Find History Resources in the Library and Online
- Try doing a Keyword search as a starting point; for example, a keyword search on civil war will give you a long list of books that mention civil and war in the record. But what civil war do you mean: U.S. civil war? Spanish civil war?
- Look at your results and find a book that is close to your topic (eg. Spanish Civil War); then look in the catalog record and you will see the subject headings linked at the bottom. By clicking on those links, you will be directed to the books that fit that subject. Give it a try!
Subject headings are a great way to use the library catalog to locate relevant materials. The headings are created by the Library of Congress; you are not expected to know these terms by heart, but they are the best way to focus your research.
Searching for primary sources? Look for subjects with "sources", or "correspondence" or "personal narratives" (eg. United States History 1849-1877 Sources or Lincoln, Abraham - correspondence). Or try searching for your subject as an Author (eg. Stalin, Joseph) to find all material they may have written. That's a primary source also!
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowUse to find resources about the history of the world (excluding U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more. Contains full-text and abstracts of articles from scholarly journals, magazines, conference papers, books, and videos.
- JSTOR. Archival Journals This link opens in a new windowProvides access to more than 10 million academic journal articles and books in 75 subject areas.
- British History OnlineBritish History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.
- Colonial Research Guide - Colonial American History - Subject Guides at The Florida State UniversityExcellent list of online resources on Colonial American History
- Gutenberg-e Prizewinning History booksHistory books from Columbia University Press, available to read for free online.
- History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the WebU.S. History resources, including primary sources.
- History News NetworkHistory news complied by George Mason University
- Latin American StudiesExcellent list of resources for those conducting research in Latin American history.
- Learning Historical Research by William CrononExcellent, in-depth guide to historical research developed by Professor Cronon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education InstituteA database of King-related primary documents and recommended scholarly sources.
- Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg, the first online collection of books, contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books, mostly in the public domain.