In the WMU Libraries

Interlibrary loan through these services

Finding Ethnographies

"Ethnographies" are the texts, usually written by anthropologists, which describe cultures.  Visit

• "What is Ethnography?" 
• What are the best ways to find ethnographies? 

Strategies for Searching for Ethnohistory Resources

Instead of "primary documents" or "primary sources" these are more effective when combined with your topic:

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

For example: 

• "cold war" 
  • using the quotation marks will pick up the entire phrase)
• "oral history"
• slave*      
  •  using the asterisk as a wild card will pick up all variations of the root word, e.g., slave, slaves, slavery, etc.
• "personal narratives" OR diaries OR letters OR sources

While not every single item that comes up is guaranteed to be a primary document, at least some of them should be.

Locating Ethnographies