that if you end up at "pay-for-use journal articles" we usually have access to the SAME articles through our databases above, that we've already paid for.

Electronic Journal Collections
JSTOR is an online, full-text database of scholarly articles and book reviews.  It's great if articles appear here, but there is a 3-5 year lag before they do.  Rather than searching by keyword in this database, it is better to search a topical subject index (e.g. America:  History and Life).  Through the SFX software [the FindIt button] you will be linked to JSTOR or any full-text source to which we subscribe if the article is available in full form.   Project Muse is similar to JSTOR, although the time lag is not as great.

Book Review Indexes

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974  RR Z1035.A1C6
Book Review Index , 1965-  RR Z1035.A2B6
America:  History and Life
Academic Search Premier Search a few title key words plus (book* or review*)

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D. Primary sources are in print as well available via Websites. A creative imagination is your best resource for finding them -- think about what you 'd like to find and then decide how to go about getting it. Remember to watch prefaces, footnotes, and bibliographies of secondary works and watch for references to primary sources in journal indexes. But you can also find primary sources in collections or published separately. Listed below are several categories of documents, with examples to whet your appetite, and suggested strategies for finding them. Remember to discuss your needs/ desires with a reference librarian.

PRIMARY SOURCES (Non-Electronic)

Sourcebooks/Collected Editions
The Cherokee removal : a brief history with documents (New copy on order; should arrive this week)

More of these collections may be found by searching Bridge:

By subject: "Subject Heading" SOURCES
By title keyword: DOCUMENT* or READINGS or SOURCE*

Published Memoirs/Journals/Letters/Personal Accounts/Autobiographies/Collected Papers
The Brainerd journal : a mission to the Cherokees, 1817-1823
To marry an Indian : the marriage of Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in letters, 1823-1839
Cherokee editor, the writings of Elias Boudinot
The Papers of Andrew Jackson
Papers of Chief John Ross, E99.C5 R82, vols 1-2

For other sources of this type, search Bridge:

By subject: Subject Heading CORRESPONDENCE
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
REMINISCENCES
INTERVIEWS

By title keyword: MEMOIR*
AUTOBIOGRAPHY*
DIARY or DIARIES
LETTERS or CORRESPONDENCE
SPEECHES

By author (if the name is known)

Government Documents
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Cherokee Indian Agency. Records of the Cherokee Indian Agency in Tennessee, 1801-1835.[Microfilm 91]
Territorial Papers of the United States: Call no. GS 4.13:  vols. 1-28 (GovDocs)

For other sources of this type, search Bridge using:

Name of body with a keyword search; appropriate subject headings

CONTEMPORARY (i.e. Revolutionary times) PRINT SOURCES
American Periodical Series -- for magazines and newspapers in the 19th century
Early American Newspapers Digital

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Websites and Digital Collections

Librarians' catalogs of websites:
Scout Report Reviews of web sites; searchable by keyword and Library of Congress Subject Headings
Infomine Websites "collected" by academic librarians -- full descriptions and subject headings
Librarians' Index to the Internet Aimed more at public library patrons but still useful for many topics

OAIster is an catalog of digital collections. You can choose text or image and search by keyword. It will tell you about the responsible party (authority).
Best of the History Websites
Google -- Search google with your keywords AND add "digital collections" (with quotation marks) to your search. This phrase is used by authoritative sites so it will bring up useful items. This is a better strategy than using google images.

Google Books provides free access to full text versions of many books copyrighted before 1923. An excellent source for primary materials for this period. New items are being added everyday. Here is a sample identified by Professor Hahn:

John C. Calhoun , "Correspondence Between Genl. Andrew Jackson and John C.
Calhoun " (First Seminole War, 1817-18)

Joshua Reed Giddings, "The Exiles of Florida" (First Seminole War Accounts)
http://books.google.com/books?id=XnsFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA28&dq=seminole+war&lr=#PPA32-IA2,M1

Fifty Years in Camp and Field: The Diary of Maj. Genl. Ethan Allen Hitchcock:
http://books.google.com/books?id=VhJ4yKyrhoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=fifty+years+in+camp+and+field

Individual Websites of primary sources recommended by your professor or reference librarian:

American Memory Collection http://memory.loc.gov/   from the Library of Congress

Digital Library of Georgia-Southeastern Native American Documents:
http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/ftaccess.cgi?_id=7f000001&dbs=ZLNA

Sequoya Research Center (includes the "Cherokee Phoenix")
: http://anpa.ualr.edu/default.htm

Georgia Virtual Vault "Ad Hoc Collection":
http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/adhoc.php

Cherokee Phoenix-Hunter Library Collection:
http://www.wcu.edu/library/CherokeePhoenix/Vol3/index.htm

Library of Congress-American State Papers (includes military and Indian
affairs): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsplink.html

Charles Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties-Oklahoma State U.:
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/index.htm

Library of Congress-American Memory (presidential papers have some sources:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Library of Congress-American Memory-Life Histories from the Federal
Writer's Project:http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html

Chronicles of Oklahoma:http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/index.html

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma-Emigration Records:
http://www.seminolenation-indianterritory.org/seminole_emigration_records.htm

RootsWeb-Negroes in the Creek and Seminole Nation:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~texlance/negroes/index.htm

RootsWeb-Creek Emigrants to the Western Creek Nation-Muster Rolls and
Letters, 1826-52:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~texlance/emigrants/index.htm

Thomas Woodward, Published Correspondence
http://jrshelby.com/creek/woodward.htm#580325

Thomas Woodward, "A Personal Account of the Creek Nation of Georgia and
Alabama"
http://www.webroots.org/library/usahist/tcnigal0.html

Albert J. Pickett, "History of Alabama"
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/pktfm.html

Federal Writers Project "Indian Pioneer Papers"
http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgenweb/pioneer/pioneer.htm

I'd like to know what else you found that was useful. Please send suggestions to Kris MacPherson (macphers@stolaf.edu)

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Useful Tools

EndNote : a bibliographic management tool. Learn to build libraries for yourself and automatically insert references in your papers.
How to cite in Chicago Manual of Style format: Link to this website , and choose CMS items.
And, just for fun, if you want to see what you should be doing when, try this research due date calculator, http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/ .

Suggestions for materials to be included on this page should be emailed to: macphers@stolaf.edu . Thank you!