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American History

American History involves a great many resources in our Reference collection, as well as our Main Collection. Be sure to search by the event or person or time period, when looking in the Online Catalog. If you want help pinpointing the call number area for your specific topic, see a Librarian.

On this page, we have some general American History sources. Please see the other items on the menu to look for more specific topics (i.e., wars, Presidents, American Ethnic history, Native American history).

 

Reference Books 

  • Encyclopedia of American history. 1976. Ref 973.03 M83
  • Dictionary of American history. 10 volumes. 2003. Rev 973.03 D56.
    The standard dictionary for the study of American history, this multivolume set includes recent additions of gender, race, and social perspectives that were absent in the first two editions, along with maps and illustrations interspersed with the text.
  • A Historical guide to the United States. 1986. Ref 917.3 H62
  • The Almanac of American history. 1983. Ref 973.02 AL62
  • American Almanac. 1977. Reference 973 B47
  • The American years: Chronologies of American history and experience. 2 volumes. 2003. Ref 973 G878
    Volume 1: The Colonial era to 1900
    Volume 2: 1901-2002
  • Annals of America. 21 volumes. 1968. Reference 973 An72
    Covering from the Discovery of the New World (1493) to the late 1980s (1986), this multi-volume work discusses the major events, people, places, and occurrences era by era in the United States. Use this resource to glean more information on the Great Depression, the American involvement in international conflicts, the Civil Rights movement, etc.
  • 100 Key documents in American democracy. 1994. Ref 973 O58o
  • The Oxford companion to American history. 1966. Ref 973.03 J63
  • Reader's companion to American history. 1991. Ref 973.03 R22F
  • Encyclopedia of American political history. 2001. Ref 973 En19F
  • Social history of the United States. 10 volumes (by decade). 2009. Ref 306.0973 So13
  • Encyclopedia of American cultural and intellectual history. 3 volumes. 2001. Ref 973.03 E19
  • Dictionary of Christianity in America. Ref 277.3 D56
    Encompasses over 2,500 articles by scholars on individuals, denominations, organizations, movements, events, ideas, and practices associated with Christianity in North America, mostly evangelical in focus. Most articles have bibliographies for further study.
  • Encyclopedia of the United States in the 19th century. 3 volumes. 2001. Ref 973.5 E56en
  • Encyclopedia of the United States in the 20th century. 5 volumes. 1996. Ref 973.02 En19
  • Encyclopedia of the American West. 4 volumes. 1996. Ref 978 En19
  • The New Encyclopedia of the American West. 1998. Ref 978.003 N42L

 

Finding Books in our Library

Search the Online Catalog for specific aspects of yoru particular interest in American History, for instance: the Great Depression - causes, effects, moral aspects, economic and social conditions, etc. Terms to keep in mind for this topic (or to use to get started):

  • "united states" AND depression as subject keywords (choose from drop-down box next to boxes where you type in these terms)
  • with this limit: Format=Book (drop-down) or Collection=Main Collection (drop-down)

Also keep in mind the many different topics related to the Great Depression like FDR's presidency, his New Deal economic policy, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), among others. Search those topics separately.

You will find that we have quite a few eBooks in the catalog, which you can read online. If you find a print book that interests you, click on the "Check for Copies" link (it will have the call number displayed--click there) this will let you know if it's on the shelf or currently checked out.

If it is an eBook, you should have the option to click a link. That will open a new window and allow you to view the book.

You can look for the L.C. Subject links within an individual book's record. If you click on one that seems relevant, for example:

  • "Depressions -- 1929 -- United States" or
  • "United States -- economic policy -- 1933-1945" or
  • "New Deal, 1933-1939",

it will create a new search of only those titles in our collection with the exact same subject heading.

 

If you'd like to find books and other resources that we do not have in our library, use WorldCat, a combined catalog for thousands of libraries around the world. It's listed under Essential Tools on the Library's home page.

 

Databases (finding articles)

 

Specific Journals

If you want to find a journal that has to do entirely with American History, we have a method of finding that, as well. The Library's List of Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers holds all of our print and full-text electronic journal titles. You can begin a search of the List through a keyword (American History or United States history), or you can browse the journals by subject.

Here is the Subject List for Topics related to American History.

 

Web Resources

There are many web sites out there devoted to American history. Topically, I have included as an example topic here resources regarding the Great Depression, but you can search for any topic you're interested in.

To find more reliable web sites on a topic within American history, search Google using these your keywords or terms, then add "site:.edu" in the search box. The Site: part will dictate that only educational sites can appear in the results, this brings up digital archives and other multimedia (and plain text) sites that universities have developed.

General American History

  • American Memory (Library of Congress)
    Provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity.
  • American Cultural History, by Decade from 1900 - 1990
    A very unique resource covering American history by decade, and although the Zondervan Library won't have all of the sources listed, you can request via Interlibrary Loan those you can't find in our stacks. It's a great source for finding information on specific time periods within United States history.
  • Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress)
    Provides select digital access to American newspapers from 1880 to 1910, and mainly from only 10 states. There is also a directory of newspapers published in the United States from 1690 to the present. It provides very specific and comprehensive information.

  • American Women (Library of Congress)
    Contains a slightly expanded and fully searchable version of the print publication American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 2001). In addition to the Research Guide, the gateway home page also provides information regarding preparing to do on-site research at the Library of Congress; tips on searching for women's history resources in the Library's catalogs; guidance on finding materials relating to women within the Library's American Memory collections; and helpful orientations to women's history sources in the Library's online exhibitions and audiovisual Web broadcasts of lectures, readings, and symposia.

  • American Women's history
    Provides citations to print and Internet reference sources, as well as to selected large primary source collections. The guide also provides information about the tools researchers can use to find additional books, articles, dissertations, and primary sources. Of note, there are 1200+ links to Internet sources, 500+ links to Digital Collections of Primary Sources, 75 subfields are covered in the "Subject Index to Research Sources," and the site is updated frequently (at least monthly since 1998).

The Great Depression (example topic)

  • DigitalHistory: The Great Depression (University of Houston)
    This digital repository of historical data covers many topics. The page linked above relates to studying the Great Depression and provides a variety of resources on the topic including photos, background, documents, recommended books, fact sheets, etc. Also, to cite properly from the Digital History web site, please visit this link and look to the bottom of the page.
  • The New Deal Network (FERI)
    Sponsored by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, along with funding from the NEH, this site provides primary documents related to the Great Depression and New Deal, photos, lesson plans, and many other relevant sources.
  • The Depression (IMHS)
    Out of Fordham University, the overall project -- The Internet Modern History Sourcebook -- offers a multitude of pages about different historical time periods and events. This one on the Depression is brief, but provides links to several historical documents and stats. Its goals include to provide links to locally hosted and other electronically available subject specific texts related to modern European and American history, as well as modern Western Civilization and World Culture.
  • American Cultural History, 1930-1939
    From Kingwood College Library, this site provides narrative descriptions about American culture duing the 30's, as well as links to a number of outside electronic sources that enhance the overall presentation and amount of information provided. From Art and Architecture to People to Education to Radio, this site presents it all. Many linked sites offer photos or other media, which could enhance a presentation or demonstration.
  • FDR online documents
    Made available from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum's web site, this page offers a collection of selected presidential papers, audio clips (Fireside chats), and a video clip, along with photos and articles and lectures given by the president. It also lists, at the bottom of the page, how to cite documents used from this and linked pages.

 



Other Research Tools

  • Credo Reference
    A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.
  • Oxford Reference Premium Online  
    Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.
  • Biography Resource Center  
    Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name. 


Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

  • The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!
  • RefWorks
    is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.
  • Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.
  • WorldCat.org
    "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
  • The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

 

Created by Lana Wilson, Reference Librarian

Last revised November 04, 2009 - 05:39 AM