First Steps
- Select an event or topic in Ohio History
- Do background reading in your textbook and in the general library collection
- Locate resources to support your research
- Determine if there are sufficient primary sources to support your research
- Be flexible!
Library Resources
CAC Resources:
- Website
- Manuscript Collections
- Northwest Ohio Resources
- Newspaper Research Guide
- Online catalog
- BG News Index
Jerome Library:
Jerome Library holds books, federal and state government documents, and microfilm newspapers of national scope and those which fall outside the northwest Ohio region.
Other places to look:
Hometown Library:
Your hometown library will probably have newspapers on microfilm or in original form from your hometown and the surrounding area. It may also have a local history collection which may include primary source material. If you wish to use these resources, be sure to check with your instructor first.
Topics
In addition to the Manuscript Collections collections, Local Goverment Records, newspapers, BG News Index, and online catalog, check the following:
African-Americans
- Manumission records
Agriculture
- Grange records
- Letters/Diaries
Civil War
- Civil War Collections (many are transcribed online)
- Letters/Diaries
- Soldiers' Relief Records, Militia Rolls (Local Government Records)
- G.A.R. records (veterans' organization)
Education
- Education Collections
- Letters/Diaries
- School registers
- Teacher certification records
Ethnic Groups
- Multicultural Collections
- Church records
- Naturalization records
Gas and Oil Boom
- Diaries/Letters
- Oral history
The Great Depression
- Letters/Diaries
- Police blotters
- County infirmary records (social statistics)
Great Lakes
- Historical Collections of the Great Lakes--Manuscript Collections
Higher Education
- BGSU Archives
- BG News Index
- Student Affairs organization records
- National Student Affairs Archives
- Student diaries
- Letters
Industry
- Business Manuscript Collections
- Labor Manuscript Collections
Kent State University Shootings (May 4, 1970)
- BGSU Archives (President Jerome's papers)
- Political Collections
- Ohio Memory --Search for Kent State Shootings
Labor
- Labor Collections
- Union records
- Labor organizers
- Letters/Diaries
Native Americans
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Draper Manuscript Collection
- Federal government records
Politics
- Political Collections
- Papers of Congressmen and other elected officials
- Newspapers -- look for party affiliation or special interest group
- Election records (Local Government Records)
Prohibition
- Anti-Saloon League
- Arrest Registers (Local Government Records)
- Women's organizations
Religion
- Church Collections
- Papers of Clergy
Roads
- State and local government records
- Transportation Collections
Social Development
- Women's organizations
- Letters/Diaries
Temperance
- Background in Archival Chronicle: August 1991
- Anti-Saloon League
- Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Vietnamese Conflict
- Politicians' papers
- BGSU Archives
- BG News Index
Women
- Women's Studies Collections
- Letters/Diaries
- Club records
Women's Suffrage
- Women's Studies Collections
- Letters/Diaries
World War I & II
Consider homefront activities, POWs, effect on BGSU, etc.
- U.S. in Wartime
- Letters/Diaries
