History 

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of published primary sources dealing with history. Primary sources for other regions and time periods are also available (though often in the original language). These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the Russian Revolution), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material. Most books are printed but some are microfilmed.

If you are looking for books published before 1924, check Google Books. More than 100,000 books free of copyright are available full-text and can be downloaded as pdfs. Plus you can search through the entire text to find the information you seek.

The Advanced Book Search provides options to search for specific titles, authors and keywords and to limit your search by fulltext availability (full view only) and publication date.

Current books and books still in copyright are not available full-text but you can usually use the search feature to pinpoint the pages you might need. Then search the UW Libraries to find a copy of the printed book.

Additional collections early books can be found under the tabs for History by Region and History by Topic.

To find published primary sources use the following strategies and search terms when searching the UW Libraries Catalog.

• Search the UW Libraries Catalog for books written by key participants and organizations, e.g., Martin Luther King or the NAACP
• Do a keywords search and limit your search by publication date, e.g., books published between 1955 and 1965 on civil rights
  
• Do a keywords search for your topic/event and add special terms that designate primary sources

church records and registers correspondence  diaries early works to 1800 interviews  personal narratives probate records  sermons  sources  wills