German Conservative Revolution and the Roots of the Third Reich

Listed in: European Studies, as EUST-330  |  History, as HIST-330

Moodle site

Faculty: Adi Gordon 

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The core of your assignment requires you to find primary sources written by the Weimar Conservative Revolutionary figure you choose, secondary sources about that figure to help contextualize your primary sources, and scholarship on principles or policies in the Third Reich relevant to your figure's thought. Reference sources might also help provide background information on your figure or topic.

    Before you commit to one of the historical figures, you need to make sure you will find primary sources by the author in a language you can read. The 5 Colleges Catalog will be your best place to start:

    Entire works written by the author:

    • For a first pass, in the Advanced Search, enter the author's full name, select "Author Keywords" from the drop-down menu, and use the Language drop-down menu to select an appropriate language.
    • For a more comprehsive list, in the "New Search" box in the top left corner, enter the author's name, with the last name first, separated by a comma (i.e.: schmitt, carl). Select "Author (last name first)" from the drop-down menu (the default is "Keywords anywhere").
    • There will often be more than one author by that name, so click on the link for the entry with the most complete information (i.e., Schmitt, Carl, 1888-1985).

    Works written by the author in an edited collection:

    Scholars and publishers compile collections of primary sources that are often assigned standardized subject terms, and you can use the Advanced Search in the 5 Colleges Catalog to search for those collections:

    • Next to the first search box, leave the drop-down menu as "Keywords Anywhere". In the search box enter the author's name, or a topic the author would have written about. You can combine the search with OR in between related terms (i.e., "Friedrich Ratzel" OR "Ratzel, Friedrich" OR Lebensraum)
    • Next to the second search box, select "Subject Keywords" from the drop-down menu. In the search box, copy and paste the following: "archival resources" or archives or correspondence or diaries or interviews or notebooks or sketchbooks or "personal narratives" or photographs or "pictorial works" or sources or speeches 

    For more information, see the "Primary Sources Research Guide". 

    Online

    German History in Documents & Images

      Entire works written about your figure:

      • In the 5 Colleges Catalog, use the "New Search" box in the top left corner, and enter the figure's name, with the last name first, separated by a comma (i.e.: schmitt, carl). Select "Subject begins with" from the drop-down menu (the default is "Keywords anywhere").
      • There will often be multiple subheadings that start with the figure's name (such as "Criticism and interpretation"), so you might browse the available options in case something stands out.

      Relevant databases for contextual information:

      Print:

      Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990. New York: Garland Pub, 1998. Call#: Ref DD14 .M64 1998

      Online:
      • Reference Universe
        Searchable index of the library's entire reference collection, both print and electronic.
      • Gale Virtual Reference Library
        70 reference e-books, including multivolume works like the Encyclopedia of Religion, American Decades, and more.
      • Oxford Reference
        Digitized entries from Oxford's Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning multiple subject areas.