Name: Mary Cargill
Title: Reference Librarian
Subject Specialities: British and American government documents, all areas of history and the humanities
Contact info: cargill@columbia.edu
Library: Butler History and Humanities Library
@ Columbia since:1983
Education info: BA in history from Beloit College, MA in modern British History from Boston University, Masters in Library Science from the University of Western Ontario.
About me: I take great pride and pleasure in assisting students and faculty with research projects. This email from a professor sums up the librarian I try to be:
“I hope you realize that seniors in my section wrote with great affection in their acknowledgments about the help you gave them on their senior essay. "Ask Mary Cargill" became a refrain of our group, and they truly did appreciate your accessibility and guidance. I will be seeing you around and doubtless sending many more queries your way over the summer. Thanks, Betsy Blackmar”
What’s new at my library: Oxford Bibliographies Online has very good introductory surveys of a number of topics, with references to both print and online sources.
Personal favorite: Anything that will answer the question, really, but I have found the U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center a great source for all kinds of military history.
Recommended resources:
- The Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office, both in print and online is a rich source for all kinds of 19th century social history.
- American foreign relations since 1600 : a guide to the literature (Butler Reference Desk, R016.973 Am3547) is a model bibliography, and very useful for identifying both primary and secondary sources.