You know you are mining research gold, when you can no longer count the number of times you have heard librarians say, “I’m not sure.”
The other day I asked where I could find the National Union Catalogue and the librarian snickered and replied, “Well, it’s in what we call the Dead Zone.”
I was so excited to explore “the dead zone” that I forgot to ask how to use the catalogue. I approached the dust covered stack on the fifth and found three entries of speeches given by Deborah Sampson.
I found them under her married name, “Gannett.” Unfortunately, the suggested subject headings yielded no new results in the MLA International Bibliography, MUSE or JSTOR databases. Apparently the keyword “personal narrative” is not very popular, though biography yielded interesting results.
I am pretty sure the original speeches are at the Sharon Historical Society in Sharon, Massachusetts because that is a keyword. Now, I have a lead to these coveted primary sources.
I am proud that I found my heroine in the Dead Zone and I can’t wait to show off my shirt covered in library dust that screams, “I’m an explorer!”
Until next time, keep fighting.
~Blake
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