Some Useful Reference Books
- Atlas of the Civil War byCall Number: Main Library - 1st Floor E468 .W754 2004
Atlas of the Civil War, month by month : major battles and troop movements by Call Number: Main Library - 1st Floor E470 .S94 2004ISBN: 0820326585
Encyclopedia of Civil War medicine by Call Number: Main Library - 1st Floor E621 .S347 2008ISBN: 9780765611710
Historical dictionary of the Civil War and Reconstruction by Call Number: REF E468 .R53 2004ISBN: 0810845849
Start Here To Search for Books
When you know the title of the item you are seeking, the first step is to search by title in an online catalog.
- BGSU Libraries CatalogIndexes books, magazines and journals, videos, music, and electronic resources that are owned by BGSU.
- OhioLINK Central CatalogIf BGSU doesn't own documents on your topic, try the OhioLINK Central Catalog. It contains the holdings of the libraries at more than 80 colleges and universities throughout Ohio, many of which have government documents collections.
- WorldCatWorldCat is a database of the holdings of many libraries throughout North American and some other countries. If you identify a publication you want to borrow, you can use your Interlibrary Loan (ILL) account to request it.
Finding Books That Include Primary Sources
One way to identify books that are primary sources is to look for books written by people who were involved in the event or activity you are researching. When you look at secondary sources, write down the names of people and then look for them as authors.
In the BGSU Libraries Catalog, the OhioLINK Central Catalog, and WorldCat, books that have been assigned subjects with the subheadings in the list below might be primary sources. However, don’t expect that a book that includes primary sources will always include one of these words or phrases in a subject heading. Also, these subheadings are not used in other databases.
--Diaries
--Correspondence
--Biography
--Sources
--Anecdotes
--Personal narratives
--Interviews
Examples:
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal Narratives
Soldiers -- Alabama -- Correspondence
Kansas -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
Reconstruction (U.S. History, 1865-1877) Tennessee -- Sources
Freedmen -- Southern States -- History -- Sources
Women -- Confederate States of America -- Diaries
For information about the difference between primary and secondary sources, see:
Searching for E-Books
The library provides access to more than 55,000 books from a variety of sources. For information about ebooks, see the online guide to Ebooks.