Outline of this guide: Reference Works Primary Sources Secondary Sources

Other useful links: Course Reserves/E-Reserves for this class Book Review Sources RefWorks RefWorks: A Guide Research Log Research Planner

• 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 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
  • African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Dorothy C. Salem. New York: Garland, 1993.
    Reference R 920.7 A77a
  • 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 Civil Rights Activists: Biobibliographies of 68 Leaders, 1825-1992. Gayle J. Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993.
    Reference R 923.6 H269a
  • Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson, 2003- .
  • Black Women in America. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. 2nd ed. 3 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.
    Reference R 920.7 B6271 2005
• Art, Music, & Popular Culture
  • Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945-1990. Richard A. Schwartz. New York: Facts on File, 1998.
    Reference R 973.92 S399c
  • Encyclopedia of Television. Ed. Horace Newcomb. 2nd ed. 4 vols. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004.
    Reference R 791.45 E56
  • Feature Films, 1950-1959: A United States Filmography. Alan Fetrow. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999.
    Reference R 016.791 F288 1950-1959
  • International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Ed. Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast. 4th ed. 4 vols. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.
    Reference R 791.43 I611 2000
  • Oxford Art Online
    Contains the full text of:
    • Dictionary of Art. Ed Jane. Turner 34 vols. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 1996.
      Reference R 703 D554
      Note: Oxford Art Online also contains updated entries and bibliographies for the Grove Dictionary.
    • ... and over 5,000 images.
  • Oxford Music Online
    Contains the full text of:
    • The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. New York: Grove, 2001- .
    • ... and sound files, images, and more.
  • Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. Ed. Barry Grant. 4 vols. New York: Schirmer Reference, 2007.
  • Television Program Master Index. Charles V. Dintrone. 2nd ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.
    Reference R 016.7914 D587t
• General Works on the 1950s
  • Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. 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 the United States in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 4 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1996.
    Reference R 973.03 E562
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library: History Resources
    A collection of over 200 electronic reference books. Includes:
    • Datapedia of the United States: American History in Numbers. George Thomas Kurian. 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Bernan, 2008.
    • Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 10 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2003.
      Reference R 973 D554 2003
    • Encyclopedia of Social Welfare History in North America. Ed. John Herrick and Paul Stuart. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005.
    • Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior. Ed. Kenneth Warren. 2 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2008.
    • Encyclopedia of War and American Society. Ed. Peter Karsten. 3 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005.
    • Social Change in America: The Historical Handbook. Ed. Patricia Becker. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
    • ... and many more!
  • Historical Dictionary of the 1950s. James Olson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.
    Reference R 973.92 O52h
• Civil Rights
  • The Civil Rights Movement: References and Resources. Paul T. Murray. New York: G.K. Hall, 1993.
    Reference R 016.323 M983c
  • Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Present. Ed. Charles D. Lowery and John F. Marszalek. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
    Reference R 305.8 E561
  • Encyclopedia of American Civil Rights & Liberties. Ed. Otis Stephens et al. 3 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
    Reference R 342.73 E561
  • The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America. Ed. David Bradley and Shelley Fisher Fishkin. 3 vols. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1998.
    Reference R 323.1 E56
• The Cold War
  • Americans at War: Society, Culture, and the Homefront. Ed. John P. Resch. 4 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2005.
    Reference R 973 A5122
  • The Cold War, 1945-1991. Ed. Benjamin Frankel. 3 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1992- .
    Reference R 923.2 A211c
  • Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945-1990. Richard A. Schwartz. New York: Facts on File, 1998.
    Reference R 973.92 S399c
  • The Cold War Encyclopedia. Thomas Parrish. New York: H. Holt, 1996.
    Reference R 909.82 P261c
  • The Cold War Reference Guide: A General History and Annotated Chronology with Selected Biographies. Richard Alan Schwartz. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997.
    Reference R 909.82 S399c
  • The Columbia Guide to the Cold War. Michael Kort. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1998.
    Reference R 909.82 K85c
  • Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Thomas S. Arms. New York: Facts on File, 1994.
    Reference R 909.82 A734e
• Women
  • Encyclopedia of Women and Gender. Ed. Judith Worell. 2 vols. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2001.
    Reference R 305.4 E56
  • 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
  • Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Janet Boles and Diane Long Hoeveler. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2004.
    Reference R 305.42 B688h

• General Search Tools
  Published primary sources, contemporary books, videos.
  • 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
    The following terms may also be helpful for some topics:
    • description and travel
    • videorecordings
    You can also limit by publication date to find contemporary books.
    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
    The following terms may also be helpful for some topics:
    • description and travel
    • videorecordings
    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.
• Diaries
  See also the tips in general search tools, above.
  • 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
  • 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
• Periodicals & News Sources
  The Little Library has many magazines, newspapers, and journals from this time period. As well as articles about presidents and first ladies, they also contain interviews, profiles, editorial cartoons, reprints of speeches, and much more.
  1. Popular Magazines
     Including weekly and monthly consumer, news, and opinion magazines.
     • Bibliographies and Guides to 20th Century Popular Magazines
     • Indexes to 20th-Century Popular Magazines
     • 20th Century Popular Magazines in Little Library
  2. Newspapers
     • Indexes to 20th-Century Newspapers
     • 20th Century Newspapers in Little Library
     • Newspapers held by Other Libraries: How to Find Them
  3. Other Periodicals
     To find articles in other types of periodicals, such as journals, search the following:
     • 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 ?
     • 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
• U.S. Government Documents
  • Digital National Security Archive
    Contains over 61,000 declassified U.S. government foreign policy documents dating from the mid to the late twentieth century. These documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and are drawn from the collections of the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
  • Federal Statutes at Large. Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1937- .
    Government Information Statcks GS 4.111: 1
    Library has: 1850 to present
  • Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room, from the FBI
    Contains the full text of many historical FBI records released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Includes records about people, organizations, and notable events.
  • Foreign Relations of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1861- .
    Government Information Stacks S1.1 (Some volumes are online)
  • American Foreign Policy  S 1.71/2: 
  • LexisNexis Congressional
    (1789 to present [index]; late 1980s to present [full text]) Indexes current and historical congressional documents, including published and unpublished hearings, committee reports, House and Senate documents, House and Senate reports, and legislative histories. Provides the full text of many recent congressional publications.
    Note: Most of the full-text documents in LexisNexis Congressional date from the late 1980s to the present. Many of the older documents indexed by LexisNexis Congressional can be found in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (see below).
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an exclamation point
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use an asterisk *
  • Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
    
    • Paper [official publications]
      • Harry S. Truman
        Government Information Stacks GS 4.113: 1945 through GS 4.113: 1952-1953
      • Dwight D. Eisenhower
        Government Information Stacks GS 4.113: 1953 through GS 4.113: 1960-1961
    • Unofficial publications and reproductions of the Public Papers
      • American Presidency Project, from the University of California at Santa Barbara
        Includes:
        • The Public Papers of the Presidents, Hoover to Bush (1929-1993)
        • Selected audio and video files of speeches, radio addresses, and more from Hoover to George W. Bush
        • Statistical data, and more...
      • Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, from the University of Michigan Digital Library
        Provides digital facsimiles of the volumes for the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, among others.
  • U.S. Census data
    • Online
      • 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
    • Print
      Location: Government Information Stacks, Census Area [at the very beginning of the Government Information Stacks]
      The library has volumes from the 16th Census (1940), 17th Census (1950), and 18th Census (1960) as well as many volumes from the Census of Agriculture, Census of Manufactures, and Census of Business from this time period.
  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set
    (1817-1980, but see note below) Contains the fully-searchable text of the Serial Set, a rich collection of primary source materials on all aspects of U.S. political, military, cultural, economic, ethnic, and social history. Includes U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reports, documents, and journals. This collection is part of the Archive of Americana.
    Note: this digital collection is not yet complete; as of January 2009, it contains documents from 1817-1964. To find documents dating from the mid-1960s to 1980, be sure to search LexisNexis Congressional too.
  • 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
• Other Examples
  • American Memory, from the Library of Congress
  • The American Radicalism Collection [microfilm]
    Microfilm cabinet D-51
    Contains reproductions of pamphlets, broadsides, newsletters, program notices, clippings, and unpublished writings from the American Radicalism Collection in the Michigan State University Library's Special Collections Division. The microfilm collection is in four parts:
    Part 1: Leftist Politics and Anti-War Movements
    Part 2: The Religious and Radical Right
    Part 3: Race, Gender, and the Struggle for Justice and Equal Rights
    Part 4: Twentieth-Century Social, Economic, and Environmental Movements
    Guides: Reference R 322.4 A512
  • AP Images
    (1826 to present [photographs]; 1920 to present [audio clips]; 1990 to present [charts and maps]; 1997 to present [text]) A collection of over 2 million photographs, 1 million audio clips, 48,000 diagrams, charts, maps, and timelines, and 2.8 million news briefs from the Associated Press (AP). Updated daily.
    Note: Only one person can search this database at any one time; if you are unable to login because this limit has been reached, please wait a few minutes and try again.
    Photographs and graphics from the Archive cannot be sold, syndicated, loaned or used for advertising or for trade without the written consent of AP. In addition, users cannot republish any of the photographs on a Web page.
  • ARTstor
    A collection of over 900,000 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.
  • Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
    (c. 1935 to present) A collection of U.S. public opinion data. Includes iPOLL, a database of 500,000 questions and answers from surveys conducted by over 150 commercial and media survey organizations, including the Gallup Organization, Harris Interactive, Pew Research Associates, and more.

• Books
  • Library Catalog
    Includes information about books, government documents, and journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.
    • 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.
    • To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use a dollar sign $
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • ebrary
    A collection of over 38,000 e-books published by over 220 academic, trade, and professional publishers; covers all subject areas. Also includes tools that allow you to create your own virtual bookshelf, bookmark pages, and add and save notes and highlights.
    Note: for full functionality, you need the ebrary Reader. This plugin is on all library and ITS computers, but if you are using your own computer, you can download it from the ebrary home page.
  • 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 Catalog 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
  Be sure to consult the indexes & databases pages too, especially film, music, political science, and sociology.
  • 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 ?
  • Contemporary Women's Issues
    (1992 to present) Indexes popular articles, scholarly articles, books, newsletters, and reports on all aspects of women's studies, including gender, sociology, education, political science, and health.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: automatic
    • Phrase searching: automatic
  • Essay & General Literature Index
    (1900 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). Indexes articles in over 500 English-language journals in the fields of archaeology, art, classics, communication, film, folklore, history, languages and literatures, music, philosophy, religion, and theatre. Also includes citations for book, theatre, and film reviews as well as interviews, obituaries, and some original creative works. Includes the full text of selected articles from 1995 to the present.
    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
    Contains full-text articles from journals published by university and scholarly presses.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
  • Social Sciences Abstracts
    (1907 to present) 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 ?
  • 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 ?
  • 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.