Library History 260

Handout we used in today's class

Other useful resources:

• History Research Guide
• News Research Guide
• Research Guides (by subject)

• Reference Universe
  Searchable index of the library's entire reference collection, both print and electronic.
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
  Covers scholarship and fields in the social sciences.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library
  70 reference e-books, including multivolume works like the Encyclopedia of Religion, American Decades, and more.

Once you've gathered some background information, start searching the 5 College Catalog for relevant books.

You can also search Worldcat to find books outside of the Five Colleges that you can then request through Interlibrary Loan (remember that these books can take a week or two to arrive, so submit your ILL requests early).

• Discover: Start here for books, articles & more
  Simultaneously search research databases plus the Five Colleges Libraries Catalog to find full-text articles, books and more.
• America, History & Life (1964 to present)
  Covers the world's scholarly literature on the history and culture of the United States and Canada.
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text (1955 to present)
  Scholarly literature about world history since 1450 (excluding the United States and Canada).
• JSTOR
  Full-text backfiles of over two thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. (Alumni access)
• PAIS Index (1972 to present)
  Coverage of articles, selected books, government documents, research reports, etc., from a wide range of social sciences.

For general recommendations for finding primary sources (especially in a library catalog), see our "Primary Sources Research Guide"

Primary

• Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
  Combined search of the historic Boston Globe, Chicago Defender, Chinese Newspapers Collection, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, New York Amsterdam News, New York Times, South China Morning Post, Times of India, and Washington Post.
• American Presidency Project
  Archives containing 109,388 documents related to the study of the Presidency, including executive orders, speeches, press conferences, and more.
• Congressional Publications
  Index to U.S. congressional material, some full text.
• Foreign Relations of the United States
  The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
• Free Speech Movement Digital Archive (UC Berkeley)
  The Free Speech Movement (FSM) Digital Archives document the role of Mario Savio and other participants in the Free Speech Movement (University of California, Berkeley, September-December 1964), as well as its origins in political protest and civil rights movements and its legacy of political activism and educational reform that can be traced throughout the country and the world down to the present.
• LexisNexis Academic  (date coverage varies)
  Full-text federal and state laws, international legal materials, and law reviews. Also newspapers, business information and company profiles.
• The American Presidency Project
  The American Presidency Project contains the most comprehensive collection of resources pertaining to the study of the President of the United States.  
• CIA Freedom of Information Act Reading Room
• Congressional Publications
  Index to U.S. congressional material, some full text.
• FBI Records - The Vault
  Access to many FBI files, organized by subject.
• Foreign Relations of the United States
  The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
• National Security Archives Electronic Briefing Books
  The National Security Archive's continually growing collection of Electronic Briefing Books (EBBs) provide timely online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and much more.
• Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives (1960-1974)
  Resource brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
• Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy (ProQuest History Vault) (1960-1975)
  A collection of primary sources covering everything from early U.S. involvement in the region up to the final resolution of the war at the Paris Peace Talks and the evacuation of U.S. troops in 1973
• Five College Archives & Manuscripts Collection
  Search over 1,500 finding aids describing the archives and manuscripts found at the Five Colleges.