Use the Advanced Search feature of Library Search (the search tool on the Libraries' home page) to search for primary sources in WMU Libraries.

To find relevant primary sources, try searching for your topic plus any of the terms in the list below:

• sources
• diaries
• letters
• "oral history"
• "personal narratives"
• interviews
• speeches

The trick is to combine one or more of these keywords with whatever topic you are researching.  For example:

• "cold war"  (HINT:  using the quotation marks will pick up the entire phrase)
• "oral history"

or the following search:

•  holocaust 
• "personal narratives" OR diaries OR letters OR sources

While not every single item that comes up is guaranteed to be a primary document, you will find many that are.

The HathiTrust is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that cultural records are preserved.  Some items are full-text online and others are in print form; check our online catalog to see if we own them.

Use MelCat and WorldCat to identify pertinent primary sources "out there" that are not owned by the WMU Libraries. 

Use the same search strategy and keywords described in the center box. 

You can request items directly through MelCat and through Interlibrary Loan from WorldCat. We will borrow the book(s) from another library and the service is FREE to you.