Introduction: A Guide to Microform Sources for History, exclusive of African History, at Northwestern University Library

Northwestern University Library
Evanston, Illinois
1st edition, 2001; revised 2002; 3rd ed. 2003; 4th ed. 2004

Microform versions of primary source materials, particularly manuscript materials, can provide rich, but often hidden, goldmines of information. Because such materials are notoriously difficult to locate, we compiled this guide to some of Northwestern University Library's microfilm, microfiche, and microprint sources of interest to historians. All the materials listed in this guide are housed in the main library. For a listing of the library's digital collections, readers should consult the History Resources web page, or the Electronic Resources search page. A very few electronic resources are listed in this Guide.

Although we tried to be as comprehensive as possible, it was necessary to exclude several important categories of material. Most significant is the exclusion from this guide of all materials concerning the history of the African continent. For information on such materials, we advise the researcher to contact librarians in Northwestern's Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies. We also chose to list, with some exceptions, only the very large and important sets held by the Government and Geographic Information and Data Services. We therefore strongly encourage readers to contact Government Publications directly if they are looking for a particular source and do not find it listed in this Guide, or in Northwestern's general library catalog.

With some exceptions, materials that included less that three microfiche, and less than two reels of microfilm, unless they are very significant, are not listed in this Guide.

Individual newspapers on microfilm, with the exception of the listing for the complete microfilm and microprint set Early American Newspapers and some of the titles in the African-American section, are excluded from this guide. Readers should consult NUcat to determine Northwestern's newspaper holdings, no matter what the format.

Finally, we excluded microforms held at the United Libraries, or in any of the branch libraries. We further excluded materials that might be held at the Pritzker Legal Research Center.

In many instances, the individual bibliographic records displayed in this Guide match those displayed in the library's online catalog and therefore include the appropriate subject headings, call numbers, etc. However, because there were many occasions when we broke this rule, the reader of this guide will find instances where we annotated an entry, added a link to a companion online resource or to a related online resource, etc.

Finally, this Guide is not comprehensive, nor is it complete. We continue to add microfilm and microfiche to our collections, and these sets are listed in this Guide as they are made available to library users. Readers might note, for example, that some of the sets listed in this Guide are marked "on order." Because updating this guide may take longer than we might wish, we encourage readers to verify "on order" notes by double-checking sources in NUcat.

Several people were instrumental in compiling this Guide. Sabina Manilov (WCAS 2001) compiled the material in the first edition of this Guide using a combination of methods, including EndNote software. Her participation in this project was made possible by a grant from the Office of the Provost of Northwestern University. Peter Burtch, Coordinator of the Library's Newspaper and Microform Processing, was extremely helpful throughout all stages of the project. Tom Mann, Bibliographer for the Slavic languages, provided excellent help with Russian language materials, and Rochelle Elstein, Bibliographer for Jewish Studies, provided her expertise for our Hebrew materials. Beth Clausen, Head, Government and Geographic Information and Data Services, provided entries in the Government Publications section. Gloria Hamilton, formerly Bibliographic Assistant in the Library's Collection Management office, was very helpful in the early stages of this project. Frank Conaway, Social Sciences Bibliographer at the University of Chicago Library, provided the initial inspiration for this Guide, and further provided the model by giving me a copy of his Guide to Microform Sources for History and Political Science in the University of Chicago Library. Stephanie Batkie did the initial groundwork and technical aspects of this project. Eric Rogers has been instrumental in helping with the final editing and media conversion of producing the first edition of this Guide. Jeeyuhn Yoon Kang edited the revised version of the Guide, convereted it to PDF, and for the 3rd edition, converted it to HTML format; her help was indispensable. Kathleen Bethel, Bibliographer for African-American Studies, was instrumental in compiling several sections of the revised edition of this Guide, as was Bill McHugh, Reference Collection Management Librarian.

We welcome any comments on this Guide, and we would be particularly grateful for references to any omitted sets.

Harriet Lightman
Bibliographer for History, Economics, French and Italian Literatures, and Philosophy
Northwestern University Library
Winter 2004

For further information, contact:

Harriet Lightman
Head, Academic Liaison Services
Subject Librarian for History, Economics, and Philosophy
Northwestern University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-2300
h-lightman@northwestern.edu
(847) 491-2920
Office Location: Room 2622, 2nd Floor, East Tower, Main Library