Guide to Historical Research
This guide is designed to help you quickly become
familiar with some of the basic sources in History which are available
at our library. Here we just include a representative overview of
the kinds of materials that you can use. While this is not a
complete list, you may find this a starting place for your research.
I. Library Catalogs and Trade Bibliographies
Library Catalogs
OPAL -- Subject headings are the index terms used to describe a work's contents. You can use these subject headings to find other works about this topic. For example, the video American Dream is about a labor union strike but the title and brief description does not clearly use these words.
Complete subject headings with which to search library catalogs can be found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings in the government documents area. Or, for a brief overview you can see the Library of Congress Classification Outline.
OhioLINK-- This catalog will let you request books, videos and more from almost every academic library in the state.
WorldCat
--This catalog includes records for materials in libraries throughout
the United States and some international sites.
Trade
Bibliographies
American Bibliography; a Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 down to and Including the Year 1820. With Bibliographical and Biographical Notes /Charles Evans Ref Z 1215 .E92 National Index of American Imprints through 1800: The Short Title Evans/Clifford KK. Shipton Z1215 .S495 Supplement to Evan's American Bibliography/Roger P. Bristol Ref Z1215 .E92334 Bibliotheca Americana, Catalogue of American Publications including Reprints & Original Works from 1820 to Jan. 1861/Orville A. Roorbach Ref Z 1215 .A3 1967
Best General Choices
America: History and Life-- Database to search scholarly literature in history. Covers the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database indexes articles written from 1955 to the present. Historical Abstracts--Database to search scholarly literature in history. It covers modern history(1450-present), but excludes the United States and Canada. This database indexes articles written from 1955 to the present. JSTOR-- An archive of full text articles from core scholarly journals, this database covers many different topics, but has a strong emphasis on history. ACLS Humanities E-Book--"an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in history, recommended and reviewed by historians" this site chooses a number of seminal books in history and puts them online. It also includes reviews of the work. Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) – multidisciplinary database of bibliographic information (title, publisher, journal name etc) gathered from thousands of scholarly journals. It is indexed so that you can search for specific articles by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), you can also search the databases for articles that cite a known author or work. Specific Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Index 1966-1974 -Hard copy on Index Table 2nd floor. ITER - Bibliography of Medieval and Renaissance Europe --"includes literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Citations for books, journal material (articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies) are included, as are citations for essays in books" New York Times Index 1851- - Print only located on the Index Wall in Reference Poole's Index to Periodical Literature/William Frederick Poole Print only(Ref AI3. P66) -- The first Periodical Index and the only index to nineteenth-century periodicals to 1890. Because entries in the index do not contain dates for articles, you need to use Poole's Index, Date and Key volume Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900 v.1 (Ref Z2005. H6) Index to 19th-Century Art Periodicals -- the entire contents of 42 art periodicals published in the United States during the 19th century Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies -- index to the literature in Slavic studies, primarily from journals published in Russia and Eastern Europe OhioLINK Historic and Archival Collection --includes oral histories of the Kent State shootings, Wright Brothers images, the Underground Railroad freedom center images, and more. Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature-- 1890-1982 Print only, located on the Index Wall in Reference History of Science, Technology & Medicine -- Index to articles that examine the influence of science, technology, and medicine on culture, from pre-history to the present International Index to Periodical Literature(1907-1965) -- Print only, located on the Index Wall in Reference Lexis-Nexis Legal Research -- Find federal and state cases back into the 19th Century and a large, online collection of law reviews. Bibliography of the History of Art-- This extensive and comprehensive index covers European and American art from late antiquity to the present. A Classified Bibliography of the Periodical Literature of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1811-1957--Z1251 .W5 W53 HarpWeek: The Civil War Era -Full text and images of Harper's Weekly, 1857-1865 Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 -- Includes primary documents and anaylsis covering this time period. American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900 - digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1900. Other Useful Databases
Academic Search Complete -- General database with scholarly and popular sources. It also has book reviews. Anthropology Plus -- Besides anthropology, this database also covers folklore. Inside Information Plus -- current-awareness database. FRANCIS -- A European emphasis in sources, it is strong in religion, the history of art, psychology, and literature, with particular emphasis on current trends in European and world literature.
A Manual For Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertatios/Knate
L. Turabian Ref LB 2369 .T8 1996
Online examples from Duke University. Other citation styles are also
explained. http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/
Research
Guides
The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature --(Ref Z6201 .A55) A good source you should consult to select the best materials for your subjects. Covers bibliographies, libraries, and special museum collections; encyclopedias and works of reference, geographies; atlases; anthropologic ,demographic and linguistic works; printed collections of sources; shorter and longer general histories; histories ofperiods, areas, and topics; biographies; government publication; publications of academies, universities, and learned societies; and periodicals. Going to the sources : a guide to historical research and writing -- D16 .B893 2002 Harvard Guide to American History -- Ref Z 1236 .H27 1974 Historical Journals: a handbook for writers and reviewers/Dale R. Steiner Call number: Z6205 .S73 1981 H-NET -- an international, interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers. Our edited lists and web sites publish peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussions. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices...and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700./Hotten, John Campden -- Call number : E 187.5 H.794 1962 United States History: A Selective Guide to Information Sources --Ref Z1236 .B57 1994
Atlases
& Geographical Aids
Atlas of American History -- Ref E179.5 .J3 1978 Historical atlas of the Holocaust--Ref G1797.21.E29H5 Oxford atlas of world history -- Ref G1030 .O85 2002 The Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History --Ref GF503 .A84 2003 Historical Maps on File -- Ref G1030 .M37 1984 Historical Atlas, Medieval and Modern -- Ref G1030 .M84 1963 Historical Atlas of Africa --Ref G2446 .S1 H5 1985 Encyclopedia of Historic Places -- Ref D9 .C29 1984
Biographical
Materials Facts about the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Information --Ref E176.1 .K3 1993 African American women : a biographical dictionary --Ref E185.96 .A45 1993 Dictionary of Political Biography Notable Names in American History: A Tabulated Register --Ref E176 .N89 1973b Dictionary of American Biography -- Ref E176 .D56 Who Was Who in the Roman World, 753 BC-AD 476 -- Ref DG203 .W46 Biographical directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present
Chronologies
The Civil War Day by Day; An Almanac, 1861-1865/E.B. Long -- Call number E468.3 .L6 The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People an Events in African-American History/Sharon Harley -- Ref E185 .H295 1995 The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events, based on Werner Stein's Kulturfahrplan/Bernard Grun. --Ref D11 .G78 1982 Historical Tables 58 BC-AD 1985 -- Ref D11 .S83 1986 Great Events From History: North American Series -- Ref E 45 .G74 1997 Chronology of World Slavery (1999) Asimov's Chronology of the World--Ref D 11 .A76 1991 Chronology of European History -- Ref D11 .C57 1997 Album of American History/James Truslow Adams -- Ref E178.5 .A48 1969z The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates-- Ref E174.5 .C3 1993 Cassell's chronology of world history -- Ref D11 .W635 2005 Oxford Timelines of the 20th Century
Encyclopedias
& Dictionaries
Oxford Classical Dictionary -- Ref DE5.09 1970 An Encyclopedia of World History; Ancient, Medieval, and Modern -- Ref D21 .L27 1968 The Civil War Dictionary-- Ref E468 .B7 1988 Dictionary of American history-- Ref E174 .D52 2003 Handbook of American Women's History-- Ref HQ1410 .H36 1990 Encyclopedia of American Social History -- Ref HN57 .E58 1992 Encyclopedia of American Political History: Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas -- Ref E183 .E5 1984 Encyclopedia of contemporary French culture-- Ref DC33.7 .E53 1998 Concise Dictionary of American History -- Ref E174 .A45 Encyclopedia of American foreign Policy : Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas -- Ref JX1407 E.53 Electronic Reference Books - 100s of volumes covering various topics:biography, ancient world, warfare, modern history, etc. Encyclopedia of American Economic History: Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas --Ref HC103 .E52 Oxford Online Reference Collection History The Oxford Companion to American History -- Ref E174 .J6 Encyclopedia of Southern History -- Ref F207.7 .E52
Archives
and Manuscripts
Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States -- Ref CD3020 .D49 1988 Guide to Photocopied Historical Materials in the United States and Canada --Ref Z6209 .H3 A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland -- CD1048 .U5 C7 Oral History Collections -- Folio AI3 .M4 NUCMUC -- the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections Guide to federal records in the National Archives of the United States(1995) --Document AE 1.108:G 94 National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections -- Document LC 9.8 Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for Research on the American Revolution -- Document LC 1.2: M 31/3 European Manuscript Sources of the American Revolution -- E 208 .K6 1974
Bibliographies
African-American Traditions in Song, Sermon, Tale, and Dance, 1600s-1920 An annotated Bibliography of Literature, Collections and Artworks -- Ref Z 5956 .A 47 S68 1990 American Diaries: Diaries written from 1845 to 1980 -- Ref Z 5305 .U5 A74 1983 American Autobiography 1945-1980 -- Ref Z 5305 .U5 A47 1982 American Literary Magazines: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries --Ref Z231.P45 A43 1986 The Foreign Affairs 50-Year Bibliography; 1920-1970 -- Ref Z 6461 .F62 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Epoch -- Ref DD 247 .H5 M33 1998 Black/White Relations in American History -- Ref E185.61 .T57 1998
Documentary
Histories The Annals of America -- Call number E173 .A793 Twenty-one volumes, chronologically arranged, of original source materials from specific periods in American history from 1493 to 1973. The two-volume Conspectus provides a topical index to the great issues in U.S. history and a bibliography of recommended reading and additional source material. Documents of European economic history --Call number HC240 .P5952 The social and cultural construction of girls [microform] -- Covers Colonial to early 1900. A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. -- Call Number E185 .A58 1965z "Still an important source book"(Choice) Pamphlets of the American Revolution, 1750-1776 -- Call Number E203 .B3 They saw it happen ; an anthology of eye-witnesses' accounts of events in British history, 1485-1688 -- Call number DA300 .R6 Documents of American History/Henry Steelle Commager -- Ref E173 .C66 1973
Statistics
The Statesman's year-book: statistical and historical annual of the states of the World -- Ref JA51 .S7 Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 -- Ref HA 202.B87 1975
The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States --Document AE 2.114 Smithsonian Institution Publications of Bureau of Ethnology --Document SI 2.1:879-80 Handbook of North American Indians -- Ref E 77 .H25 Congressional Record -- Ref Doc
History Information on the World Wide Web -- Collection of links to various history sites.