Main search portals
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Yale Library Catalog (Orbis)Searches the books, e-books, journals, government documents, and other physical and digital items owned by the library. Individual journal articles are not retrieved by the search. Can be used to find both primary and secondary sources.
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QuicksearchA combined search of the library's books, journal articles, databases, and more. Searches Orbis as well as Morris, which is the Law Library catalog. Consider this a Google-like search of a vast amount of resources, but keep in mind some library materials are not indexed by the search. The search refinements and availability of multiple search fields are key to limiting the usually large number of results and finding the most relevant sources.
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Archives at YaleThe search portal for finding archival materials at Yale. Look for the Scope & Contents notes, inventories, and PDF Finding Aids to assess the relevance of materials to your research project.
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Borrow DirectServices currently suspended due to COVID-19: Use the Borrow Direct platform to find and borrow books from partner libraries when our copy is checked out or we do not own the item.
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WorldCatWorldCat is a database of catalog records from approximately 10,000 libraries around the world. It contains records for millions of volumes and can be used to find primary and/or secondary source materials that can be requested via Interlibrary Loan for use at Yale.
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Primary Sources at YaleAn engaging introduction to what primary sources are, how to find them, and what some of the major primary source collections are at the Yale University Library. Provides an excellent overview.
Books on Writing a Thesis
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The Craft of ResearchWayne C. Booth et al.
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Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and WritingAnthony Brundage
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How to Write a ThesisRowena Murray
Reference
This database combines primary and secondary sources. The main modules within the database are the Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience (including Schomburg Essays), Journals, Newspapers, and the Black Literature Index.
Includes the Cambridge Histories and Cambridge Companions.
Harvard Guide to African-American History
Temporary online access via the Hathi Trust Digital Library's Emergency Temporary Access Service.
Oxford African American Studies Center
Comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with precise search and browse capabilities.
Oxford Bibliographies offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics across varied subject areas. Each of these features an introduction to the topic. Bibliographies can be browsed by subject area and searched by keyword. Subject areas include African American Studies, African Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, Literary and Critical Theory, Political Science, Sociology, and more.
Includes numerous handbooks, usually with lengthy chapter overviews of topics. A few examples of titles that are part of the collection are The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology, The Oxford Handbook of African American Citizenship, 1865-Present, and The Oxford Handbook of the African American Slave Narrative.
Provides full text access to journals, reference works, books, and databases in multiple disciplines such as Anthropology, Communication and Media Studies, Cultural Studies, History, Literature, Political Science, Religion and Theology, and Sociology.
Kaplanoff Librarian for American History
Hathi Trust Emergency Temporary Access Service
Hathi Trust’s Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) provides online access to in-copyright books in the Yale Library collection. Catalog records for ETAS items can be found through Quicksearch and Orbis. If you’re already using the Yale VPN, you can click on the “Log In” link at the top of any Hathi Trust page and select Yale from the drop-down menu (if you access Hathi Trust without using the VPN, you will initially receive a prompt to use Duo Multi-Factor Authentication in order to access the database first).
A short video on the Hathi Trust ETAS can be found here, and a library guide here.
Scan and Deliver & Interlibrary Loan
The library now offers limited Scan & Deliver service. However, turnaround time for these services may be significantly delayed, and the fulfillment of Interlibrary Loan scan requests is dependent on our partner libraries. We ask that you prioritize requesting items that are the most urgent for your research. At this time, BorrowDirect and physical interlibrary loan services are suspended until further notice.