When doing a subject search in CLIO (in the catalog, specifically) use terms like sources, documentary (or document* -- the truncation symbol will then search on documentary and documents and document), archiv*, memoir, autobiography, letters, correspondence, etc. Add them to your keyword using Boolean search terms, or the advanced search.
For example:
"jim crow" AND (source* OR archiv* OR document* OR memoir OR autobiography OR letters OR correspondence)
You can also use CLIO to narrow down the years of publications to possibly find primary sources still in circulation or digitized books in Hathi Trust and other databases. Note that narrowing years of publication to your time period will exclude recently published editions of older books as well as edited anthologies of documentary sources (such as a book of historical speeches) published outside of your time period.
If you are looking for a book that is not listed in CLIO, or if all copies of that book listed in CLIO are checked out, request the book though Borrow Direct. Books requested through Borrow Direct usually arrive within four working days.
If an item is not listed or is not available through Borrow Direct, you can often borrow it through Interlibrary Loan (ILL), For a helpful table identifying differences between Borrow Direct and ILL, see this comparison chart from Columbia Libraries. More information about other ways to access texts and other items is available in Affordable Textbooks page of this guide.
WorldCat contains catalog records for over 2 billion items held by libraries around the world. It includes records for books, manuscripts, websites and internet resources, etc. Searching WorldCat is an excellent way of moving beyond the range of what Columbia has collected to the larger universe of what is actually out there. You can borrow many types of items listed in WorldCat through either Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan. You can click on the e-Link icon in the WorldCat record for an item to search for it in CLIO or Borrow Direct, or to connect to an Interlibrary Loan request form that will already be filled out with basic data for that item.