Marcia's Totebag: Primary Sources and Oral testimony

Oral history has become increasing popular in the past several decades, to the extent that it is practiced by school children as well as professional and experienced amateur historians.  You need, therefore, to be careful to determined who recorded the history and what practices and protocolls they observed. The source should make clear, for example, whether the account was tape recorded and transcribed or summarized based on notes. Was there one session or many.  Was the subject allowed to read or hear the account and correct errors? Was there one session or many?

I recommend Telling Stories : The Use of Personal Narratives in the Social Sciences and History / Mary Jo Maynes, Jennifer L. Pierce, and Barbara Laslett .Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008.  Chapter 5, "Making Arguments Based on Personal Narrative Sources," is particularly helpful.

The Oral History Association has adopted principles and policies for conducting oral histories (linked below), which you should be aware of.  I have also linked a review article that discusses five published oral histories.  It lays out many of the considerations that historians take into account when they are using such materials. The third link will take you to an online course on reading and litening to oral histories.  The summary in the middle section on "What to Ask" is particularly helpful.

Some collections of short stories have themes, but most are characterized by the subgenre (mystery, science fiction), the time or location of composition (19th century, Western states), or the identity of the author(s), who are usually described in the catalog by ethnicity, gender, national origin, or other distinguishing social characteristic.  Thus combining the phrase "short stories" with a suitable descriptor will usually find a collection of stories to choose from. For example, try "short stories latino" or "short stories lesbian"  or "short stories jewish".  You can also browse by subject, beginning your search with "short stories," and then either scroll until you find a narrower category of interest (e.g. Short stories, American--Michigan--Detroit) or just click on one or more of the broader categories and scroll until you a collection title catches your eye. We have hundreds of collections of stories to choose from.

In Periodicals
Recent Events (Past 2 Decades)

In addition to the primary sources to be found in books, many are also published in periodicals. A search in Expanded Academic Index for your subject and the subheading "personal narratives" often locates first person accounts of events. For example, search for the subject heading "earthquakes," then narrow by subdivision, then scroll until you find the subheading "personal narratives." Newspaper accounts of contemporary events are also considered primary sources. The best source for identifying newspaper articles published in the past twenty years is Lexis-Nexis.  Alternative newspapers can be found in Alt-Press Watch and Ethnic NewsWatch.

You may find the Reference Books below helpful in selecting a short story for your Analysis Essay:

Smith, Patricia. 2002. Thematic Guide to Popular Short Stories. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pr. REF PN 3373 .S62 2002

Watson, Noelle. Ed. 1994.  Reference guide to short fiction. Detroit: St. James Pr. REF PN 3373 .R36 1994

 Fallon, Eric, et. al.2001.  A reader's companion to the short story in English. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press.

An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click for information

 Gelfant, Blanche H. Ed. 2000. The Columbia companion to the twentieth-century American short story. New York : Columbia University Press.

An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click for information