The City as American History
| Professor: Matt Klingle (
) Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft ( ) Fall 2005 |
||
The purpose of this guide is to help you locate and use the library information resources most useful for research in this class. The library's reference librarians will be glad to assist with specific questions. You may also consult Ginny Hopcroft by phone x3298 or via email at ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu.
Library Catalog
The electronic library catalog is the primary access point for the collections of the Bowdoin College Libraries in all formats.
You can begin your research in the Bowdoin Library Catalog with either a subject search or a keyword search (under heading "word"). In subject searching the best search results are obtained by use of the standardized controlled vocabulary found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings books. In doing either kind of search, take advantage of any additional subject headings you see listed in the bibliographic record.
Subject Heading Examples:
Architecture--United States
Urban Geography
Cities and Towns
City Planning-United States
To search the holdings of all larger Maine libraries, click the "Maine Info Net" link at the top right of the search results screen. Clicking on that link will automatically perform your search in the Maine Info Net database, which contains the holdings of all larger Maine libraries. You can then request that the book be sent here to Bowdoin to borrow.
Reference Books
- Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates
Main Ref E174.5 .C3 1993
- Encyclopedia of American Social History
Main Ref HN57 .E58 1993
- Harvard Guide to American History
Main Ref Z1236 .F77 1974
- The Reader's Companion to American History
Main Ref E174 .R43 1991
- Encyclopedia of urban America : the cities and suburbs
HT123 .E5 1998
- World Encyclopedia of Cities
HT108.5 .K87 1994
- County and City Databook, published every five years. (Statistics)
C 3.134/2:C 83/2/
Indexes and Databases
Some of these databases contain the full text of the journal articles they index. Others provide citation only. Use the "Check Availability" link in the database record to determine journal availability at Bowdoin, when full text is not present. If the journal is not available in print or online, you may obtain articles through interlibrary loan.
- Academic Search Premier
Online
- Academic Search Premier indexes over 1800 peer reviewed journals in the social sciences, humanities and science, as well as general interest magazines and several important American newspapers. Date coverage varies between periodicals some as far back as 1980; about 60% of the articles are in full text.
- America History and Life
Online
- This scholarly bibliographic source indexes articles, books and dissertations about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. It is a subject index which provides citations and abstracts for the works indexed. Coverage is 1964 to present.
- Arts and Humanities Search
Online
- Arts and Humanities indexes the contents of scholarly periodicals and books in the arts and humanities, published from1980 to the present. An international bibliographic index.
- Avery Index
Online
- Comprehensive index for all kinds of articles on architecture and design - scholarly and popular journals, trade magazines and regional publications, domestic and international.
- Essay and General Literature Index
Online
- This excellent, long-running index is unusual because it emphasizes the contents of books (i.e. chapters or sections), while including some periodical articles and monographs. Access points are author, title, and subject. Subject matter covered includes literature, social sciences and history.
- Government Documents Monthly Catalog
Online 1976-present
Government Index 1892-1976
- Bowdoin's collection of U.S. government documents is not yet fully cataloged, so this online index is used to locate government publications. Produced by the Government Printing Office, the online Monthly Catalog indexes government documents back to 1976. For earlier indexing, please consult the print version of the Monthly Catalog, beginning in 1892 and located in the Government Documents Collection. When you locate a relevant document in this index, please make note of the "Sudocs" number in order to locate the document in Bowdoin's collection.
- LexisNexis Academic
Online - LexisNexis Academic is a full-text web database of news and legal information. This database provides access to both current news and up to 20 years of retrospective news, both domestic and international. Under the News heading you search separate files for the most current news, World news, U.S. news, etc. Under U.S. news you can find many regional newspapers not otherwise available.
Periodical Contents Index
Online- This source provides online indexing to nearly 2400 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, published from 1770 to 1990. The index presently has 9 million entries and continues to add more. It provides bibliographic access to many of the Library's 19th and early 20th century journals.
- Poole's Index
Main Per Index - Poole's Index is a subject index to British and American periodicals of the nineteenth century, created by William F. Poole, Librarian of the Newberry Library of Chicago from 1850 to 1890. This index provides excellent subject access to periodical articles of the nineteenth century, significant primary source material for this course. Bowdoin Library owns many of these nineteenth century periodicals in its collections.
- Reader's Guide Retrospective
Online
- The Reader's Guide is an easy-to-use author/subject index to a broad range of U.S. general interest magazines and journals. It begins coverage in 1895 and continues through the present, providing indexing for many of the early twentieth century journals held in the Library's collections.
- Social Sciences Index
Main Per Index - Social Sciences Index is an easy-to-use print author/subject index to the scholarly literature of the social sciences. Social Sciences Index began in 1907, so it provides access to early twentieth century scholarship.
- Sociofile
Online - Sociofile is a scholarly index for books and journal articles in the field of sociology. Sociofile is international in scope and provides access to 1800 journals published worldwide, dating from 1974 to the present.
Primary Sources
For information on primary sources, please read the CBB Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources.
- Making of America: Digital Library of Primary Sources
http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa - A collection of full-text documents from the 19th century
- U.S. Government Documents
(located on lower level of the library) - Use the Government Documents Monthly Catalog online for documents published from 1976 to present; the print Monthly Catalog located in the Documents Collection for 1890 to the present and Congressional Universe for both current and historical publications from Congress.
Academic and Government Websites
- Library of Congress, American Memory Site: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html
- Washington As It Was
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/thchtml/thhome.html
- Working in Paterson
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wiphtml/pthome.html
- Urban Planning, 1794-1918: An International Anthology of Articles, Conference Papers and Reports
http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/homepage.htm
- The Urban Landscape: Digital Image Access Project
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/diap/
Research Tips
- Consult the Basic Library Research page for a helpful summary of the research process. Additional tips for research in history:
1. Use both subject and keyword searching in any electronic database or index, including the library catalog.
2. When you find a relevant record for a book or article, always check the descriptors or subject headings for more search terms.
3. Read bibliographies and footnotes to find additional books and articles.
4. Evaluate websites carefully for accuracy, timeliness and authority.
5. Begin research EARLY.
This page last updated by Ginny Hopcroft September 27, 2005.