LibGuides: Nonfiction Writing: Research

Primary Sources

Deena Stryker Photographs
Duke University Libraries

Places

Online (Duke or other libraries only.)

Online (Freely available.)

ArchiveGrid helps you find the location of papers, manuscripts and other original documents. Contact the library which holds these materials to ask about getting scans or copies of any materials not already digitized.
Internet Archive

Online (Freely available.)

Duke University Libraries Digitized Collections
Documenting the American South from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina Digital Collections from the State Library of North Carolina
American Memory Project at the Library of Congress
Digital Copies at the National Archives

Places

Online (Freely available.)

Online (Duke or other libraries only)

Lexis Nexis Academic (Good place to start. National and international newspapers from the past 20 years.)
America's Newspapers (Smaller American newspapers. Choose America's News to start. Selected coverage from 2000-present.)
America's Historical Newspapers (Selected coverage from 1690-2000.)
19th Century US Newspapers
18th Century Journals (Includes newspapers.)

These newspapers include the full run of the publication with complete full text online. The New York Times can be a resource for almost any topic.

Finding Print or Microfilm Newspapers

(Freely available)

WorldCat (Online catalog for almost all university, college and public libraries in the US and some international. Use this to find newspapers, then use Interlibrary Loan at your local library to request copies of particular articles or to borrow reels of microfilm.)
United States Historical Newspapers (Directory of locations for US historical newspapers)

Places

Online (Duke or other libraries only)

Online (Freely available)

Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database at Emory University
African-American Women Online Archival Collections at Rubenstein Library, Duke University

Places

Online (Freely available.)

North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina Collection at Durham County Library
DigitalNC from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina Echo
LINC Log Into North Carolina data and statistics from the 1960s to date
State Data Center from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management
North Carolina State Web Links (Links to government documents and statistics for the state compiled by Duke University.)
Eastern North Carolina Digital Library from NC Echo
Digital Durham at Duke University

Online (Freely available)

A selection of books on creating documentary works.

Rethinking documentary: new perspectives, new practices by Thomas Austin and Wilma de Jong, 2008
Duke | Amazon

Truth or dare: art & documentary edited by Gail Pearce & Cahal McLaughlin, 2007
Duke | Amazon

Putting documentary work to work : a guide for communities, artists, and activists by the Center for Documentary Studies, 2001

Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call, 2007
UNC | Amazon

Documentary edited by Julian Stallabrass, 2013
Duke | Amazon
Crafting Truth: Documentary Form and Meaning by Louise Spence and Vinicius Navarro, 2011
Duke | Amazon
Books and other works from the Center for Documentary Studies