Resources for History 101S Projects - Primary Sources: Print

Primary Sources: Print

What printed primary sources are available?

Many 101 theses use printed primary sources. Monographs (technical books by scientific authors ó for instance, Newton's Principia) are important for scientists through the early 20th century. They can be easily located by author or subject. Thereafter technical literature is found principally in journals, best searched by subject or title. Beyond monographs consider textbooks and reports of scientific organizations, societies, museums, and other institutions. For some projects (for instance, on popularization) important sources can include materials not authored by scientists.

Main and branch libraries

The regular Berkeley library collections are a good starting point for the 19th century onward. Familiarize yourself with the branches as well as the main library. Most of the technical material will be in the former, and branch librarians will be happy to help you.

List of branch libraries: drop-down menu Libraries and Collections at U.C. Berkeley Libraries
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/

Access to GLADIS (the Berkeley library catalog) via the Pathfinder interface

GLADIS quick search
http://sunsite2.berkeley.edu:8000/
GLADIS full-feature search
(also accessible as a link from the former)

Local sources you may not have thought of

The Berkeley library holds some unusual print sources. A bit of brainstorming can shape a creative 101 thesis. Thus foreign-language materials are sometimes translated into English. Berkeley's main collection is strongest after 1875. Consider also scientific journals from countries whose scientists often published in English, including Japan (e.g., the Journal of science of the Hiroshima University) and many countries of the far-flung British empire.

Several collections on microfilm expand the library's regular holdings.

Early American sources: perform a GLADIS full-feature search with the titles below as series (se) and, for example, science (or geology, medicine, etc.) as title keyword (ti)
American periodical series, 1800-1850
Early American imprints
Microfilm collections specific to history of science, searchable under their titles
History of science, health, and women (23 reels)
Records of the Committee on Science and the Arts of the Franklin Institute 1824-1900 (28 reels)

The Bancroft Library (Berkeley's library for special collections) holds several thousand pre-1800 rare books of interest, with an emphasis on mathematics and natural philosophy, and many long runs of scientific journals. Individual records are listed in GLADIS. For guidance contact David Farrell, Curator of History of Science and Technology, or Tony Bliss, Rare Book Librarian.

Beyond Berkeley

For historical reasons, UC campuses have strengths in particular fields. For instance, materials on medicine are strong at UC San Francisco, agricultural sciences at UC Davis, horticulture at UC Riverside. For those fields, searching at Berkeley may not be enough. You can search other UC schools' library collections and have materials delivered to Berkeley. Access these materials

directly through Pathfinder using the "Choose database" page

Melvyl (UC system catalog, no journals!)
or Melvyl Periodicals database
plus Interlibrary Borrowing
http://library.berkeley.edu/ILS/ibs.html

Or you can reach these databases via the California Digital Library (CDL). If you have set up a CDL personal profile to request materials directly from other UC campuses, you need not go through Berkeley's Interlibrary Borrowing. Search from

CDL-hosted databases (Melvyl plus many others)
http://www.dbs.cdl.org/

Or go directly to

Melvyl
http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/?CSdb=cat
Melvyl Periodicals
http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/?CSdb=pe
Set up or activate a personal profile
http://128.48.120.7/mw/mwcgi?sesid=1940613867&Cecho(home/signin)&Zbookmark

In addition, Interlibrary Borrowing can often deliver materials from non-UC libraries. This takes longer, but for some kinds of printed primary sources it is necessary. For more information, visit Interlibrary Borrowing.

Library catalogs can be searched en masse via WorldCat. Go to

CDL-hosted databases (Melvyl plus many others)
http://www.dbs.cdl.org/

And choose WorldCat from the drop-down list of databases.

Historic periodicals online

JSTOR, the scholarly journal archive
http://www.jstor.org/
Some primary-source journals have been archived backwards in time. JSTOR has a complete run of the Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society (1685 on). Also available are a few other periodicals hard to access from Berkeley: e.g., the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club.

Updated: August 2002