"Chairman Mao is the great liberator of the world's revolutionary people", 1968 (Source: flickr, CC 2.0 Generic license)
Primary sources can take many different forms. Letters, accounts and other kinds of documents written at the time of an event or era allow a nuanced and detailed understanding of historical issues. Material below explains ways to locate primary sources in Tripod and Worldcat. To find additional primary sources, historical studies in books and journal articles will often offer the best recommendations. Check footnotes and bibliographies for references to material written in the period of time you are researching.
Primary Source Databases and Websites
Finding Printed Copies of Primary Sources
Primary source translations that are in the Tricollege libraries will often be listed in Tripod under subject terms using the word "sources" or "personal narratives." For example, the search Keyword: (communis* OR mao) AND Subject: (china OR chinese) AND Subject: (sources OR "personal narratives") produces books and articles including some titles listed below.
This search for sources, with differing literary forms specified, can provide additional titles:
Subject: (memoir* OR autobiog* OR diary* OR diaries OR letter* OR correspondence OR sources OR "personal narratives") AND subject: (africa OR african*) AND keyword: "20th century" NOT american* Selected results listed below.