letters & diaries. historians value personal texts narrative or story-telling democratic sources...
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Letters & Diaries
Historians value Personal texts Narrative or story-telling Democratic sources More candid Easier to relate to since they often
deal with everyday events
Using Letters & Diaries May be difficult to find
Most have not been saved Those in manuscript collections are unique – only 1
copy in existence May be difficult to read
Handwritten Language differences over time
May be difficult to use Usually organized just chronologically Not indexed Don’t really know if your topic is included until you’ve
read the complete collection
Published letters & diaries Only small percentage are ever
formally published Usually those of significant people May be incomplete or edited
Letters & diaries on the WWW May be buried in larger collections May be incomplete, excerpted or
transcribed
Your letter Transcribe at least the first
paragraph Scan through the rest What can you glean from the
document?
What can you glean from the document? What type of document is this? When was it written? What does the document tell us about the author?
Name? Age? Sex? Occupation? Location?
What sort of evidence does the document provide you about WWI?
About every day life About morale
What information would help you better understand the document?
Finding Published Collections of Letters &
Diaries and Other Primary Sources in the UW Libraries
Catalog
Using the catalog to find primary sources Author searches Date of publication Special subheadings added to a
keywords search
Authors Search for works written by key
people or key organizations related to your topic. Works best if you have a research topic
identified with particular people or organizations.• Author search in UW Libraries Catalog
• wilson woodrow• united states committee on public information
Dates Search for works published during
the time period you are researching. The UW Libraries has a strong collection
of books published during the 20th century.• Use the Keywords search and limit by
publication year.• Limit your search to books published between
1914 and 1920
Subheadings Search for works designated as
primary sources by catalogers. diaries, correspondence, personal
narratives, sources• Use the Keywords search and add these
special headings to your search.• world war 1914 and women and (diaries or
correspondence)• world war 1914 and soldiers and personal
narratives