UGS 2235 BlockU: Global Citizen: FALLOUT: Downwinders Webpage Project

Researching history can be a ton of fun -but I recommend you ask for a lot of help along the way.  Libraries can offer many different ways of getting into primary and secondary sources, but we are in that remarkable bridge era between published print things (like books) and born digital or digitized objects: which can be confusing.  Don't give up, I'm here to help!

While my info is in the column on the right (Dale Larsen) -please contact me; I also recommend working with Special Collections librarian, Alison Conner at alison.conner@utah.edu or 801-581-3886

Downwinders of Utah Archive
Interactive GIS site (pretty neat) created by the Marriott Library using a variety of sources.  THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO START! :-) Click around on the timeline and you'll get the hang of it quickly.

Marriott Library Catalog
perform a keyword search -then sort by "books"
suggested keyword search (cut and paste and customize to your search)
"nuclear fallout" AND X
downwinders AND X
cancer AND X
downwinders AND (history OR policy OR cancer)  -nested search (in parentheses) using OR is useful

Here's some 'pre-loaded' subject searches in the catalog -just click the link!
Nuclear Weapons Testing Victims -- Utah
Radioactive Fallout -- Utah -- Physiological effect
 

RECOMMENDED DATABASES TO SEARCH (for these resources, intentionally include location keywords like Utah or "University of Utah")
Academic Search Premiere
JSTOR (greatest hits of academic scholarly publishing -including history.)
ProQuest Newsstand (Utah papers (and many other U.S. papers))
NOTE: this is a great place to find film and book reviews, just search for "the title of the book" in quote marks
America: History & Life 

SPECIFIC JOURNALS TO SEARCH
Utah Historical Quarterly  | Dale's Quick Tips on How to Search UHQ 
Western Historical Quarterly also in JSTOR 
NOTE: the two journals listed above are indexed in: America: History & Life 

WHAT IS AN ARCHIVE?
Archives (aka. special collections, historical societies, etc.) are typically major holdings of materials (like letters, diaries, photographs, manuscripts -even audio and video recordings) that are preserved for their cultural and/or historic value.  For example, the olympics 2002 organizing committee produced a huge amount of documentation and it is now housed in our collections.  Some things are exciting (like an ancient cunieform tablet) and some are mundane (a page from a person's daily planner).  Note: many of these have materials that haven't been digitized and made available online -contact the library in question if you see something interesting.
Northern Arizona University
Utah State University
University of Arizona 
Oregon State University (non-digitized reference -ask their librarian, might be great!)
Center for Disease Control (search: downwinders)
CDC: Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project (HEDR) 
Environmental Protection Agency (search: downwinders -not much, but worth a look)

Find more archives on Google by searching:
special collections:downwinders
archives:downwinders

Primary Source:
First hand experience (they were there at the event/time/place)
interviews, account, actual writing (like a diary), photographs, video, etc.

Secondary Source:
Second hand experience -they weren't there, but are;
describing, discussing, interpreting, analyzing, evaluating, summarizing the experience of someone at the event/time/place/etc.

Keywords to try out:

downwinders
"environmental health"
"radioactive pollution" AND "united states"
"radioactive fallout" AND utah
"public relations" AND x
"nuclear weapons testing" AND cancer
Nevada AND nuclear AND fallout
"nevada testing"

as you find one search works better than others -write it down and keep a record of where you have searched.  This will help you keep track of your research, but also help you know when you're done :-)

Citation Styles gettin' you down?  Here's my top picks for 'Citation Management':

NoodleTools
(how to use NoodleTools)

EndNote Basic
(how to use EndNote Basic)
 

Zotero
(how to use Zotero)

Phone: 801-581-6273
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