Outline of this guide: Reference Works Primary Sources Secondary Sources

Related guides: Book Review Sources Course Reserves/E-Reserves for this class Narrowing or Broadening a Topic RefWorks: A Guide Research Log Research Planner Scholarly Articles: How to Identify Them

• Reference Universe
  Don't know where to begin? Try Reference Universe, an index of the indexes in many of the library's reference books and e-books. Reference Universe will tell you which titles contain information on your topic.
• Style Guides
  • Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003.
    Reference R 808.02 C53 2003
  • A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Kate Turabian; rev. Wayne C. Booth et al. 7th ed. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2007.
    Reference Desk 808.02 T929m7
  • A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. Mary Lynn Rampolla. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.
    Reference Desk R 907.2 R177p
• 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- .
  • Lesser-Known Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Beverly E. Golemba. London: Lynne Rienner, 1992.
    Reference R 920.7 G625L
  • Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Edward T. James. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1971.
    Reference R 920.7 N899
    Also in Biography Reference Bank
• General Works on the American West
  • The American and Canadian West: A Bibliography. Ed. Dwight L. Smith. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1979.
    Reference R 016.978 S645a
  • A Classified Bibliography of the Periodical Literature of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1811-1957. Oscar Osburn Winther. Bloomington, IN: Indian Univ. Press, 1961.
    Reference R 016.978 W789c
    See also A Classified Bibliography of the Periodical Literature of the Trans-Mississippi West; A Supplement (1957-1967), by Oscar Osburn Winther and Richard A. Van Orman (Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1970), shelved in Reference at R 016.978 W789c, Supp.
  • Chronology of the American West: From 23,000 B.C.E. through the Twentieth Century. Scott C. Zeman. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002.
    Reference R 978 Z53c
  • Credo Reference
    A collection of electronic reference books; useful for quick answers to questions. Includes the Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. For more detailed information, be sure to consult the Gale Virtual Reference Library too.
  • 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 the American West. Ed. Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod. 4 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996.
    Reference R 978 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
    Available online in Credo Reference.
  • The Frontier and the American West. Comp. Rodman W. Paul and Richard W. Etulain. Arlington Heights, IL: AHM Publishing Corp., 1977.
    Reference R 016.978 P324f
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library
    A collection of over 120 electronic reference works. Includes:
    • Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 10 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2003.
      Reference R 973 D554 2003
    • Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Ed. Colin Palmer. 6 vols. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2006.
    • Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West. Ed. Gordon Bakken and Alexandra Kindell. 2 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006.
    • Social Change in America: The Historical Handbook. Ed. Patricia Becker. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
    • ... and many more!
  • The New Encyclopedia of the American West. Ed. Howard R. Lamar. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1998.
    Reference R 978 R286 1998
  • Nineteenth-Century American Western Writers. Ed. Robert L. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998. [Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 186]
    Reference R 928.1 D554 v.186
  • Samuels' Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. Peggy Samuels and Harold Samuels. Secaucus, NJ: Castle, 1985.
    Reference R 927.5 S193s
  • The Santa Fe Trail: A Historical Bibliography. Jack D. Rittenhouse. Albuquerque, NM: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1971.
    Reference R 016.978 R613s
  • War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. M. Paul Holsinger. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
    Reference R 973 W253
• Environment
  • Atlas of American Migration. Stephen A. Flanders. New York: Facts on File, 1998.
    Reference R 304.8 F584a
  • The Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History. Ed. Char Miller. New York: Routledge, 2003.
    Reference R 304.2 A881
  • The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History. Carolyn Merchant. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2002.
    Reference R 304.2 M554c
  • Encyclopedia of World Environmental History. Ed. Shepard Krech et al. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004.
    Reference R 304.2 E56
  • The Mining West: A Bibliography & Guide to the History & Literature of Mining in the American and Canadian West. Ed. Richard E. Lingenfelter. 2 vols. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003.
    Reference R 016.622 M665
• Gender
  • American Women Civil Rights Activists: Biobibliographies of 68 Leaders, 1825-1992. Gayle J. Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993.
    Reference R 923.6 H269a
  • American Women's Magazines: An Annotated Historical Guide. Nancy K. Humphreys. New York: Garland, 1989.
    Reference R 015.73 H927a
  • 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
  • Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West. Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick. Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press, 1998.
    Reference R 927.5 K88e
  • Encyclopedia of Women and Gender. Ed. Judith Worell. 2 vols. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2001.
    Reference R 305.4 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Women in American History. 3 vols. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2003.
    Reference R 305.409 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Women in the American West. Ed. Gordon Morris Bakken and Brenda Farrington. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003.
    Reference R 305.4 E561
  • Encyclopedia of Women's History in America. Kathryn Cullen-DuPont. 2nd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2000.
    Reference R 305.4 C967e
  • Handbook of American Women's History. Ed. Angela Howard Zophy. New York: Garland, 1990.
    Reference R 305.4 H236
  • Northwest Women: An Annotated Bibliography of Sources on the History of Oregon and Washington Women, 1787-1970. Karen J. Blair. Pullman, WA: Washington State Univ. Press, 1997.
    Note: only one person can read this online resource at a time.
  • Notable Women in American History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies and Autobiographies. Lynda G. Adamson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
    Reference R 920.7 A221n
  • Sources on the History of Women's Magazines, 1792-1960: An Annotated Bibliography. Comp. Mary Ellen Zuckerman. New York: Greenwood, 1991.
    Reference R 015.73 Z94s
  • What American Women Did, 1789-1920: A Year-by-Year Reference. Linda Miles Coppens. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001.
    Reference R 305.4 C785w
  • Women and the American Civil War: An Annotated Bibliography. Theresa McDevitt. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
    Reference R 016.973 M134w
  • Women During the Civil War: An Encyclopedia. Judith E. Harper. New York: Routledge, 2004.
    Reference R 973.7 H293
  • Women in American Religious History: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Sources. Dorothy C. Bass and Sandra Hughes Boyd. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1986.
    Reference R 016.29 B317w
• Race
  • Americans and Chinese: A Historical Essay and Bibliography. Kwang-Ching Liu. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1963.
    Reference R 016.327 L783a
  • The Asian American Encyclopedia. Ed. Franklin Ng. 6 vols. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995.
    Reference R 973.049 A832
  • Biographical Dictionary of American Indian History to 1900. Carl Waldman. Rev. ed. New York: Facts on File, 2001.
    Reference R 970.3 W164b
  • Black/White Relations in American History: An Annotated Bibliography. Leslie V. Tischauser. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998.
    Reference R 016.3 T611b
  • Blacks and their Contributions to the American West. Comp. James de T. Abajian. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1974.
    Reference 016.978 A116b
  • California Indian History: A Classified and Annotated Guide to Source Materials. Robert F. Heizer et al. Ramona, CA: Ballena, 1975.
    Reference R 016.9794 H473c
  • China and America: A Bibliography of Interactions, Foreign and Domestic. Comp. James M. McCutcheon. Honolulu, HI: Univ. Press of Hawaii, 1972.
    Reference R 016.3 M133c
  • The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains. Loretta Fowler. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2003.
    Reference R 970.4 F785c
  • The Columbia Guide to Asian American History. Gary Y. Okihiro. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001.
    Reference R 973.04 O41c
  • The Emigrant Indians of Kansas: A Critical Bibliography. William E. Unrau. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1979.
    Reference R 016.9781 U58e
  • Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Ed. Colin Palmer. 6 vols. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2006.
  • Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890. Jerry Keenan. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1997.
    Reference R 970.5 K26e
  • Encyclopedia of Native American Biography. Bruce E. Johansen and Donald A. Grinde. New York: De Capo Press, 1998.
    Reference R 970.2 J65e
  • Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Ed. Frederick E. Hoxie. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
    Reference R 970.1 E561
  • The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Ed. Sharon Malinowski et al. 4 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.
    Reference R 970.1G151
  • Handbook of North American Indians. Ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, CD: Smithsonian, 1978-1990.
    Government Information Stacks SI 1.20/2
    Library has vols. 4-15, 17.
  • Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships. J. Norman Heard. 5 vols. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1987-1998.
    Reference R 973.03 H435h
  • Hopi Bibliography: Comprehensive and Annotated. W. David Laird. Tucson, AZ: Univ. of Arizona Press, 1977.
    Reference R 016.97 H79L
  • The Indians of California: A Critical Bibliography. Robert F. Heizer. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1976.
    Reference R 016.9794 H473i
  • Indians of the Southwest: A Critical Bibliography. Henry F. Dobyns and Robert C. Fuler. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1980.
    Reference R 016.979 D635i
  • Indians of the United States and Canada: A Bibliography. Ed. Dwight L. Smith. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1974.
    Reference R 016.97 I39
  • A Narrative Bibliography of the African-American Frontier: Blacks in the Rocky Mountain West, 1535-1912. Roger D. Hardaway. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1995.
    Reference R 016.978 H258n
  • Native Americans: An Annotated Bibliography. Frederick E. Hoxie and Harvey Markowitz. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1991.
    Reference R 016.97 H871n
  • Native Americans of the Northwest Coast: A Critical Bibliography. Robert Steven Grumet. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1979.
    Reference R 016.9795 G887n
  • The Navajos: A Critical Bibliography. Peter Iverson. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1976.
    Reference R 016.97 I94n
  • The Plains Indians: A Critical Bibliography. E. Adamson Hoebel. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1977.
    Reference R 016.978 H693p
  • The Sioux: A Critical Bibliography. Herbert T. Hoover. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1979.
    Reference R 016.97 H789s

1. General Search Tools
   • Consult the reference sources and bibliographies listed above.
   • Library Catalog
     To locate primary sources, do a keyword search and add one or more of the following words:
     • sources
     • correspondence
     • diaries
     • personal narratives
     • pictorial works
     You can also find contemporary travelers' accounts by adding the phrase "description and travel" to your keyword search (e.g. california and "description and travel"); be sure to limit by date.
     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
     • pictorial works
     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.
2. Contemporary Books
   • Archive of Americana
     (c. 1639-1980) A collection of digital facsimiles of American books, broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers, and government documents. Includes:
     • American Broadsides & Ephemera
       (c. 1760-1900) Contains more than 30,000 digital facsimiles of broadsides and ephemera, including advertisements, handbills, trade cards, theatre and music programs, stock certificates, menus, and many other works.
     • Early American Imprints
       • Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800
         Contains digital images of over 37,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in the British American colonies, and later the United States. Includes almanacs, bibles, charters, cookbooks, maps, printed music, novels, plays, poems, primers, sermons, speeches, treaties, travelogues, and textbooks.
       • Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819
         Contains digital images of over 36,000 American books, pamphlets, and broadsides.
   • Making of America
     Contains the full text of journals and books from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
     Note: There are two sites for the Making of America:
        University of Michigan site
        Cornell University site
   • A Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930: Books, Pamphlets, Periodicals, and Broadsides Relating to the First Century of Mormonism. Ed. Chad J. Flake and Larry W. Draper. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Proto, UT: Brigham Young Univ., 2004.
     Reference R 016.289 F576m2
   • Travels in the West and Southwest [microfiche]
     Microfiche cabinets
     Contains a variety of books and other publications, such as speeches, promotional publications, biographies of Indian sympathizers, trappers, mountain men and cowboys, some periodicals, and many accounts of life in the vast region from St. Louis to San Francisco and from San Diego north to British Columbia.
     Guide to the microfiche collection: Reference R 016.979 T979 and online
3. Diaries
   • 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 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 of this collection: New England Women (8 diaries), Southern Women (32 diaries), and Western Women (600 diaries).
     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
   • Covered wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails. Ed. Kenneth L. Holmes. 11 vols. Lincoln, NE: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1983-2000.
     LC Stacks F591 .C79 1983
   • First White Women over the Rockies: Diaries, Letters, and Biographical Sketches of the Six Women of the Oregon Mission who made the Overland Journey in 1836 and 1838. Ed. Clifford Merrill Drury. 3 vols. Glendale, CA: A.H. Clark, 1963-1966.
     Little Library Stacks 978.02 D796f
   • 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.
   • Platte River Road Narratives: A Descriptive Bibliography of Travel over the Great Central Overland Route to Oregon, California, Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Other Western States and Territories, 1812-1866. Merrill J. Mattes. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1988.
     Reference R 016.917 M435p
   • The Published Diaries and Letters of American Women: An Annotated Bibliography. Joyce Goodfriend. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1987.
     Reference R 016.92 G651p
4. Periodicals
   Newspapers | Magazines & Journals
   1. Newspapers
      1. Newspapers available at Davidson
         The library has many historical newspapers. Consult the following for information about these and many other titles:
         • Individual newspapers
           • 19th Century Newspapers
           • 20th Century Newspapers
         • Online collections
           • Accessible Archives
             Includes the following full-text sources:
             • African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
               Includes Freedom's Journal, Colored American, The North Star, Frederick Douglass Papers, National Era, Provincial Freeman, and The Christian Recorder.
             • The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective
               Includes selected articles from The New York Herald, The Charleston Mercury, and the Richmond Enquirer.
           • America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922)
             Contains digital facsimiles of over 1,375 seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth-century newspapers; the full text of these newspapers, including all articles, advertisements, and other contents, is keyword-searchable.
             Part of the Archive of Americana.
      2. Newspapers held by other libraries: how to find them
   2. Magazines & Journals
      1. Background Information
         For information about periodicals from this time period, consult the following:
         • American Literary Magazines: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Ed. Edward E. Chielens. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1986. Reference R 016.81 A512
         • Index to City and Regional Magazines of the United States. Comp. Sam G. Riley and Gary W. Selnow. New York: Greenwood, 1989.
           Reference R 015.73 R573i
         • Regional Interest Magazines of the United States. Ed. Sam G. Riley and Gary W. Selnow. New York: Greenwood, 1991.
           Reference R 051 R336
         • Women's Periodicals in the United States: Consumer Magazines. Ed. Kathleen L. Endres and Therese L. Lueck. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995. Reference R 051.09 W8721
         • Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues. Ed. Kathleen L. Endres and Therese L. Lueck. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. Reference R 051.09 W872
      2. To locate articles in 19th and 20th century magazines and journals, search the following:
         • 19th-Century Masterfile
           Indexes articles in 479 British and American periodicals published in the nineteenth century.
           Note: The print version of Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906), which is part of 19th-Century Masterfile, is available in the Reference Index Area at call number R 050 P82.
         • Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1885)
           The Library also has the years 1830-1854 on CD-ROM; ask at the Circulation Desk.
           In addition, the Library has some individual issues from July 1865, August 1865, July 1867, June 1869, and August 1870. These are kept in Permanent Reserve; please ask for help at the Circulation Desk.
         • Humanities & Social Sciences Index
           (1907 to present). For the period 1907-1984, this database indexes journal articles in both the humanities and social sciences; it also includes the International Index to Periodicals (1907-1965). From 1985 to the present, the focus is on the humanities.
           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 ?
         • The Literary Index to American Magazines
           
           • The Literary Index and Historical Index to American Magazines, 1800-1850. Daniel A. Wells and Jonathan Daniel Wells. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.
             Reference R 051 W453Li 1800-1850
           • The Literary Index to American Magazines, 1850-1900. Comp. Daniel A. Wells. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
             Reference R 051 W453Li 1850-1900
         • Making of America
           Contains the full text of journals and books from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
           Note: There are two sites for the Making of America:
           • University of Michigan site
           • Cornell University site
         • Periodicals Index Online
           (c. 1665-1995) 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
         • Readers' Guide Abstracts
           (1890 to present) Indexes articles in popular periodicals; also includes citations to book and film reviews.
           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's Periodicals: 18th Century to the Great Depression [microfilm]
           This collection contains over 55 titles; please note that each periodical is separately catalogued and separately shelved in the regular alphabetical sequence in the microfilm cabinets.
           Guides:
           • Unit 1 (Economics ; Social & Political Issues): Reference R 016.05 W872 v.1
           • Unit 2: Reference R 016.05 W872 v.2
           • Unit 3 (Fashion ; Literature & the Arts ; Religion): Reference R 016.05 W872 v.3
5. U.S. Government Documents
   • A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
     From the Library of Congress's American Memory project. Contains the full text of:
     • American State Papers (1789-1838)
     • Debates from the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), Congressional Globe (1833-1873), and Congressional Record (1873-1875)
     • House and Senate Bills & Resolutions (1799-1873)
     • Journals of the House of Representatives (1789-1875) and Senate (1789-1875)
     • Statutes at Large (1789-1875)
   • Documents of United States Indian Policy. Ed. Francis Paul Prucha. 2nd ed. Lincoln, NE: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1990.
     Reference R 973.04 P971d
   • Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Comp. Charles J. Kappler. 7 vols. 1904-1979. Reprint. [New York]: William S. Hein, [199-].
     Government Information Stacks I 1.107
     Available online from the Oklahoma State University Library.
     See also Kappler Revisited: An Index and Bibliographic Guide to American Indian Treaties, by Charles D. Bernholz (Kenmore, NY: Epoch Books, 2003), shelved in Reference at call number R 970.5 B527k.
   • LexisNexis Congressional
     Indexes Congressional documents (1789-1980) and provides the full text of many recent documents (1980s to present). To locate the full text of Congressional documents from 1789-1980, search the U.S. Serial Set.
     Search Syntax:
     • Truncation: use an exclamation point
     • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
     • Wildcard: use an asterisk *
   • The Territorial Papers of the United States [1787-1845]. Comp. Clarence Edwin Carter. 28 vols. Washington, DC: USGO, 1934-1975.
     Government Information Stacks GS 4.13
   • U.S. Census data
     • Decennials: Census of Population and House (1790-1900), from the U.S. Census Bureau (pdf files)
     • Historical Census Browser (1790-1960), from the GeoStat Center at the University of Virginia Library
     • See also Population Information in Nineteenth-Century Census Volumes, by Suzanne Schulze. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, 1983.
       Reference R 304.6 S391p 1790-1890
     • The Davidson College Library also has many volumes of early decennial census records, including the following:
       • 1800: Aggregate amount of each description of persons within the United States of America, and the Territories thereof...: Rare Book Room
       • 1810: Aggregate amount of each description of persons within the United States of America, and the Territories thereof...: Rare Book Room
         A statement of the arts and manufactures of the United States of America, for the year 1810...: Rare Book Room
         See also Census of the United States, Third, 1810 [microfiche]: Early American Imprints, 2nd series (Shaw & Shoemaker), no. 27121
       • 1820: Census for 1820: Rare Book Room
         Digest of accounts of manufacturing establishments in the United States, and of their manufactures: Rare Book Room
       • 1830: Abstract of the Fifth Census of the United States, 1830: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1840: Sixth Census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, as corrected at the Department of state, in 1840...: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Compendium of the Enumeration of the inhabitants and statistics of the United States, as obtained at the Department of State, from the returns of the Sixth Census...: Rare Book Room
       • 1850: The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         [Compendium] Statistical view of the United States, embracing its territory, population—white, free colored, and slave—moral and social condition, industry, property, and revenue...,: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1860: Population of the United States in 1860: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Statistics of the United States, (including mortality, property, &c.) in 1860: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Agriculture of the United States in 1860: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Manufactures of the United States in 1860: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1870: The statistics of the population of the United States, embracing the tables of race, nationality, sex, selected ages, and occupations: Volume 1: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         The vital statistics of the United States: Volume II, Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         The statistics of the wealth and industry of the United States: Volume III: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Statistical Atlas of the United States based on the results of the Ninth Census in 1870 with contributions from many eminent men of science and several departments of the government...: Rare Book Room
         A compendium of the Ninth Census (June 1, 1870): Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1880: Statistics of the Population of the United States : Volume 1: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1890: Volume 1: Report on Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Abstract of the Eleventh Census: 1890 : Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890 [2 parts]: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
       • 1900: Twelfth Census: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Abstracts of the Twelfth Census: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Atlas of the Twelfth Census: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
         Twelfth Census: Special Reports: Little Library Census Area, Ground Floor
   • U.S. Congressional Serial Set
     (1817-1980) Contains the fully-searchable text of the Serial Set, which includes U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reports, documents, and journals.
     Part of the Archive of Americana.
     Note: this digital collection is not yet complete; if you need documents from twentieth-century volumes that have not yet been digitized, please ask a librarian for assistance. The Davidson College Library has print and microfiche versions of many Serial Set volumes.
   • United States Government Documents on Women, 1800-1990: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Mary Ellen Huls. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993.
     Reference R 016.305 H917u
6. Other Examples
   • American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement, A Digital Library and Learning Center, from the Wisconsin Historical Society
   • American Memory, from the Library of Congress
     Contains a wealth of primary source material for American history, including:
     • American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
     • An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
     • A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
     • The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
     • History of the American West, 1860-1920
     • The Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals
     • Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912
     • Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion, 1820-1890
   • American Women's History: A Research Guide: Digital Collections of Primary Sources, from the Middle Tennessee State University Library
   • ARTstor
     A collection of over 500,000 images covering art, architecture, and archaeology from a wide range of cultures and time periods as well as tools to manipulate and analyze those images. For technical requirements, see the Quick Start Guide.
   • California Heritage Collection, from the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley
   • Digital Library Federation, Public Access Collections
     A large database of online, digital collections created by libraries, archives, and universities across the U.S.
   • Digital Schomburg: Images of African Americans from the 19th Century, from the New York Public Library
   • Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia
     Contains numerous historical and literary texts; search both "Collections" and "User Projects."
   • The Female Experience in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century America: A Guide to the History of American Women. Jill K. Conway. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1985.
     Reference R 016.305 C767f
   • Japanese American History Archives, San Francisco, CA
   • Victorian American Women, 1840-1990: An Annotated Bibliography. Karen Rae Mehaffey. New York: Garland, 1992.
     Reference R 016.3054 M498v
   • Women Writers Online
     Contains the full text of over 200 works written by women in the period 1400-1850.
   • Archives for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Texas at San Antonio Library
     Includes links to Additional Women's Collections across the country.

• Books
  • Library Catalog
    Includes information about books, government documents, and journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.
    • To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.
    • 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
  1. Starting Points
     • 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 ? 
     • OmniFile Full Text Mega
       (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
       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 ?
  2. Core Resources
     • America: History & Life and Historical Abstracts
       (Time period covered: 1450 to present [world history]; prehistory to present [U.S. and Canadian history]. Publication coverage: 1954 to present). Indexes journal articles, book chapters, doctoral dissertations, and book reviews. (Each database can also be searched separately.)
       Search Syntax:
       • Truncation: use an asterisk *
       • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
       • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
     • Web of Knowledge
       (c. 1900 to present) A multidisciplinary resource that provides citations to articles in thousands of journals in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences.
       Search Syntax:
       • Truncation: use an asterisk *
       • Phrase searching: use double quotations marks " "
       • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  3. Other Resources
     • Bibliographic Index
       (1984 to present) A bibliography of bibliographies; indexes bibliographies published in books, pamphlets, and more than 2,800 periodicals. Includes citations to literature reviews and serial bibliographies.
       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 ?
     • 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
     • PAIS International
       (1915 to present) Indexes journal articles, books, government documents, and conference papers in political science, public affairs, and economics.
       Search Syntax:
       • Truncation: use an asterisk *
       • Phrase searching: automatic
       • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
     • Periodicals Index Online
       (c. 1665-1995) 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.