Your mini-archive needs 3–4 sources per person. Strong archives mix secondary sources (scholarly books and articles that make arguments) with at least one primary source (a document, image, or record created at the time). This page walks you through both, using the MJC Library's own tools.
Part 1 — Books & eBooks: Use OneSearch (the library catalog) to find physical and digital books on your commodity and lens.
Part 2 — Primary Sources: Use MJC's specialized databases and trusted free websites to find documents, records, and images from the period you're studying (1800–1914).
📖 Part 1 — Books & eBooks Physical + Digital
MJC's library catalog — called OneSearch — lets you search physical books on the shelves, ebooks you can read right now, and other digital media all in one place. Start here before jumping to article databases.
🔍 How to Search OneSearch Effectively
Use the keyword tips below, then apply the filters on the left side of the results page to narrow by format, date, or subject.
🗂️ OneSearch — MJC Library Catalog Start Here
Why search here? OneSearch is your one-stop catalog for everything the MJC Library owns — physical books, ebooks, videos, and digital media. If you find a physical book, note the call number and pick it up at East or West Campus. If it's an ebook, you can read it immediately in your browser.
After searching, use the left-side filters to limit results to: Books, Online Resources, Available in Library, or a specific date range.
Search by author: Sven Beckert, Sidney Mintz, Jason Moore
📗 Gale eBooks eBooks
Why search here? Good for preliminary reading when you're just starting out. Authoritative overviews written by scholars — useful for understanding your commodity's history before you go deeper into article databases.
What's included: Subject encyclopedias and reference works on history, economics, society, and culture.
Why search here? Thousands of full ebooks you can read immediately online — no waitlists, no due dates. Good for finding book-length treatments of your commodity or region.
Search the same way you would in OneSearch: commodity + lens keyword + region. Use the Publication Date filter to find recent scholarship.
If OneSearch shows a book that MJC doesn't own, you can request it from another library through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) — usually free and delivered within a few days. Allow extra time when using this option.
🗜️ Part 2 — Primary Sources Documents, Images & Records
Primary sources are original materials created at the time — letters, government reports, newspaper articles, photographs, trade statistics, maps, and more. Including at least one primary source in your archive shows you can work with evidence, not just read about it.
⚒️ What Counts as a Primary Source for This Project?
Government and colonial records — trade reports, census data, parliamentary debates about tariffs or labor
Newspapers and periodicals — contemporary accounts of commodity production, labor conditions, or market prices
Company records and charters — documents from trading companies like the East India Company or United Fruit
Photographs and maps — plantation photographs, trade route maps, port scenes
Personal accounts — letters, diaries, or testimony from workers, traders, or colonizers
Political and legal documents — treaties, tariff schedules, labor contracts, anti-slavery petitions
🔑 Search Keywords That Surface Primary Sources
When using catalogs or databases, add these terms to your commodity or region search to find primary source materials.
sources e.g. rubber Congo sources
correspondence e.g. East India Company correspondence
personal narratives e.g. sugar plantation personal narratives
diaries e.g. indigo India diaries 19th century
photographs e.g. cotton field photographs 1800s
documents e.g. opium trade documents China
reports e.g. colonial labor reports India 1880
proceedings e.g. anti-slavery proceedings parliament
🏛️ MJC Library Databases for Primary Sources
These are available free through your MJC student login. Access them on or off campus.
📜 Milestone Documents Primary SourcesWorld History
Why search here? Excellent starting point for primary source documents from U.S. and world history, with expert commentary to help you understand each document's significance — very helpful when writing your source annotation.
Includes 1,700 of the most-studied primary source documents. Good for: treaties, political declarations, labor legislation, colonial charters.
Why search here? Find significant historical documents arranged by title or year, starting with the Declaration of Independence. Useful for finding official government and political primary sources.
Good for: colonial legislation, international treaties, labor acts, tariff schedules.
🌍 Modern World History Primary Sources1450–present
Why search here? Comprehensive coverage of world history from the mid-15th century to the present — right in the heart of your 1800–1914 focus. Includes primary sources alongside secondary articles and timelines.
Good for: all four lenses — production, labor, empire, and trade. Search your commodity + region + date range.
⚖️ Issues & Controversies in History Primary SourcesPro/Con
Why search here? Great for finding primary sources embedded within debates — pro/con arguments, timelines, and documents from all sides of historical controversies. Especially useful for the Empire/State lens.
Good for: debates over free trade vs. protectionism, labor conditions, colonial governance.
🎞️ Archival Films & Newsreels Primary SourcesVisual
Why search here? Short archival films that document historical eras — a distinctive type of primary source. Useful for the Circulation & Consumption lens if you want to analyze how commodities were marketed or portrayed.
Good for: visual primary sources, documentary evidence of production or trade in action.
Why search here? JSTOR isn't only for secondary articles — it also holds digitized primary sources, historical journal runs, and image collections. Search your commodity with keywords like sources or documents to surface primary material.
12 million+ academic articles, books, images, and primary sources across 75 disciplines.
These are vetted, scholarly digital collections — not random websites. They are recommended by MJC librarians and are appropriate to cite in your archive.
🏛️ Library of Congress Digital Collections Highly Recommended
Why search here? Vast trove of digitized primary sources — photographs, maps, newspapers, government documents, and more. For HIST 107, search your commodity alongside terms like 19th century, plantation, trade, or labor.
Good for: all four lenses. Especially strong for visual sources (photographs, maps, posters) and newspaper archives.
📰 Chronicling America — Historic Newspapers Newspapers1880–1922
Why search here? Search and read actual newspaper pages from 1880–1922, right in the heart of your project's time range. Newspaper coverage of labor strikes, commodity prices, colonial affairs, and trade debates are all excellent primary sources.
Search your commodity + a keyword like labor, plantation, price, or tariff to find contemporary coverage.
📚 Digital Public Library of America — Primary Source Sets Curated Sets
Why search here? DPLA's Primary Source Sets are pre-curated collections built around specific topics — perfect for quickly finding multiple primary sources on one theme. Each set includes a topic overview, 10–15 sources, and a teaching guide.
Good for: students who want a head start. Browse sets related to trade, labor, immigration, industrialization, and empire.
🔖 The Avalon Project — Yale Law School Legal & Diplomatic
Why search here? Full text of major documents in law, history, and diplomacy — treaties, charters, colonial agreements. Especially useful for the Empire, State & Corporations lens.
Good for: treaties, trade agreements, corporate charters, colonial legislation.
Why search here? Primary source documents, oral histories, and multimedia files — particularly strong for U.S. and Latin American history in the 19th century. Useful for commodities like cotton, sugar, bananas, and beef with a Western Hemisphere focus.
🌴 Calisphere — California Digital Collections California Focus
Why search here? Over one million photographs, documents, letters, diaries, oral histories, films, and more from California libraries, archives, and museums. Strong holdings on agricultural labor, immigration, and the Pacific trade — directly relevant if your commodity passed through California or the Pacific.
Chronicling America (ads, prices), LOC, Archival Films, DPLA Sets
✅ Tips for Annotating Your Sources
For primary sources: Describe who created it, when, and why. What does it reveal? What does it leave out? Whose perspective is represented — and whose is absent?
For books from the catalog: Note the author's argument, not just the topic. A strong source makes a claim; background information alone is not enough.
When in doubt, Ask a Librarian: MJC librarians offer live chat, drop-in help, and scheduled research appointments — all free.
🙋 Need Help? Contact a Librarian
MJC librarians are available to help you find sources for this project. You can reach them by:
East Campus phone: (209) 575-6230 | West Campus phone: (209) 575-6949
📝 Citation Reminder — Turabian Style
All sources in your mini-archive must be cited in Turabian (Chicago Notes/Bibliography) format. Primary sources from websites and databases have their own citation formats — make sure you record the full URL and access date.