In October 1827, Leopold von Ranke submitted a slip of paper to a government office in Vienna, describing state documents that he wanted to read.” –Zachary Schrag, Princeton Guide to Historical Research (2021), p. 186
Search vs. Research
- First rule of database research: Use needles to find haystacks
- First rule of archival research: Follow the receivers
Advanced Googling
- Google Books and HathiTrust and Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg
- Ngram Viewer and Vattel case study
- Boolean operators and other search hacks
- Wayback machine and the “Lincoln” script
Databases
- History research guide (Jill Anderson)
- Bibliographic databases: America: History and Life // Historical Abstracts
- Full-text databases: JSTOR // Project Muse
- Newspaper databases: Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) // 19th-Century US Newspapers
- Archival databases: Archive Grid // WorldCat
No Irish Need Apply: Database Case Study
Rebecca Fried (8th grader) vs. Richard Jensen (history professor)
- Washington Post on NINA Controversy (July 2015)
- Richard Jensen’s response (HNN) (Aug 2015)
- Clipping from 1878 Harrisburg Telegraph