InfoGuides: US History Sources 1940s-Present: Find Primary Source Books and Imprints

Library Catalogs

Mason Library Catalog
Search for print and electronic books, films, music and more.
WRLC Catalog
Search the Washington Research Library schools book collections for titles not owned by Mason.
Center for Research Libraries
The University Libraries is a member of The Center for Research Libraries (CRL). This international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries provides our scholars with deep and diverse collections including many foreign language and ethnic newspapers as well as many archival collections available via microfilm.

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
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Provides records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries, such as books, music, videos, microform, digital content, and medieval manuscripts. Tutorial for the WorldCat database.

To find books in a catalog, try searching for your keywords and one of these LC Subject Headings for primary sources.

--correspondence; --description and travel; --interviews; --maps; --narratives; --collections; sources; --pictorial works; --diaries; --biography, --quotations; --discovery and exploration

Major Collections

American Memory
American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity from the Library of Congress.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
A digital preservation repository and access platform for long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in-copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives.
View a tutorial on this database here.

Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. There is a search engine and portal that provides innovative ways to search and scan through the united collection of millions of items, including by timeline, map, format, subject, and partner.