Begin your search by adding your historical figure's name to the search box. Place their name in quotation marks to make sure that the system looks for their entire name as a phrase, rather than the individual parts of the name.
To access primary source materials specifically, use the date filter (in red) to search for materials that fall within the lifetime of your figure. If you are looking for a specific material type--like an image--use the "source content" type filter (in blue) to remove results that aren't images.
Artist's Last Name, First Name. Title of Artwork or description if no title. Date of Creation or Completion. Medium of artwork, size of artwork. Name of Institution Where Artwork is Located, Name of City [if not already stated in Name of Institution]. Title of Website/Database. URL.
All of the information that you need to craft your citation is located in the item details within the database. You can also use the information located in the "Cite" feature--remember though, this is a machine generated citation and has errors!
Using the format listed at the top of this box, here is the citation for this image from the JSTOR database (remember to add in hanging indents):
Moorhead, Scipio. Phillis Wheatley. 1773. Engraving, oval sheet, 5 x 3 7/8 in. (12.7 x 9.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.18639785
Another method for looking for primary source content is to use JSTOR's Advanced Search to narrow your results to materials "created by" your historical figure. While your results may feature materials not formally labeled as "primary source content," they may still include excerpts of materials written by your figure, such as archival content like letters/correspondence and manuscripts that were never "formally published."
To keep track of your resources, use the Stable URL posted beneath the document title/author, or click the "Cite" button to grab the permalink. Do not use the URL at the top of the page. You can also use the built-in citation generator to grab the appropriate citation. Please be aware that this is a machine generated citation and should be checked against our writing and citing guide.
