Story ideas from U.S. university digital collections sites
Civil War camp of the 6th N.Y. Artillery at Brandy Station, Virginia, showing Union soldiers in front of log company kitchen, 1864. Source: Wikimedia Commons
BY B.J. SEDLOCK
Are you an author stuck for a story idea? You can find some interesting ones by browsing U.S. universities’ digital collections websites for primary source documents, such as these examples below. To explore beyond this list, use your favorite browser and search on [name of university] and “digital collections.”
Are you setting your novel in a circus or carnival a hundred or more years ago?
SIDESHOW PERFORMERS COLLECTION
This Syracuse University collection of photos of sideshow/carnival performers will give a vivid picture of the cultural phenomenon then called a “freak show.” Examples: a man with a beard long enough to reach the floor, snake handlers, people with albinism, bearded ladies, etc.
Do you have a character of Japanese heritage who faces internment during WWII?
This is a collection of family letters written to Shihei (George) Shitamae, who was interned in the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Detention Center during WWII. Some are in English, and some Japanese; some of the latter do not have an English transcription. Click on “browse” in the black bar to start viewing the letters. His family members were interned elsewhere, so these give a picture of life in different camps.
Is your character a kitchen maid or undercook in the 1920s?
CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN MENU COLLECTION
Mary Roberts Rinehart, lifting lid of pot on stove, and chef standing alongside, 1920s? Source: Library of Congress control number 93508074
If so, you will need to know what kinds of historically accurate foods she will have to prepare. This site is a collection of 40,000-plus menus, and once you click “browse,” there is an option to limit the collection by decade on the left side. She would have to know how to prepare sweetbreads, peach pie, and homemade cottage cheese, according to the Buck Hill Falls Inn dinner menu from 1927.
Is your novel set in the early days of the California wine industry?
University of California Davis offers this collection of materials about the Beaulieu vineyard from 1896-2016. The vineyard made it through the Prohibition era by selling altar wine to Catholic churches. Includes company correspondence, records, advertisements, etc.
Is your main character a woman on the US home front during WWII?
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, GRANDMA?
This site, hosted by Brown University, records oral history material from women in Rhode Island, collected by a high school honors class. Includes a woman who wanted to join the service but was too young, a woman scientist who helped establish the Quonset military base, and a peace activist’s activities during the war.
On the Bowery: The “bum” drinks the alcohol from the cigar lighter, 1894. Source: Library of Congress Control number 2014636111
Do you have a character fighting alcohol addiction in the past?
ALCOHOL, TEMPERANCE AND PROHIBITION
Brown University offers this digital collection of documents on alcohol-related topics that range from 1800-1999. Early examples found when browsing: sheet music about a child trying to bring her father home from a bar, a poem “The Curse of Rum,” and a mayor’s address on a city without saloons.
Do you need primary sources on what it was like to fight in the U.S. Civil War?
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Penn State offers seven Civil War diaries on this site, by soldiers who fought on the Union side. The ones I sampled did not offer transcripts, so brush up on your cursive writing/reading skills. Browse the landing page for quite a few other interesting story idea possibilities, such as the United Mine Workers of America collection (photos of mine workers’ homes would be useful for a novelist creating a setting), and some 18th century recipe books, which include medical and cloth dying formulas as well as food.
Is your character a young woman about to attend college a hundred or more years ago?
VASSAR COLLEGE STUDENT DIARIES
You’ll need to know what student life was like in the era at an elite school. Vassar offers a collection of its student diaries on this site, from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the 1920s.
Abstracts of the major events in each are provided, but no transcripts, so you’ll need to be able to read cursive writing.
Do you have an incident of an enslaved character being sold in your story?
AFRICAN AMERICAN AND AFRICAN DIASPORA COLLECTION, 1729-1966
The bulk of the documents offered by the University of Michigan site range from 1781-1865, and includes a 1729 bill of sale of a girl named Beck, a 1767 receipt for the hiring out of an enslaved person for a year, and a 1795 petition for freedom. The items I spot-checked had transcripts of the cursive writing.
Are you looking for a topic for a novel that hasn’t been overdone?
POLAR BEAR EXPEDITION DIGITAL MATERIALS
Hospital car operated by the American Expeditionary Force, at Habarosk, north of Vladivostok (Polar Bear Expedition), 1919. Source: Library of Congress, control number 2017670020
University of Michigan has this collection of papers on the little-known Polar Bear Expedition, where US soldiers (many from Michigan) were sent to Russia to fight the Red Army in 1918/19. Includes maps, news articles, and scrapbooks.
Are you trying to decide on a name for a character in American colonial times?
Church record books offered by Harvard University could help you pick an authentic one. These documents contain birth, baptism, and death records, as well as meeting minutes and church membership information.
Are you thinking about setting a crime novel in England during the 18th-19th centuries?
ENGLISH CRIME AND EXECUTION BROADSIDES
Some U.S. universities also offer documents that originated outside of America. This site from Harvard has broadsides (inexpensive street literature) about capital crime cases and executions in Britain, 1735-1868. I recently reviewed a book for the HNS that included an 18th century execution in London, and wonder if the author used a site like this for their research.
Does your novel have a scene set in the world of early 20th century magic shows?
Thurston the Great Magician, 1914. Source: Wikimedia Commons
This site offered by the University of Texas at Austin offers ten digitized scrapbooks that belonged to the famed magician/escape artist Harry Houdini. Included are ads and reviews of fellow magicians’ performances, and articles about magic and spiritualism. A related collection owned by UTA is one of magic posters and playbills.
Is one of your characters a drag performer in historical times, and you need to see examples of period performance costumes?
“This collection of Postcards of female and male impersonators and cross-dressing in Europe and the United States, 1900-1931, 1955 features copies of original postcards held by Cornell’s Human Sexuality Collection.”
Is your character a woman rancher in the West in the early 20th century?
DIARIES, LEDGERS, LETTERS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Diaries offer great primary source material for research and story ideas. The University of Montana offers around 20 digitized diaries from its collection on this page. I selected one by Edith Reneau, a woman rancher in 1917; she comments on the weather and her daily activities. Again, you’ll need to be able to read cursive writing, as there isn’t a transcription. Another diary on this page is about a trip through Yellowstone National Park in its earliest days, in 1887.
Is your character a Black medical worker in the days of segregation?
This site by the University of Houston offers papers and documents related to the Houston Negro Hospital, many from the 1920s and 30s. Includes the hospital’s charter with the city, and building contractors’ and other correspondence.
Is your main character a woman working for suffrage issues in a state in the center of the US, rather than on the more populated coasts?
MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM PAPERS
The University of Houston offers these papers from a leader of the suffrage movement in Texas. Includes suffrage-themed playscripts, correspondence with national figures in the movement, speeches, and newspaper articles.
Is your character caught in the middle of a riot in the 1960s civil rights era?
Wayne State University’s digital collections offers 181 images of the city’s 1967 “long hot summer” riots, when several were killed and many wounded in the violence. You can get a sense of what life was like during civil unrest from these photos. The university also offers other interesting collections such as labor relations and automobile history.
About the contributor: B.J. Sedlock recently stepped down from full-time librarianship to part-time archivist at Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio. She writes book reviews and articles for The Historical Novels Review and has contributed to The Sondheim Review.
