To find primary sources at Stony Brook, use STARS, the Library Catalog.
You can include various words in your search that will help you locate primary source material. A good general word to include would be sources.
For example, if you are looking for primary sources on slavery, you can do a KEYWORD ANYWHERE search in STARS for salvery and sources.
Also try these Library of Congress subject headings that are often used for primary sources:
Through the University's membership in various Library consortiums, Stony Brook students, staff and faculty have access to, and/or borrowing privileges at, numerous other research libraries on Long Island, in the greater New York area, and throughout the U.S., Canada, and other countries.
Research Libraries Group (RLG)
The University Libraries' membership in the Research Libraries Group (RLG) consortium allows Stony Brook students, staff, and faculty with current ID cards to enter and use many major libraries in the United States, Canada and abroad.
In our geographical region, other libraries in the program include: Columbia, NYU, The New York Public Library, The New School, American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New-York Historical Society, Cornell, Princeton, Rutgers, The University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.
Full List of RLG Member Libraries
Stony Brook ID holders visiting these institutions may use materials; however, borrowing privileges are not usually available.
Students, staff, and faculty are urged to call ahead to a particular library, before actually going there, to confirm that they will be granted access at their time of arrival. Also, if they need to use a branch library within one of the participating library systems, it should be confirmed beforehand that the branch also takes part in the program and will allow access.
Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC)
The Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC) is a regional
multi-type library organization serving academic, special, public,
hospital and school libraries and library systems in Nassau and Suffolk
counties.
The LILRC Research Loan Program (RLP), a reciprocal borrowing agreement
between member libraries, allows Stony Brook students, staff and
faculty to use and borrow material from numerous institutions on Long
Island, including Adelphi University, Dowling College, Nassau and
Suffolk Community Colleges, St. Joseph's College, Touro Law Center,
Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Nassau and Suffolk Public
Library Systems.
Students, staff and faculty interested in borrowing material through the Research Loan Program must visit the Reference Desk in the Central Reading Room of Melville Library for an RLP pass.
Full List of LILRC Member Libraries
New York Public Library
Any person who lives, works, attends school or pays property taxes in New York State is eligible to receive a New York Public Library card free of charge. This gives researchers the opportunity to use important collections in the NYPL system, check out material, and access a wide array of useful electronic resources from on-site or, in a few cases, from home. See the NYPL web site for more information on getting a card.
See their list of databases.
State Univeristy of New York Libraries
Stony Brook students, staff, and faculty have direct borrowing privileges at most other SUNY libraries.
Major Historical Sets
Index to Underground Newspaper
Collection: Microforms Library Z6944.U5 B4 [1963-1985]
Alternative press. A guide to
the microform collection Z6944.U5 B4 [1986-present]
Other Major Papers
Major Foreign
Newspapers
African-American
Newspapers
Special
Collections
Have historic newspapers for
Long Island. Original newsprint copies and
microfilm. Most but not all
titles are in STARS. Consult with
Kristen or Jason.
Indexes
ONLINE
PRINT
Card Catalog
Drawer
Located at the Reference
Desk. Indexes newspapers by
state/region.
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature
To find magazine and journal articles between 1880 and 1980. Readers' Guide is located in the Central Reading Room (CRR). When you enter the CRR, it will be on the wall to your immediate left, at call number AI3 .R483.
Each volume of Readers' Guide is indexed by Subject. Under each subject, there will be a list of article titles, with abbreviations for the magazine or journal in which the article is located, the date of the issue, and the volume and page number(s).
When you find an article, you need to then check in STARS to see if the library has the magazine/journal for the date of the article. (I receommend using the JOURNAL CATALOG part of STARS. Once you find the magazine, check the "Summary Holdings" to see if we have the date you need.
For example, if you find an article from Time magazine from April 1957, search the JOURNAL CATALOG for Time. When you click on the link for Time, you will various Summary Holdings for Microfiche (1965-1974,1982-); Microfilm (1923-1956,1960-1964,1975-1981) and Print (1957-March 1975,Oct. 1975-1980,1982-). April 1957 would be available, then, in the Print version, which is located in the Main Stacks at call number AP2 .T37 OVERSIZE x.
You will also see a link for online versions. You can check this to see if the magazine/journal is available for your date. Please keep in mind, however, that most magazines and journals online will only go back to about 1980.
While JSTOR is often used for secondary sources, keep in mind that each journal in JSTOR goes back to its first issue. Many journals go back into the 19th century, and a few go back as far as the 17th and 18th centuries. So, it can also be used as a primary source.
Microform Collections
Some of the major microforms that include historic magazines and journals are:
For more information on these collections, see the Microform Collections at Stony Brook section above.
There are an increasing number of excelent web sites that have audio-visual proimary source material.
Internet Archive - Probably the best overall collection of audio-visual material that could be used for primary sources. The Archive currently contains almost 400,000 moving images and nearly 700,000 audio items, along with software and other material.
YouTube - Great resource for finding speeches and hidtoric news items, as well as musical and cinematic trasures.
primary source collections include:
Library Administration: 631.632.7100
