Guides to the Literature of History

Titles are listed here by call number

Reader's Guide to American History.
Presents a series of brief essays that describe and evaluate significant literature on over 600 topics. Be sure to use the general index.
Ref. [q.] Z1236 .R43 1997

The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature. 2 vols.
A selective guide to the literature. See the subject index in volume two.
Ref. [q.] Z6201 .A55 1995

Sources of Information for Historical Research.
A selective guide to historical reference for researchers at all levels. Arranged by Library of Congress classification, so the call numbers you're familiar with will lead you to more sources.
Ref. Z6201 .S64 1994


Historiography:

A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing. 2 vols.
Ref. [q.] D 13 .G47 1998

Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing. 2 vols.
Ref. [q.] D 14 .E53 1999

Great Historians of the Modern Age : An International Dictionary.
Ref. D14 .G75 1991

History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction
D16.8 .G533 2000

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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

This is only an extremely brief list of the most general sources. To find more, try a Guided Search in LUCIA using terms that apply to your topic combined with Subject Keywords (dictionaries or encyclopedias). You might also try looking for more of the publications in the Cambridge and Oxford history series; you can do this by doing a Guided Search for Title Keywords cambridge and history or oxford and history. The information below on Finding Books will help you.

General:

Encyclopedias on historical periods:

Countries or regions of the world: A Subject Keyword search in LUCIA may be one of the best ways to find historical dictionaries and encyclopedias on a particular country. For example, to find information on African history, try a search for africa* and history and (dictionaries or encyclopedias). See the section below on Finding Books for more information on using LUCIA.

You might also want to browse the reference collections by subject area. You will find historical encyclopedias in the following call number ranges:

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Finding Primary Sources

See the library research guide to History 650: Primary Sources. In addition, consider looking at biographical material; see the sources listed below for Biographical Information

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Finding Books

To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try a Subject begins with search, for example, world politics. LUCIA will list other subject headings (and subheadings) which may be of interest. LUCIA will also suggest related terms which can be searched. For advanced research you should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH, a multi-volume guide to the terms commonly used in catalogs like ours. The LCSH can be found on top of the Ready Reference shelves behind the reference desk on the first floor of the library. See this page for an example from the LCSH for United States-History.

To combine terms for a different kind of search, try a Keyword Anywhere search. LUCIA will look for the terms you specify anywhere in the important areas of the cataloging records, and display a list of those records. Try a search for the phrase "manifest destiny" using quotation marks. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH, or try targeting your keyword search by telling LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records by using the Subject Keyword option. Compare a Keyword Anywhere search with a Subject Keyword search for terms marriage and famil*. The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search for all words starting with famil: family, families, familial, familiar, familiarity, and so on.

Books are arranged on the library's shelves by Library of Congress Classification. This is a system which organizes materials by general subjects. Once you have a call number from searching LUCIA, see this guide to call number locations at Mudd and the library floor maps to find out where a book might be on the shelves.

Search LUCIA for materials in our library; try WorldCat to find materials beyond the Mudd. Make sure you've thoroughly searched our library before going to WorldCat. See a reference librarian if you need help.

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Biographical Information

The sources listed here are in alphabetical order by title, as both paper and electronic sources will be helpful. These will be useful for finding out about historians and other authors of secondary materials as well as historical figures. Be alert when searching non-western names or names of rulers, as you may need to use varying forms of these names.

American National Biography. 1999. 24 vols.
The major national biography covering persons important in the history of the United States.
Ref. CT213 .A68 1999

The online American National Biography includes biographical information on more 17,400 men and women.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index.
An electronic version of the printed index, containing citations to useful information in standard biographical sources. It is a great place to begin searching for biographical information about anyone.

The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.
Contains over 15,000 alphabetically arranged entries; of international scope. Special sections labeled Ready Reference, Connections, and Contemporaries are provided to set the historical contexts for important persons.
Ref. CT103 .C26 1994

Contemporary Authors. Available through the Literature Resource Center
Provides personal data, career highlights, lists of writings, and works in progress on contemporary authors. The individuals included range from newspaper and television reporters to editors and columnists to novelists and screenwriters.

Dictionary of National Biography. 22 vols. with supplements.
The essays in this dictionary are about deceased persons of British or Irish origins who played major roles in British history. Bibliographies are included in many of the entries.
DA28 .D4

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the revised online version of the DNB, and includes 56,000 biographies.

Who's Who on the Web
An online version of Who's Who in America as well as several other versions, including Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who in the World. Be sure to click the Log Off button when you finish with this resource.

To find biographical books about a certain person, search in LUCIA for the person using the Subject begins with option, with the last name first for standard western names. Browse through the subject headings to find the subheading which corresponds to your specific interests. Again, be alert when searching non-western names or names of rulers, as you may need to use varying forms of these names. Many times, LUCIA has cross-references for these.

For autobiographical books by and about a certain person, search in LUCIA for persons as Author. Be sure to consult the library's guide on Biographical Information for further ideas and information.

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Government Documents

Most United States Government Documents are not cataloged in LUCIA. There are several ways to search for government documents, but the two listed below will be the most direct. You might also want to take a look at the library's Guide to Understanding the Government Document Numbering System before you head to the Documents shelves on the second floor. Many sources for government information are on the Web; be sure to look at the library's United States Government Documents page.

Google U.S Government Search
The popular and helpful Google search applied specifically to finding government information. Searches local, state, military, and national government Web pages.

GPO Monthly Catalog
Catalog of US government publications, covering 1976 - current. Searchable in many ways, via FirstSearch.

Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
An annual index is included at the end of each yearly volume, or you can search the Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900-197l.
Reference Indexes

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Finding Articles

The best index to use will depend on your topic. Be sure to check the Electronic Resources page for other options. Two of our resources, JSTOR and Project MUSE provide complete full text. Some of our indexes include the following:

Essential Indexes: along with The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature, these should be among your starting points for finding advanced secondary materials.

Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life.
The most important indexes to the scholarly literature of history, in books and proceedings as well as journals. Both include short summaries of the works indexed. America: History and Life includes material on the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Historical Abstracts indexes material on world history, including African, Asian, Latin American and European history, from 1450 to the present.

Iter
Provides indexing to journals and books pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Follow the link to Search a Database and then select the Iter Bibliography.

ABSEES
The online version of The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies, includes articles, books, and more, from 1990-present. Supplements the material you might find in Historical Abstracts.

Handbook of Latin American Studies.
Begun in 1935, in 1964 it was divided into two volumes, one covering the social sciences and one the humanities. A Web-based version of the Handbook is available from the Library of Congress; see this page for details on dates and content.
Ref. Z1605 .H23

General and Multidisciplinary Indexes: include citations and some full text of materials from a broad variety of fields including history.

Academic OneFile
Broad coverage of academic periodicals going back to 1980. Includes full text of many articles.

EBSCOhost.
Follow the link for EBSCOhost Web. EBSCOhost provides a single Web source for multiple databases; you might want to select the Academic Search Elite. Contains broad and specialized coverage of academic and general periodicals.

Citation Indexes

Citation indexes allow you to search for articles and books using keywords, but more importantly they help you find out how often and where particular works have been cited in other authors' bibliographies.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index
A citation index to articles in the arts and humanities. Citation indexes allow you to trace the number of times a particular source has been cited. Covers 1980 to the present.

ISI Web of Knowledge
Provides access to the Social Sciences Citation Index, which includes indexing for important titles in the social sciences over the past ten years. Author abstracts are provided for more than half of the articles included. Often used for citation searching.

Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, try the SFX button button to see if that particular article is available. If you don't find it, look in LUCIA for the title of the journal or newspaper to see if the library owns it. You should also search BESS, an automated search of the library's full text databases, for electronic copies of articles.

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Internet Resources

The American Historical Association
Just in case you're wondering what professional historians do.

Lawrence University History Department
Includes links to student and faculty projects.

INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: Social Sciences and Humanities
From librarians at all nine of the University of California campuses and Stanford University. INFOMINE provides "organized access to important university level research and educational tools on the Internet."

Internet Resources for History
Sources chosen by the librarians here as starting points for historical research.

Voice of the Shuttle: History Page
Voice of the Shuttle is a widely-respected resource for Web pages in the humanities produced by Alan Liu, Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Of course, there are many more web resources available that might be useful in your research. You might want to try looking at sources that select the best of the Web, like these:

It's important to think carefully about any information you find in any format, and to evaluate resources for their accuracy, applicability, and so forth. Evaluation of web resources is especially important. You may want to consult this guide to Evaluating Internet Resources. The library's Web Wise Guide to Searching give some helpful inside tips. You can often learn a lot about a page (and a site) by parsing the URL.

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Style Manuals

Academic Citation and Writing
Style manuals of the humanities, physical sciences, and the social sciences in the Seeley G. Mudd Library.

The Chicago Manual of Style.
A standard source for bibliographic format.
RRef. Z253 .U69 2003

Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.

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About Research in History

Material related to your work will be drawn from many fields besides history; be prepared to look at materials from anthropology, political science, philosophy, religious studies, and cultural studies, just to name a few related disciplines. In addition to consulting catalogs and indexes, be sure to look at bibliographies supplied at the end of relevant articles, chapters, and books, and to search library catalogs for book-length bibliographies.

Remember that in any written work you produce your sources must be fully documented. It may help to look at the information on style before you start your research, so that you will have all the details required for documentation at hand when you need them. Then as you write, go back to the resources on style for details on the exact format of your citations.

The sources listed in this guide were chosen for the broad coverage they provide. Direct links are provided to Internet resources and searchable databases, as well as links to LUCIA, the library's online catalog. Be sure to check the library's Electronic Resources page regularly to see new databases and indexes; some of these will only be available to users on the Lawrence campus. Also, you may want to take a look at guides on related topics from the Library Research Guides page.

Evaluating the resources you find is an essential part of the research process. See this guide to hints on evaluation of books and articles and this guide to evaluating Internet resources.

As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.

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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:

Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready Reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Periodicals = Level A
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
Reference Indexes = Alphabetically arranged at the end of the reference collection
Microform Area = Reading room east of the reference desk, near microform drawers
q. = Oversized books: interfiled in reference and scores; at end of classes in other collections

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Created 30-December-1998
Revised: 5-January-2009

Gretchen Revie, Reference Librarian