Databases for articles and other materials offer references to publications that may or may not be in this library; some databases offer full text of articles and others simply references. There are in-depth databases that cover publications in a particular field and others that are interdisciplinary. Databases can be accessed from a drop-down list on the library's main page; descriptions can be found here.

Academic Search Premier - an interdisciplinary database of current articles in magazines, journals and some newspapers. To limit a search to scholarly articles, check the "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals" limiter. Some of the articles are available in full text; others are not.

America: History and Life - An electronic database that covers publications of all sorts on US and Canadian history and culture, searchable by key word, author, subject, source, etc. Particularly useful for in-depth coverage of specialist publications in North American history and interdisciplinary approaches to American culture. Though some links will take you to the full text of articles in other databases, you generally get only references and abstracts. To find out if we have an item, check the catalog for books and print-format journals, or our journal locator for electronic journals. (Articles in JSTOR are linked directly.)

American Historical Association Guide to Historical Literature. 2 vols. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. (Ref D 20 .A54 1995) Offers 27,000 citations to important historical literature, arranged in 48 sections covering theory, international history, and regional history. An indispensable guide. Note it does not cover the most current publications.

Early English Books Online - Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains digital facsimile page images of nearly 100,000 books in English printed between 1473 and 1700 - virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, plus works in English printed elsewhere. Texts range from the first book printed in English by William Caxton through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War. Included are works by Malory, Bacon, More, Erasmus, Boyle, Newton, Galileo; musical exercises by Henry Purcell; novels by Aphra Behn; prayer books, pamphlets, and proclamations; almanacs, calendars, and many other primary sources.

Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS Online) - an interdisciplinary bibliography covering scholarly publications in all languages from 1935 to the present on topics related to Latin America. Most of the works included are in Spanish and may be difficult to obtain. The search engine also leaves much to be desired, so be prepared to use other approaches as well.

History Cooperative - thanks to our history department's institutional membership, this site offers access to current volumes of journals from the American Historical Association and other collaborative organizations.

JSTOR - provides full text access to a large collection of scholarly journals with the exception of the most current 3-5 years. The American Historical Review is one of the history journals included in this collection.

New York Times Historical - The full text of the New York Times from 1851 to 2003 - covering the entire publishing history of the newspaper back to the first issue. The newspaper text is fully indexed and searchable and the database also contains full-page images, including graphics. Available on the Web through ProQuest.

Project Muse - offers current issues of journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press including the Journal of Women's History and others.

Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History - A freely-accessible database of 300,000 references to publications from 1900 to the present, with selected older works included. Included are articles in journals and edited volumes.

Web of Science - an unusual interdisciplinary index to current articles in the sciences and social sciences. The social sciences subfile ncludes history, women's studies, urban studies, industrial relations, etc. A unique feature of this database is that you can search by a cited author. You also can look for articles that are related to one another by having cited the same sources. Once you've located an interesting article, clicking on "related records" will search for articles that used the same sources. These articles are not full text.

Reference Resources

The following works are examples of what you'll find in the reference section. Most specialized reference works have articles written by experts and include useful bibliographies of important sources, both primary and secondary. Browse the history section of reference to see what's available, or consult with a reference librarian if you aren't sure what reference books might cover your topic.

American National Biography. 24 vols with supp. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. (Ref CT 213 .A68 1999) Offers over 17,000 scholarly biographical sketches of significant Americans who died before 1996. The definitive source for American biography.

Dictionary of American History. 3rd ed. 9 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2003. (Ref E 174 .D52 2003) An encyclopedia of political, cultural, social, economic, and military history in the United States. The ninth volume contains historical maps and primary documents.

Encyclopedia of Asian History. 4 vols. New York: Scribner, 1988. (Ref DS 31 .E53 1987) Discusses people, places, events, and topics in detailed and well-documented essays, covering Central Asia, South Asia, and the Far East.

Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000. 6 vols. New York: Scribner, 2001 (Ref HN373 .E63 2001) Offers substantial, well-documented survey essays on topics such as social change, urban and rural life, gender, popular culture, religion, and everyday life.

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. 5 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1996 (Ref F 1406 .E53 1996) Covers a wide variety of topics in over 5,000 articles that together constitute an overview of current knowledge about the region. There are entries by country, by topic (such as slavery, art, Asians in Latin America), and biographical entries all in an alphabetical sequence.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1990 (Ref D 804.3 .E53 1990) Offers lengthy articles on topics, each followed by a selective bibliography of useful sources. Covers people, places, events, and concepts.

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. 6 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1999 (Ref CB 361 .E52 1999) Covers nearly 1,200 cultural and historical topics relating to Europe from 1350 to the early seventeenth century.

Women in World History. 17 vols. Waterford, CT: Yorkin, 1999. (Ref HQ1115 .W6 1999) A biographical encyclopedia offering entries on approximately 10,000 women from around the world. Includes indexes by era, geography, occupation, and name.

Interlibrary Loan

We can borrow books from other libraries and get copies of articles from journals we don't subscribe to . (If you need an essay in a book, request the book.) This takes anywhere from a few days to over a week, so plan ahead. When books arrive, you will get an e-mail and can pick them up at the main circulation desk. In the case of articles, you will be sent a URL and information about how to retrieve a .pdf copy. For more information, see our Borrowing from Other Libraries web page.

Citation Handbooks/Style Manuals

Please see the Library's Citing Your Sources web page for information on the major documentation styles.

RefWorks is a wonderful tool for keeping track of citations. The Web-based system allows you to save citations for future reference, to file saved citations in folders and to create bibliographies in a number of styles. Initial set-up of an account takes a few minutes and the method of saving citations varies among the differing databases, but it is worth it!

Last Update: 08/2007