If writing about a specific trade or profession, finding a handbook or guide about it is helpful. For example, a catalog search on the terms "physicians guide" returns books like The Yale Guide to Careers in Medicine & the Health Professions : Pathways to Medicine in the Twenty-first Century published in 2003 as well as A Guide to the Practical Physician published in 1684.
Some useful guides that discuss the process of researching family history as well as sources:
Many of the databases mentioned in the above guides may be subscription-based, but here are some that MHC students can access via local Five College libraries or the South Hadley Public Library:
Ancestry.com - UMass, Smith, and Amherst subscribe. Visit their campuses and look up ancestry.com in the Five College Library Catalog.
Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest - the South Hadley Public Library has subscriptions to each of these. You can visit and use them on site, or, if you get a SHPL library card, you can access Heritage Quest from anywhere using your barcode number.
Etiquette, manners, proper behavior - whatever name you choose, these vary across cultures and time. For best results finding books on this topic, when searching Discover try a Subject terms search on the term "etiquette" modified by geographic area (e.g., "united states") and/or time (e.g., "19th century"). A couple of sample works on etiquette:
For a more in-depth look into the mind of a person from a particular time, place, or background, try searching Discover for autobiographies, memoirs, journals, diaries, correspondence, or narratives (narrow by time – e.g., 19th century – place – e.g., United States - or something descriptive of the person - e.g., Native American). If you have the name of a specific person, do an author search on that person’s name.
You may also find the following biographical databases useful: