Primary sources are original sources that first report on research or an idea. In other words, they are documents or records that contain firsthand reports or original data on a topic. Examples of primary sources include but are not limited to:
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Includes historical primary source material: manuscripts, rare documents, maps, photographs, drawings, paintings, letters, diaries, notebooks, and more.
Permitted Uses for this Database
A British Columbia IP address is necessary for anyone accessing the Burney Newspapers Collection through the BC Electronic Library Network’s “Points to the Past” portal. This video shows you how to access the collection, and what to do if you are a distance student living outside British Columbia or Canada.
Context-specific terms are very useful when searching historical newspaper databases. This video examines using terms that may be considered archaic now, but are relevant and useful when searching historical sources. The video also discusses how changes in a given community’s culture and vocabulary may affect your database search.
To skip to another segment, use the menu icon at the top left and choose the section in question.
Video timeline:
0:00 Intro
0:36 Search results with current politically correct terms
1:17 Examples of context-specific search terms
2:10 Finding context-specific terminology, including geographical terms
3:00 Changes in community and geographical names
5:39 Summary
Optical character recognition helps us find information in historical newspaper databases, but it doesn’t always work perfectly. This video shows what to watch out for, and what you can do to find more accurate information on your topic. The examples used in this video tutorial are from the 17th and 18th Century Burney Newspapers Collection.
To skip to another segment, use the menu icon at the top left and choose the section in question.
Video timeline:
0:00 Intro
0:57 What is OCR?
1:23 OCR shortcomings and examples
3:24 Why OCR fails
4:36 OCR hacks
4:43 Synonyms
5:18 Browse adjacent issues of a publication
6:48 Follow citation trails
7:15 Find a specific periodical
8:27 Summary
The Times Digital Archive includes 200 years of news coverage from The Times (London), making it one of the more useful places to find primary sources for historical research. This video shows you how to access the Times Digital Archive from UFV library’s website, and also looks at some database tools.
To skip to another segment, use the menu icon at the top left and choose the section in question.
Video Timeline:
0:00 Intro
0:42 Research topic
1:22 Finding Times Digital Archive on the library's homepage
2:15 Advanced search and Boolean operators
3:10 Search limiters
3:41 Using Boolean operators
5:14 Keyword preview
6:25 Database tools
7:38 Things to keep in mind: punctuation
7.54 Place names can change over time
