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 timel period/s relevant for your topic.
Finding Primary Sources
Primary sources relating to opium that are in the Tricollege libraries are generally listed in Tripod under the subject term opium. If you take the results list and sort by the oldest publications first, you will find material written during the Opium Wars, the turn of the century, and the early twentieth century.
Noteworthy Primary Sources
Chinese opium smokers in San Francisco, late 19th century, (Wikimedia Commons)
