California State University San Marcos owns the microfiche collection of Early American Imprints: Series One. This series covers materials published in the Colonial and Early US from 1685-1800 as collected and indexed by Charles Evans, hence the common name of the 'Evans Collection'.

The following guide is to help you locate specific materials using the library catalog that are in this large collection.

The microfiche are on the 4th floor of the library in the Periodicals area. If you need help with using the microform reader/printers and no one is at the help desk in the area, use the phone at the help desk to call for help from the 3rd floor Research Help Desk. For research help, please contact Humanities Librarian Judith Downie as given in the box.

	Getting Started
	Books
	Articles
	Need More?

Getting Started

This guide assumes you have identified appropriate search terms for your research. Keep in mind that early American publishing reflects irregularities in spelling and the electronic indexing reflects this spelling. Some examples are:

• Daniel Boone, the legendary frontiersman, is spelled Daniel Boon in some places.
• Kentucky, the state, is spelled Kentucke and sometimes shortened to Kentuck.

Every attempt has been made to provide a corrected cross-reference in the item's catalog record, but it pays to be alert to small details and use those for new searches!

Notice the YEAR column in the results list (as seen in Step 4's screen). This is a publication date, but in many cases, the document was written before that time or is a memoir or recounting of an event that took place earlier than the date seen. Open the record and examine the information to determine the actual date.

Searching the Catalog

Step 1. You can perform the usual search strategies such as KEYWORD, TITLE, SUBJECT or AUTHOR.

Step 2. To limit the search specifically to the Evans collection, once you have a result list, you will want to MODIFY the search as noted on the screen below.  

Example of Catalog Screen

Step 3. This screen shows your limit options. You want to locate the Evans titles, which are all in microfiche, so limit the location to Microform and click ENTER.

Example of Limiting to LOCATION

Step 4. Here is your final result set--

Result Set Limited to Microforms

Step 5. Here is your final result set--

An Individual Record

Locating the Item

When examining an individual record as seen in Step 5, note the number following "no." in the call no. area. This identifies the specific microfiche you need. The Early American Imprints series is found in the Microfiche cabinets under the number C-498, so you need that identifier number!

There is a caution here as dependent on the length of the piece, some numbers are out of order to fit the page images most efficiently on the fiche. If your number is NOT where you expect it to be, check a few fiche ahead and behind.

Sometimes, again in interest of efficiency, several items will be filmed on one fiche sheet. The numbers will be listed or a range given (i.e., 14120, 14122-14124) which means that 14121 is on another fiche, likely to be behind this fiche.

Need More?

Judith Downie, Humanities Librarian (760) 750-4374
OR come by my office (KEL 3424), I am available if my door is open (most of the time)
OR come by the Research Help Desk (3rd floor of the Kellogg Library)