Library
History 332:
Community in America, 1600-1900
Study Guide
Professor: Sarah McMahon
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft
Fall 2007
Grandma Moses, "Let Me Help"
Library Catalogs
- Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Search for books, videos, microfilm, web sites, etc. owned or subscribed to here at Bowdoin. - MaineCat
Search the combined holdings of most Maine Libraries; users make loan requests online; materials arrive from Colby and Bates in two days. - NExpress
Locate books and articles within the combined collections of Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Williams, Northeastern and Wellesley; users make loan requests online. - WorldCat
A union catalog for book/monograph holdings for academic libraries nationwide
In these catalogs, you can search either by keyword or by subject heading. Some useful subject headings for this research in this class:
- United States Social Conditions 1865 1918
- National Characteristics American
- Social values -- United States
- Communitarianism -- United States
Reference Books
- Historical Statistics Of The United States Colonial Times To 1970
Govt Ref C3.134/2:H 62/798-970 - Historical Statistics of the United States (Online version)
- Historical census data browser.
Using data from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), this site allows users to browse selected census data from 1790 to 1970 by state and county. Data from the early years (1790 to 1830) focuses solely on population characteristics, while data after those years include selected economic, manufacturing, and agricultural information. - Statistical Abstract Of The United States
Washington : G.P.O. Library owns most years from 1886.
Govt Doc C 3.134: 1886
Online Abstracts begin in 1878. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/past_years.html - Dictionary Of American History
Main Ref E174 .D52 2003
Multi-volume set with extensive entries on events, movements, people, and other topics in American history. Articles contain bibliographies. - The Encyclopedia Of American Facts And Dates
Main Ref E174.5 .C3 1993 - Encyclopedia of American Social History
Main Ref HN57 .E58 1993
Three-volume, specialized encyclopedia of lengthy scholarly signed articles with bibliographies on social and cultural topics in American history. - Encyclopedia of American social movements
Main Ref HN57 .E594 2004
Volume 3 has a section titled “Religious, Utopian, and Health Movements.” - Readers Companion To American History
Main Ref E174 .R43 1991 -
Encyclopedia Of The United States In The Nineteenth Century
Main Ref E169.1 .E626 2001
Indexes and Databases
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Academic Search Premier
Journals in the social sciences, humanities and science. Many full text. - America History and Life
Abstracts for articles, books and dissertations covering the U.S and Canada. - Essay & General Literature Index
This index is unusual because it emphasizes the contents of books (i.e. chapters or sections). Coverage includes literature, social science and history. - History Cooperative.org
About 20 history journals, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, and the Western Historical Quarterly can be searched and their articles retrieved in fulltext. - Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective
This bibliographic database covers some of the best known scholarly journals and numerous lesser known specialized magazines in a broad array of humanities and social sciences topics. Coverage runs from 1907-1984 - J-Stor History Journals
Full-text articles from selected scholarly journals. Most recent five years not available. - Periodicals Index Online
This source provides online indexing to nearly 2400 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, published from 1770 to 1990. - Pooles Index To Periodical Literature (print)
Subject index to British and American periodicals of the nineteenth century. Bowdoin Library owns many of these nineteenth century periodicals in its collections.
Main Per Index
Primary Sources
For background on determining what qualifies as a primary source, please see Primary and Secondary Sources
New England town histories (or histories of other cities and towns.) Locate through library catalog, searching the town or city name as "subject." Or, Search Google Books for the name of the town or city.
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American culture 1493-1806; guide to the microfilm collection.
[Series I, reels 1-26] Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1972
Main Micro Index Z1215 .A584
ACCOMPANIES THE MICROFORM COLLECTION filed as Film 750-775 - American periodicals, 1741-1900 : an index to the microfilm collections—American periodicals 18th century, American periodicals, 1800-1850, American periodicals, 1850-1900, Civil War and Reconstruction (reels 1-33) INDEXED BY THIS GUIDE IS FILED AS FILM 717-749
Main Micro Index Z6951 .H65 - American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900.
"...Digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century. - The Avalon project at the Yale Law School
Full text documents relating to history, law and government organized by time period. The emphasis is on American and European history. An internal search engine simplifies access. - Documents for the Study of American History
Use “Find in Page” button will simplify title access, or the list of topics can be browsed. - Early American Newspapers, Series 1 (1690-1922)
You can search by place of publication. - Early American Imprints. Series 1, Evans (1639-1800)
This database is a full-text digitization of the microform set Early American Imprints - American Memory
Digitized images, photographs and texts from the Library of Congress, including some texts from Making of America, below. - Making of America
This digital collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Cornell’s contributions can be viewed here: http://library5.library.cornell.edu/moa/ - The New York Times
1851-2004. Full image database. - Periodicals Index Online
1665 – 1995. Indexing to thousands of magazines from first issues. - U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980
Reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, originally published in approximately 13,800 bound volumes.
Tips for Effective Research
- Start with a keyword search in any online database.
- Look for subject headings/descriptors in the individual records within databases or library catalogs. Use them to expand your search or make it more specific.
- When you find a relevant book, browse nearby shelves for others on the same topic; or, electronically expand your search in the catalog.
- Gather a few articles and books and read them before doing more research to understand your topic and to focus effectively.
- As you read, check bibliographies and footnotes for more sources.
- For a refresher on primary sources, check the CBB guide at http://library.bowdoin.edu/1st/primary.shtml
- Use interlibrary loan services.
- Use library databases first in preference over general internet searches.
- When you do use web sites, evaluate them carefully for accuracy, timeliness and authority. When was it last updated? Who is responsible for the content? What is the perspective or agenda of the sponsoring organization?
- Consult your department’s reference librarian, Ginny Hopcroft, at ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu or X3298.
This page created and maintained by Ginny Hopcroft. Last update: September 2007.