To Find Collections, Associations, and More Resources

Try looking on search engines on the World Wide Web such as Dogpile to find more about this topic. The state historical societies on the states known as free during the Civil War such as New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and state government websites have pages on this topic.

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit called African American Odyssey. On the Abolition page, they include a history illustrated by items from the time from their collections. The user can click on the images to get a closer look at them. It is an invaluable resource.

Online Histories and Websites

I have included some wonderful websites about the Underground Railroad at the bottom of the History page of this pathfinder/blog. Just click on the links to open the up at the World Wide Web to find excellent resources to continue your research.

These materials are not in the juvenile sections

I have meant for this pathfinder/blog for adults to help them in their research so I have not included the materials in the juvenile section.

To Begin Your Research

I suggest to begin your research and learning by reading the entries in the dictionaries and encyclopedias to understand the basis and the need for the Railroad. Then go on to the other resources I have posted on the other pages such as the histories and biographies. Look to find the places on the atlas. Go to the narratives to place yourself alongside the slaves running to freedom. Deepen your new knowledge with the rest of the resources I have included and see where it leads you.

Primary and Secondary Sources

By primary sources, historians and researchers mean the actual documents from history, with very little interpretation.

Secondary sources mean ones that discuss history and some interpretation and comments. Someone tries to explain history.

Both of these are useful in different ways to help a person learn more about history. It is sometimes easier to use the secondary sources first to attain some grasp of the time, event, person, and place and then go back to the primary sources to read the real history for oneself.

Subject Headings to Use in Your Search

I searched for these materials by putting in Underground Railroad in the search space on the online catalog.

Some other ideas of search terms and headings are:
fugitive slaves
antislavery movements
abolitionists and abolitionism
United States-History-19th Century
African American history

Where These Resources Are Located

All of these materials can be found at the Blume Library which is the main library for St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX. If you are not able to come to this facility to research, you can still take the titles, authors, and online materials to use in the library near you or to which you can access. I have included the call numbers used in this library which uses the Library of Congress classification. The call numbers are like the house address of the material in the library and I put them in bold print.
The ones that have REF at the beginning of the call number are in the Reference section.