Be strategic. Having a variety of sources with different perspectives is essential.
Wikipedia. Yes, use Wikipedia! Gather basic dates, names, and a general overview.
The Catalog. The beauty of using a book specific to your topic: someone has already gathered the research together in one place and provided some analysis. Once you find a helpful book, LOOK AT THEIR SOURCES and try to find those.
Historical Newspapers Database. Includes articles from the St. Louis Post Dispatch from 1874-2003. For articles from 1988-present from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, click here and enter the database username and password.
Local history resource centers like the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) which have digitized collections and research guides! Very strong in African American history, business history.
Be thoughtful about how you conduct searches. Sometimes, especially when searching in a contained environment like our library catalog, it will be best if you search broadly first. Browse through the results and see what is there. If your search is too narrow you might get zero results. If you broaden your search, you will likely get more results.
Be thoughtful about how you conduct searches. Sometimes, especially when searching in a contained environment like our library catalog, it will be best if you search broadly first (search St. Louis History for example). Browse through the results and see what is there. If your search is too narrow you might get zero results. We do have books on your topic but you will have to search strategically.
For example. If you are looking for information on "St. Louis highways" and that search is made in the catalog, one book comes up. However, if you think what the broader topic might be there are several other sources. Urban renewal, for example, is a relevant topic and if you then searched "St. Louis urban renewal" three more relevant books will come up. The key is to be persistent and to make multiple searches at different points in your research process.