American Women's History
to 1870
Professor McMillen
Fall 2004
Reference Works
Locating Primary Sources
Indexes to Secondary Sources
Questions?
Please contact Susanna Boylston (704.894.2494).
|
Reference Works
- African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Dorothy C. Salem. New York: Garland, 1993.
Reference R 920.7 A77a
- American Women Civil Rights Activists: Biobibliographies of 68 Leaders, 1825-1992. Gayle J. Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993.
Reference R 923.6 H269a
- 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
- American Women's Magazines: An Annotated Historical Guide. Nancy K. Humphreys. New York: Garland, 1989.
Reference R 015.73 H927a
- Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson, 2003- .
- 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 American Social Movements. Ed. Immanuel Ness. 3 vols. New York: Sharpe Reference, 2004.
Reference R 303.484 E56
- Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America. John Mack Faragher. New York: Facts on File, 1990.
Reference R 973.3 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
- 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 the American West. Ed. Gordon Morris Bakken and Brenda Farrington. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003.
Reference R 305.4 E561
- Encyclopedia of Women's Autobiography. Ed. Victoria Boynton and Jo Malin. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005.
Reference R 920.003 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Ed. Anne Commire. 17 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1999.
Reference R 920.7 W872
Locating Primary Sources
General Search Tools | Contemporary Books | Diaries | Government Documents
Periodicals | Other Examples
General Search Tools
- 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.
Contemporary Books
- Early English Books Online (EEB0) (1475-1700)
Includes over 125,000 books, pamphlets, broadsides, proclamations, almanacs, and other publications printed in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and British North America from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries.
Note: Does not include periodicals or newspapers.
To print more than one page of a document, you need to "Mark All" pages, view your "Marked List," and then download the document images (not the citation). Once the document is downloaded, you can print out a range of pages or the entire document using the print function in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- Early American Imprints. First Series (Evans): 1639-1800 [microfiche]
Microfiche cabinets
Includes books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed in the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Includes over 42,000 titles, including almanacs, bibles, charters, cookbooks, maps, printed music, novels, plays, poems, primers, sermons, speeches, treaties, travelogues, and textbooks.
Note: Does not include periodicals or newspapers.
To search for individual titles, do a keyword search in the Library Catalogue and limit your search to location "Early American Imprints."
- Early American Imprints. Second Series (Shaw-Shoemaker): 1801-1819 [microfiche]
Microfiche cabinets
Includes books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed in the United States during the early nineteenth century. Includes over 38,000 titles.
Note: Does not include periodicals or newspapers.
To search for individual titles, do a keyword search in the Library Catalogue and limit your search to location "Early American Imprints."
- 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
- Travels in the Old South [microfiche]
Microfiche cabinets
Includes copies of works by travelers to the South between 1607 and 1860. The titles, over 600 in number, are described in Thomas D. Clark's Travels in the Old South: A Bibliography (3 vols.; Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1956-1959), shelved in Reference at call number R 016.917 C59tr.
Guide to the microfiche collection: Reference R 016.975 C595t
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).
Guides:
Segment 1, New England Women: Reference R 016.973 A5121n
Segment 2, Southern Women: Reference R 016.973 A5121s
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
- 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
Government Documents
- 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
Periodicals
- For information about women's periodicals, consult the following:
- American Literary Magazines: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Ed. Edward E. Chielens. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1986. Reference R 016.81 A512
- Magazines of the American South. Sam G. Riley. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1986. Reference R 051 R573m
- 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
- 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.
- 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. Includes the text of the Ladies Repository, for example.
Note: There are two sites for the Making of America:
University of Michigan site (contains the Ladies Repository)
Cornell University site
- The Southern Lady's Companion (1847-1854) [microfilm]
Microfilm cabinet C-34
- 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
- 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.
- PCI: Periodical Contents Index
(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.
- Newspapers
- To locate newspapers on microfilm in the E.H. Little Library, do a keyword search in the Library Catalogue for the word "newspapers" and then limit by date and by material type "newspapers."
- To identify other titles, consult American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada, edited by Winifred Gregory (New York: Kraus, 1967), shelved in Reference
at R 016.05 A51.
- African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
- The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective
- New York Times
Available online (1851-2001): Historical Newspapers: The New York Times
Available on microfilm (1851 to present)
Index (1851 to present): Reference Index Area R 071 N53
Personal Name Index: Reference Index Area 071 N53p
Other Examples
- American Memory, from the Library of Congress
Contains a wealth of primary source material for American history, including:
An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera"
The Lady's Guide to Perfect Gentility, by Emily Thornwell (1857)
Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921
By Popular Demand: Votes for Women Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920
- American Women's History: A Research Guide: Digital Collections of Primary Sources, from the Middle Tennessee State University Library
- 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."
- 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
- Women and Children of the Mills: An Annotated Guide to Nineteenth-Century American Textile Factory Literature. Judith A. Ranta. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
Reference R 016.81 R213w
- 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.
Indexes to Secondary Sources
Tools for Locating Books | Tools for Locating Articles | Electronic Journal Collections
Tools for Locating 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.
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 ?.
Tools for Locating Articles
- 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.
- 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 ?.
- 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.
- PCI: Periodical Contents Index
(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.
- 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 ?.
- Sociological Abstracts
(1963 to present) Indexes journal articles in sociology and related fields, including anthropology, economics, education, philosophy, political science, and social psychology.
Search Syntax
Truncation: use an asterisk *.
Phrase searching: automatic.
Wildcard: use a question mark ?.
Electronic Journal Collections
- 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.
- 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 " ".
|