The purpose of this guide: help you find information that will situate your source within its historical context.

The guide is organized by group project. Each group project's page includes the following:

1. Databases for finding journal articles and other publications related to your source's biography.
2. Recommended sources of background information, especially encyclopedias: use to understand your source's broad historical context.
3. Call numbers you can use to begin finding books on the shelf (in-person browsing) and in the Library Catalog (virtual browsing). Please note that ebooks are not assigned call numbers, and this search technique will not retrieve ebooks.
4. Subject headings that you can use to begin finding books in the Library Catalog. Subject headings will retrieve highly relevant record sets (compared with a search strategy that relies on so-called "natural language" keyword searches). Subject headings discursively structure the records in the Library Catalog.
5. One or more subject specialist librarian who can help you with your research project.
6. Related guides to library research, where available.

The databases, encyclopedias, call number, and subject headings are recommended starting points for your research, and are in not intended to be exhaustive. As you proceed with your research, you should use the information you find to broaden and narrow your search strategies as appropriate.