Search for Primary Sources in Gale Databases

In this example, we will be searching Slavery and Anti-slavery: a Transnational Archive for primary sources related to abolitionist activities in Vermont.

1. On the advanced search page for Slavery and Anti-Slavery, we will enter our search terms on in the search boxes. You can use the different search boxes to break up your concepts.
   1. You can select "Allow variations" to include alternate spellings that may have been recorded in historical documents.

      

2. Below the search boxes are search limiters. These can be used to further specify the type of resource you are looking for; you can specify a publication date (or date range), specify the content type you'd like to search for, the document type, language, source library, or publisher and publication information. For this search, we will not be using any filters on the advanced search page.
3. Select search. You'll be brought to a search results page that includes all content types. You can use the banner at the top of the page to view results in each content type.

   

   1. On the right side of the page are options to filter your results.
   2. On the left side of the page are your search results. At the top of the results is a summary of your search, and if you've applied any filters, a summary of the applied filters, as well as an option to revise your search.
4. Results are organized by content type. Monographs are published standalone documents, like speeches, pamphlets, or legal documents. Manuscripts are unpublished documents, such as letters, diaries, internal documents and records, and other documents not widely disseminated. Newspapers & Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, journals, and other serial publications. You can use the "View All" option at the bottom of each section to view additional results of that content type.

   

5. When you find an article that you would like to view, you can click on the title to view the full text of the document.
6. This will open the article viewer. At the top of the page, there is bibliographic information, including the title, date, creator or publication information (if available).

   

7. Below the bibliographic information is the article viewer and tools panel. In the tools panel, you can search the text of the document, switch to a different view of the document (such as a transcript), view the table of contents (if available), citation, or explore related resources.
8. On the right is the digitized document. Search terms will be highlighted in green.