Sources of History
2 total works
English local and regional history has attracted widespread attention in the last twenty-five to thirty years. Its study has expanded at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in universities, polytechnics, and at other institutions of higher education, and it has long retained its popularity as a subject for adult education classes. In schools the teaching of local history in its own right, and as an ingredient of general history, environmental studies, and local and social studies, is well established, and commonly involves the use of original sources. The expansion of genealogical studies into the wider area of family history has involved many individuals and groups in the investigation of the local conditions, which existed where former generations lived and, in this pursuit, increasing use of local records has been made. Many who seek to involve themselves in this work, however, find that they are ill-equipped in the knowledge of what sources exist, where they are to be found, or what techniques are suitable in making the best use of them.
This book offers a detailed and comprehensive guide to contemporary sources for research into the history of individual nineteenth-century U.S. communities, large and small. The book is arranged topically (covering demography, ethnicity and race, land use and settlement, religion, education, politics and local government, industry, trade and transportation, and poverty, health, and crime) and thus will be of great use to those investigating particular historical themes at national, state, or regional level. As well as examining a wide variety of types of primary sources, published and unpublished, quantitative and qualitative, available for the study of many places, the book also provides information on certain specific sources and some individual collections, in particular those of the National Archives.