The U.S. to 1877
Professor McMillen
Spring 2006
Questions?
Please contact Susanna Boylston (704.894.2494).
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Reference Works
Biographical Works | General Works
- Biographical Works
- American National Biography. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. 24 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999-2002.
Reference R 920.073 A512
- Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson, 2003- .
- Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary. Ed. Charles F. Ritter and Jon L. Wakelyn. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
Reference R 973.7 L434
- Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Edward T. James. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1971.
Reference R 920.7 N899
- General Works on the United States Prior to 1877
- The Columbia Guide to American Women in the Nineteenth Century. Catherine Clinton and Christine Lunardini. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2000.
Reference R 305.4 C641C
- A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1850s in America. Robert L. Gale. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993.
Reference R 973.6 G152c
- Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 10 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2003.
Reference R 973 D554 2003
- Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. Ed. Ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton and Peter Williams. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2001.
Reference R 973.04 E564
- Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton et al. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1993.
Reference R 301.097 E56
- Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America. John Mack Faragher. New York: Facts on File, 1990.
Reference R 973.3 E56
- Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Ed. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. 5 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000.
Reference R 973.7 E56
- Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History. Ed. Harold Selesky. 2 vols. Detroit, MI: Scribner's, 2006.
- Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. Ed. Richard N. Current. 4 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Reference R 973.71 E56
- Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. Ed. Paul Finkelman. 3 vols. Detroit, MI: Scribner's, 2006.
- Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. Ed. Jacob Ernest Cooke. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1993.
Reference R 973.1 E56
- Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Paul Finkelman. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2001.
Reference R 973.5 E56
- Historical Dictionary of Revolutionary America. Terry M. Mays. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005.
Reference R 973.2 M474h
- Historical Dictionary of the Civil War and Reconstruction. William L. Richter. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2004.
Reference R 973.7 R537h
- Historical Dictionary of the Old South. William L. Richter. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
Reference R 975 R535h
Finding Primary Sources
General Search Tools | Collections of Diaries & Letters
- General Search Tools
- Consult the reference sources and bibliographies listed above.
- Library Catalogue
To locate primary sources, do a keyword search and add one or more of the following words:
sources
correspondence
diaries
personal narratives.
For more details, see below.
- WorldCat
To locate primary sources, do a keyword search and add one or more of the following words:
sources
correspondence
diaries
personal narratives.
Note: Rare and archival materials cannot be borrowed on interlibrary loan. You can sometimes locate microfilm or microfiche copies of these documents in WorldCat; try doing an advanced search, enter your keywords or subject terms, and then apply a "subtype limit," choosing "Microform" as the format.
For more details, see below.
- Collections of Diaries & Letters
- American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals. 2 vols. Laura Arksey et al. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1983-1987.
Reference R 016.92 A721a
Vol. 1: Diaries Written from 1492 to 1844
Vol. 2: Diaries Written from 1845 to 1980
- American Memory, from the Library of Congress
Contains a wealth of primary source material for American history, including:
- American Women's Diaries [microfilm]
Microfilm cabinet C-2
This collection includes handwritten diaries from the colonial period through the beginning of the twentieth century. It is in three parts: New England Women (8 diaries), Southern Women (32 diaries), and Western Women (600 diaries).
Guide: Segment 1, New England Women: Reference R 016.973 A5121n
Guide: Segment 2, Southern Women: Reference R 016.973 A5121s
Guide: Segment 3, Western Women: Reference R 016.973 A5121w
- And So to Bed: A Bibliography of Diaries Published in English. Patricia Pate Havlice. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1987.
Reference R 016.92 H388a
- Civil War Diaries and Personal Narratives, 1960-1994: A Selected Bibliography of Books in the General Collections of the Library of Congress. Comp. Albert E. Smith, Jr. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1998.
Government Information Stacks LC 1.12/2:C 49/2
- The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography. David J. Eicher. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1997.
Reference R 016.973 E34c
Contains entries for correspondence and narratives as well as lists of many secondary sources.
- Civil War Women: On-line Archival Collections, from the Special Collections Library at Duke University
- Documenting the American South, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia
Contains numerous historical and literary texts; search both "Collections" and "User Projects."
- North American Women's Letters & Diaries
This collection provides the full text of letters, diaries, and excerpts of diaries from the colonial era to the mid twentieth century. The texts were written contemporaneously; memoirs are not included.
- The Published Diaries and Letters of American Women: An Annotated Bibliography. Joyce Goodfriend. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1987.
Reference R 016.92 G651p
- Records of Ante-Bellum Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War. Ed. Kenneth M. Stampp. Frederick, MD: Univ. Publications of America, 1985.
Microfilm cabinet C-31a
Guides: Reference R 016.975 R311-s
Includes some correspondence, diaries, and journals.
Library has:
- Series A: Selections from the South Caroliniana Library, Univ. of South Carolina
- Series B: Selections from the South Carolina Historical Society
- Series C: Selections from the Holdings of the Library of Congress
- Series I: Selections from the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State Univ. Libraries
- Series J: Selections from the Southern Historical Collection, Manuscripts Dept., Library of the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Part 2, Pettigrew Family Papers
Finding Secondary Sources
Books | Articles
- Books
- Library Catalogue
Includes information about books, government documents, and journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.
Note: To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.
Useful subject headings include:
- Reconstruction U S history
- Southern states history
- United States history 1865-1898
- United States history civil war 1861-1865
- United States history colonial period
- United States history Revolution
To locate works about a person, do a subject search for the person's name (last name first).
To locate bibliographies on a person or topic, do a keyword search and add the following: su bibliography.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use a dollar sign $.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " ".
Wildcard: use a question mark ?.
- WorldCat
Indexes books, periodicals, and other materials held by libraries around the world. Search WorldCat to identify additional books on your topic and then order the books on interlibrary loan.
Note: It can be helpful to identify relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings in the Library Catalogue first; you can then do a subject search in WorldCat to find additional items with these subject headings.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: insert a "w" between the words in a phrase (for example, "cold w war").
Wildcard: use a question mark ?.
- Articles
- Academic Search Premier
(1975 to present) Indexes popular and scholarly articles in a broad range of subject areas; also includes citations to book reviews and citations to articles in several national newspapers.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " ".
Wildcard: use a question mark ?.
- America: History and Life
(Prehistory to present [historical time period covered]; 1964 to present [publication date of articles and books indexed]) Indexes scholarly articles, review of scholarly books, and doctoral dissertations on U.S. and Canadian history.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " ".
Wildcard: use a question mark ?.
Time period searches: search by decade or century only.
To search for a decade, use the format xxxxD (example: 1940D).
To search for a range of decades, use the format xxxxD xxxxD or the format xxxxD OR xxxxD.
Note: For more than five decades, search by century (see below).
To search for a century, use the format xxxxH (example: 1900H).
To search for a range of centuries, use the format xxxxH xxxxH.
- Essay & General Literature Index
(1985 to present) Indexes chapters and essays in edited collections.
Search Syntax
Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks "".
Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
- Humanities Abstracts
(1907 to present [publication date of articles indexed]) Indexes journal articles and some book reviews on all humanities subjects, including history, classics, art, archeology, literature, philosophy, and religion.
Search Syntax
Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks "".
Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
- JSTOR
Includes pdf copies of scholarly articles from a core collection of journals; also includes book reviews.
Note: JSTOR does not contain articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use a plus sign +.
Phrase searching: automatic.
- Periodicals Index Online
(c. 1770-1995 [publication date of articles indexed]) Indexes journal and magazine articles as well as book reviews in a broad array of humanities, social sciences, and science subjects.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: automatic.
- Project Muse
Includes pdf and HTML copies of journal articles published by university and scholarly presses.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " ".
- Social Sciences Abstracts
(1907 to present [publication date of articles indexed]) Indexes journal articles and some book reviews on all social sciences subjects, including history, political science, international relations, law, economics, area studies, gender studies, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.
Search Syntax
Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: use double quotation marks "".
Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
- Women Studies Abstracts
Reference Index Area R 050 W872
(1972 to present) Indexes popular articles, scholarly articles, and books on all aspects of women's studies, including history, education, gender, literature, religion, and art.
Using RefWorks
Need help managing your references? Try RefWorks! You can use it to organize your citations, keep track of your notes on books and articles, and generate bibliographies.
Find out more; consult our guide on Using RefWorks.
Tips & Further Help
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