If you would like to work with primary source materials in the original, consider using local collections. To search for archival material within the Five Colleges, use Asteria; to search for archival materials beyond the Five Colleges, use Archive Finder.
Materials relating to the history of the college are housed in the College Archives. Letters, diaries, and other primary sources documenting student life at Smith are listed on the Research Guides page; the archives also houses institutional records for the college.
Consult with the collection curators for help.
As you search in the online catalog, watch for the words "personal narratives," "diaries," "interviews," "correspondence," "pamphlets," and "sources" as part of the subject headings; these may point you to published primary sources in the library collections.
You can also search for these words, for example, japanese americans and relocation and (sources or diaries or correspondence or pamphlets or interviews or narratives)
Other clues may be buried in the title, authorship, date of publication, etc.
Some examples:
Use the Find Primary Sources page for a comprehensive listing of the library's online primary source collections.
Use the Find Images page for help locating additional images.
Contact: Teaching, Learning & Research Librarians