Background Information
Tip: Use an encyclopedia for a quick overview, to develop vocabulary for searching, and to find other sources.
Selected History Reference Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica [Print] Index Area
- Encyclopedia of American Social History [Print] R 301.0973 En1
- Cambridge Medieval History [Print] R 940.1 C14
- Encyclopedia of Modern Asia [Print] R 950.03 En192
- Dictionary of American History [Print] R 973 D561
- Encyclopedia of the Confederacy [Print] R 973.713 En1
ABC-CLIO E-books Collection
The ABC-CLIO E-book Collection is a collection of e-books emphasizing history and literature. It is searchable by keyword, subject, author, title, or any Boolean search method.
Credo Reference
Credo is an online reference service with access to over 500 titles. Credo
includes subject-specific dictionaries, biographical data, statistics, quotations, and audio and image files from more than 50 publishers.
North Carolina Encyclopedia
From: The State Library of North Carolina
An overview of the people, government, history, and resources of North Carolina.
Bibliographies
- Women in American History [Print] R 016.30141 H24
- Harvard Guide to American History[Print] R 016.9 F91
- Medieval Narrative Sources [Print] R 016.9401 B17
- Bibliography of Asian Studies [Print] R 016.95 As7
- Bibliographic Guide to North American History [Print] R 016.97 B47
Articles (magazines / journals)
America: History & LifeOneSearch
From: EBSCOhost
Indexes journals and dissertations related to the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Covers publications from 1964 - present.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index in Web of Knowledge
From: Institute for Scientific Research (ISI)
Coverage: 1988 - current
As part of the Web of Science, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. For search help
you may access: Tutorial or Web-Based Training.
English Short Title Catalogue
Provides bibliographic records for all surviving letter press material
in the British Isles and North America before 1801, held by
the British Library and more than 2000 other institutions worldwide.
Historical AbstractsOneSearch
From: EBSCOhost
Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history and history of education.
Humanities
International CompleteOneSearch
From: EBSCOhost
A comprehensive database of humanities content, providing full
text of hundreds of journals, books, and other published sources from around the world.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle AgesOneSearch
From: University of Toronto Libraries
Provides access to published materials pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).
JSTOR. Ann Arbor, MI: JSTOR
Coverage varies: Fulltext articles form journals in many subject areas. JSTOR is not a current issues database. Because of JSTOR's archival mission, there is a gap, typically from 1 to 5 years, between the most recently published journal issue and the
back issues available in JSTOR.
Primary Sources in U.S. History
From: Lexis Nexis
Authoritative American history resources, available in three
subject modules: Presidential Studies, African American Studies,
and Women's Studies. Primary and secondary sources include scholarly
and reference articles, contemporary accounts, manuscripts,
laws, court cases, speeches, photographs, and political cartoons.
International Index to Periodicals (1907-1965) [Print] Index Area
Humanities Index (1974-2004) [Print] Index Area
Social Sciences and Humanities Index (1965-1974) [Print] Index Area
Interdisciplinary databases that cover a number of topics related to the humanities.
Academic Search PremierOneSearch
From:EBSCOhost
The world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for nearly 4,700 publications, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed publications.
Offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 8,200 journals as well as information in nearly every area of academic study.
Dissertation Abstracts
From: OCLC FirstSearch
Dissertations and theses from institutions in North America and Europe.
19th Century MasterFile - Series 1
From: Paratext
Multi-title periodical indexes that includes Poole's' Index to Periodical Literature
Readers' Guide RetrospectiveOneSearch
From: HW Wilson
Coverage: 1890 - 1982
RGR is a database containing comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States from 1890-1982 and reflects the history of 20th-century America.
Social Sciences Citation Index in Web of Knowledge
From: Institute for Scientific Research (ISI)
Coverage: 1988 - current
As part of the Web of Science, the Social Sciences Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the social sciences. For search help
you may access: Tutorial or Web-Based Training.
Articles (newspapers)
New York Times, Historical Archive
From: Proquest
Full text coverage: 1851 - 2006
A digital archive for the New York Times that gives access to the full content of each paper starting from the first issue.
Times Digital Archive
From: Gale
Coverage: 1785 - 1985
Researchers can search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London) to retrieve full facsimile images
of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured--with all articles, advertisements,
and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching.
North Carolina Information
North Carolina Encyclopedia
From: The State Library of North Carolina
An overview of the people, government, history, and resources of North Carolina.
North Carolina Periodicals Index
North Carolina State Publications Collection
Digital collection of current and historical North Carolina state publications.
The focus of the collection is on state government publications from 2002 to current.
Sanborn Maps North Carolina
From: Proquest
Provides digital access to 11,173 large scale maps of 158 North Carolina towns and cities.
Books
Meredith College Library Catalog
The catalog lists books, journal titles, videos, music and other items in the Meredith College libraries.
Subject heading searches may help to locate books on broad topics. A useful strategy is to do a general keyword
search to find one or two books on your topic, and then use the subject headings listed for those items to explore other relevant subject headings.
Some examples of Library of Congress subject headings are:
Indians of North America History
Medieval 500 1500 Social History
United States History 1865 1898
World War 1914 1918 Causes
World War 1939 1945
Ebrary
Search a full text eBook collection that spans many academic subject areas.
NetLibrary
Provides easy access to the full text of more than 10,000 reference, scholarly, and professional books.
WorldCAT
Website from: OCLC
Search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world.
Two different search interfaces are available, WorldCAT (new user-friendly website from OCLC)
and WorldCAT (OCLC First Search)
Statistics
Historical Census Browser (1770 - 1970) Univ. of VA.
The data and terminology presented in the Historical Census Browser are drawn directly from historical volumes of the U.S. Census of Population and Housing.
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970,
Print edition available R 317.3 H629
Statistical Abstract of the United States (1878 - Current)
The Statistical Abstract contains historical census data in the section containing Population Data.
Print editions available: R 317 U.S.
U.S. Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing
Atlases and Maps
- Historical Atlas of the United States, R 911 L88h
- Atlas of American History, R 911.73 J13
- Atlas of the Arab World, R 912.1974 F22
- The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection A collection of historical map web sites fomr the University of Texas
Primary Sources, Biographies, Diaries
ABC-CLIO E-books Collection
The ABC-CLIO E-book Collection is a collection of e-books emphasizing history and literature. It is searchable by keyword, subject, author, title, or any Boolean search method.
American History in Video
From: Alexander Street Press
The American History in Video collection includes commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, important documentaries. and new documentaries from PBS.
American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography
From: ABC-CLIO
Life histories of former slaves complied from nearly 4000 interviews with ex-slaves.
ArchiveGrid
Online access to the descriptions of archival collections held around the world.
ArchiveGrid is an important destination for searching for historical documents, personal papers and family histories held in archives throughout the world
Facisimilies of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America (1773-1783),
R 973.307 St4 Microfilm Room
Documenting the American South
From: UNC
"Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes thirteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs."
HeritageQuest
From: Proquest
Research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Contains original page images for all documents,
more than 25,000 books, the entire U.S. Federal Census, PERSI, and other expanding collections.
In
the First PersonOneSearch
From: Alexander Street Press
In the First Person is a free, high quality, professionally
published, in-depth index of close to 4,000 collections of personal
narratives in English from around the world.
Internet Library of Early English Journals. (ILEJ)
Website from: Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and Oxford
Browse a digitized collection of six major 18th and 19th century British journals: The Annual Register (1758-1778), The Builder (1843-1852), Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1843-1863), Gentleman's Magazine (1731-1750),
Notes and Queries (1849-1869), and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1757-1777). The latter four titles are also searchable.
Microbook Library of American Civilization (LAC) Located in Microfilm room
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
From: Alexander Street Press
Full text of letters and diaries, plus pages of previously unpublished materials depicting the personal experiences of hundreds of women.
PBS Video Collection
A selection of nearly 250 PBS programs, including films from award winning documentarian Ken Burns, and series such as Scientific American Frontiers, American Experience, and Frontline. These videos are available using video stream and require Adobe Flash Player Version 9.0 or higher.
Suggested Internet Resources
Ad*Access
Website from: Duke University
Presents images and database information for more than 7000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers from 1911-1955.
