Birmingham-Southern College
Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center and /N.E. Miles Library
King John signs the Magna Carta in 1215
Selected
History Sources
and Tips
Subject Headings
Libraries use special terminology to classify books. The words that you use to describe your topic may not be the same as those in the online catalog. This is especially important for history.
Most academic libraries use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to describe the content of books or other materials. A printed list (in 5 volumes) of the LCSH is available near the Reference Desk.
A few examples:
| Common Term | Library of Congress Subject Heading | |
| Great Depression | Depressions--1929--United States | |
| Civil War | United States--History--Civil war, 1861-1865 | |
| Great Britain--History--Civil war, 1642-1649 | ||
| World War II | World War, 1939-1945 | |
| Russian Revolution | Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921 | |
| Qing Dynasty | China--History--Ch'ing dynasty, 1644-1912 |
Tip: Once you find a book on your topic, check the subject headings assigned to that book and search those terms for other titles on the topic.
Finding Books
The BSC Online Library Catalog gives the location and call number information for all the material in the library.
WorldCat is a database containing the titles of books and other materials in thousands of libraries. Use this database to see if other libraries have material on your topic. If you identify useful material not owned by BSC, you may request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Tip: Always check a book's bibliography for other, perhaps better, materials.
Reference Materials
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
These subject-specific reference works are often the best place to begin research. They provide an overall view of the subject, written by scholars, including bibliographies.
Tip: Search the BSC Online Library Catalog with keywords such as “world war and encyclopedia” or “middle ages and dictionary.”
Research Guides and Handbooks
Historical Research: A Guide [Ref D16.25 .M32 2002]
A Companion to Western Historical Thought [Ref D16.8 .B55 2002]
Reference Sources in History, 2nd ed. [Ref D 20 .F72 2004]
The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students [D16.2 .P715 2007 (stacks)]
The Library has access to many online reference books through CREDO Reference, which contains such titles as:
Companion to British History, Routledge
Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
Great American History Fact-Finder
Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History
and Oxford Reference Online Premium, which contains such titles as:
The Oxford Companion to American Military History
The Oxford Companion to British History
The Oxford Companion to World War II
Other Selected Reference Books
Chronology of World History [Ref. D11 .M39 1999]
Dictionary of Concepts in History [Ref D13 .R49 1986]
Dictionary of Historic Documents [Ref. D 9 .D525 2003]
Timetables of History: A Historical Linkage of People and Events [Ref D11 .G78 2005]
Printed Primary Sources
Historical writing and enquiry ultimately depend on the discovery and analysis of materials written by observers. Examples include diaries, newspaper accounts, census records, photographs, letters, and shipping manifests.
Examples from the Library of Congress Subject Headings would include:
-
Personal Narratives—American-China History—Boxer Rebellion—1899-1901
-
Women—Europe—History—Sources
Tip: Use search terms like “personal narrative”, “diaries”, “correspondence”, “journals”, and “sources.”
Online Primary Sources
These are vast and growing. Some of the more important ones include:
AMDOCS (Documents for the Study of American History)
Access to historical documents from the 1650s to 1993.
Annals of American History Online (Restricted to BSC affiliates)
Contains the full-text of many important primary resources and documents pertaining to American history such as speeches, historical accounts, memoirs, etc.
The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Wealth of American and other national documents, ranging from pre18th century to 21st century, including constitutions, charters, treaties, laws, papers.
Digitized Primary American History Sources
Created by the Library at the University of Northern Iowa, an impressive list of American history sources.
Documenting the American South
A collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
Offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
Making of America (at Univ. of Michigan)
A
digital library of primary sources in 19th-century American social history from
the antebellum period through Reconstruction.
Making of
America (at Cornell Univ.)
Contains Cornell University's contributions to Making of America (MOA), a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
United States and its Territories: 1870-1925
Contains material drawn from the University of Michigan Library's Southeast Asia collection, comprises the full text of monographs and government documents published in the United States, Spain, and the Philippines between 1870 and 1925.
Secondary Sources
An understanding of what happened in the past must include what other historians have done and concluded. Secondary sources include:
Book Reviews
Historical Abstracts and America: History & Life are among the many online indices that identify book reviews. Check the database’s “help” pages or speak with a librarian for search strategies.
Book Review Digest, 1905- current [Z 1219 .C95 Ref INDEX]
Book Review Index, 1965- current. [Z 1035 .A1 B6 Ref INDEX]
Tip: Book reviews usually appear within a few years after a book’s first publication. Don’t be fooled by reprint dates.
Selected list of Databases for History
Note: Always check the BSC Online Library Catalog and Periodicals@BSC for availability of material found in the Indexes and Databases.
Those on the BSC Library’s Indexes and Databases page include:
Identifies scholarly journal articles, books, etc. on United States and Canadian history and culture.
Biography Reference Bank
Contains biographical
information on people from antiquity to the present; includes images. Contains full text biographies, magazine citations, and book
reviews.
Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI), 1970- present. Index to social science and humanities journals covering Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States.
Identifies scholarly journal articles, books, dissertations, etc. on world history.
Geared toward the general public and secondary school-age students.
Index to journal articles the humanities—contains some full-text. This is a good place to search for material that presents a history topic from the perspective of another discipline, such as art, philosophy, literature, etc.
Contains the full-text of many academic journals, including history journals, searchable by topic. Note: This database does not contain current issues—there is an “embargo” on the most recent 4-5 years of current issues.
Contains the full-text of many academic journals, magazines, and newspapers covering a broad range of disciplines, searchable by topic.
Printed Indexes (located in the Reference and Index areas)
Check the BSC Online Library Catalog and Periodicals@BSC for location and format of material identified.
Periodical Indexes
Poole’s, 1802-1906 [AI 3 .P72 Ref INDEX]
Subject Index to nearly 500 American and British periodicals.
Readers Guide
to Periodical Literature, 1901- current [AI 3 .R48 Ref INDEX]
Author/subject index to general interest
publications.
Wellesley Index to Victorian Literature [Ref. Z 2005 .H6]
Covers 43 major British monthlies from 1823-1900.
Newspaper Indexes
New York Times Index [AI 21 .N45 Ref INDEX]
This print index covers the NYT from 1851-present. Older issues of the NYT are on microfilm.
Alternative Press Index through FirstSearch--password required. Inquire at Reference Desk.
An index of over 700 periodicals, newspapers and magazines offering alternative, dissenting interpretations of cultural, economic, political & social change.
This database contains the full text of magazine and journal articles, and 200 newspapers from ethnic and minority presses in English and Spanish
A massive database that contains full-text articles from the U.S. and foreign press, transcripts from T.V. and radio broadcasts and other publications.
Guides to Web Resources
Links to many American and British resources, including e-texts. Created by Rutgers University.
New American Studies Web (Crossroads)
The American Studies Web is the largest directory of web-based resources in the field of American Studies, sponsored by the American Studies Association, Georgetown University and Washington State University.
Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR)
Directs users to Asian area content in the humanities and social sciences. PAIR is supported by the U.S. Department of Education's “Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access” program.
A massive web site for humanities research, including history, from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Remember: Please let us know if we can help you! Start your research early and give yourself time to request items through Interlibrary Loan that are not available at BSC.