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Documentary Heritage Program WNY Library Resources Council

Buffalo, New York

Government Appointed Historians of Western New York Conference

May 7, 2011

Finding New York Military History on the Internet

Heidi Bamford, November 2014

Who holds New York’s historical records?

! Federal, state and local governments

! Public libraries’ local history collections

! Historical societies and museums

! Schools, colleges and universities

! Businesses and professional organizations

! Religious and community organizations

Evaluating Sources ! Check for:

n  Authority – who created the information? n  Accuracy – is the information based on facts? n  Authenticity – facts verified and consistent? n  Currency – when created? Last updated? n  Coverage – Accounts for multiple pov?

! Evaluating History Websites (SUNY/Oswego) ! Evaluating Websites (Cornell University)

Tip: Know Your Boundaries! ! The Mapping of New York State ! Atlas of Historical County Boundaries ! NYS Counties History ! Early New York (Rootsweb)

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**TIP: Use the “Search” or “Help” links for

Maximizing Potential Hits

! Examples:

n  “batavia” AND “new york” (separate terms with quotes)

n  “batavia AND new york” (all words in one quote) n  “batavia, new york” (omit the AND) n  “Batavia, New York” (try using caps) n  Batavia, New York (caps, no quotes) n  batavia, new york (no caps, no quotes) n  batavia new york (no caps, quotes, punctuation) n  Batavia, NY (abbreviations)

Checklist for NY and Local History on the Internet

! Directories ! Union Catalogs ! Institutional Catalogs ! Online Guides, Exhibits ! Online Finding Aids, Indexes ! BLTs – Blogs, Listservs, Twitter!

Locating NY Repositories & Resources in National Directories

University of

Idaho's Repositories of Primary Sources

Digital-Librarian.com ArchiveGrid

n  Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives

! INFOMINE ! Librarians' Internet

Index ! The WWW Virtual

Library

Union Catalogs ! Combine catalogs of

several institutions

! Can usually search holdings of all included institutions at once

! Useful when you do not know where material is located

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Union Catalogs NUCMC National Union Catalog of

Manuscript Collections o  Search for specific person o  Search for an organization’s collection o  Search for material on a topic World Cat

**Tip: Add terms like “records” or “papers” or “manuscripts” to subject search terms to get more historical records!

New York State Archives & New York State Library

! New York State Library n  Holds non-government records

! New York State Archives n  Holds records of state government

! New York State Archives Research Tools

n  Topical guides (finding aids) n  Web exhibits n  Digital collections

Union Catalogs…continued

New York State Library’s NYS Library/Archives/Museum Catalog & Historic Documents Inventory (HDI)

Access PA Early Canadiana Online (ECO)

Harvard University Web Accessible Collections

Institutional Catalogs - LOC

! Library of Congress - Home Library of Congress Digital Collections Library of Congress American Memory

George Washington's Diaries at LOC

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National Archives

! Archives Resources Catalog (ARC) ! Access to Archival Databases (AAD)

n  Presidential Libraries

New York Institutional Catalogs & Guides ! New York State Military

Museum ! New York Historical

Society ! New York Public Library

Digital Gallery •  NYPL Civil War Soldier

database

Other New York State Resources ! New York VetFriends ! NYS 3Rs (Library Councils)

n  New York Heritage ! NY History Net ! NY Gen Web

Local Institutional Catalogs & Guides

Monroe County Library System (Local History)

Buffalo History Museum

FRANK Rochester Museum & Science

Center LIBCAT Historic River Valley Hudson

American Field Services History

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Other Online Exhibitions & Guides

! SI: Library & Archival Exhibitions on the Web Smithsonian Archives Collections Online

! The Virtual Wall (Vietnam) ! Library of Congress Online Guides ! PBS Programs

n  The War That Made America •  PBS on the Mexican War •  PBS Series: The Great War •  The Perilous Fight (PBS WWII) •  PBS: Battlefield Vietnam

Web Sites – Full Text and Index Links

! Digital Book Index

! Internet Archive ! ipl2 (Internet Public Library) ! Buffalo History Index

! BuffaloResearch.com

Conclusion

! What questions do you have?

! Thank you for attending!