REFLECTION ON THE PRIMARY SOURCE HUNT
To begin, I started my approach for the primary source hunt by reaching out to the Savannah College of Art & Design’s online librarian. I chatted live with the librarian and stated I needed help locating resources for, “Henri Matisse, early exhibition of Modernist art in New York City, 1911.” In return the scad_ref noted: “If you’re looking for information on the specific exhibition, you may have more luck with articles in our databases.” So I provided better clarification on what I needed help with. In closing the conversation with the online librarian, she noted, “I would try searching the JSTOR database. It has articles from a wide variety of sources that are all searchable in one place. To access the database, start from the library homepage (http://library.scad.edu). From there, hover your mouse over “Article & Image Databases” and click “Browse Databases by Title.” Find JSTOR in the list, and click on it to open a new window for the database.”
The advice I would offer my peers about locating primary source documents; perhaps don’t start with the local college/university but branch out to the public libraries such as Library of Congress or New York Times Archive. Places that invest in providing accurate information for the public to utilize and information that is beneficial for the users to learn from.
During my hunt, I became very intrigued with the old New York tribune clippings on Henri Matisse. It’s absolutely amazing on the mint condition the newspaper articles are in, the legibility and yet the intent was strongly distinguished. The Library of Congress, I’ve used in the past for research but yet was new to experiencing the Chronicling America – Historic American Newspapers.
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