Discovering American Memory: How Do I Find It?

Pathfinder Searches

Keyword Searching

Search Problem

Glossary

Where do you begin to find information in the American Memory collections? How do you know what is available? Do you search all of the collections at one time or focus on specific collections? Your students have forty-five minutes to use the computers in the library, how do you help them make the most of their time?

Using the Pathfinders on the Learning Page is a good starting point for organizing your search. Pathfinders index American Memory historical collections and Library of Congress resources.

Let's say you want your students to investigate and put together a presentation about street vendors as part of a unit on the history of United States commerce and trade.

1. Go to the Learning Page | Getting Started | How to Search | Pathfinders for Browsing. Look for street vendors in People and Topics.

2. Think of other subjects that might lead you to collections with photographs or information about street vendors. List them on a sheet of paper.

3. Go back to Pathfinders and look for the words under People and Topics. Click on the words you find. A list of American Memory collections will be displayed just as you see in the image below.

4. Be sure to look at any see also references. Select two or three of the collections and begin your search for street vendors by going to Keyword Searching.

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Last updated 12/12/2002