Library
 This 1943 photograph of Ginny's parents, Martha and Ralph Washburn, was taken in Washington D.C. Their World War II service in the U.S. Navy was a pivotal experience in both their lives. |
History 11: Memoirs and Memory
in American History
Study Guide
Professor: Connie Chiang
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft
Spring 2007
The purpose of this guide is to help you locate the library's information resources most useful for research in this class. Consult the Getting Started page for a good overview of the research process. The library's reference librarians will be glad to assist with specific questions.
Gather Background Information
Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates
E174.5 .C3 1993
Encyclopedia of American
Social History
Main Ref HN57 .E58
1993
Reader's Companion to American History
Main Ref E174 .R43
1991
Dictionary of American History
Main Ref E174 .D522
1983
Encyclopedia of the United States in the 20th Century
Main Ref E740.7 .E53
1996
Day by Day: the Forties, Fifties, Sixties and Seventies
Main Ref folio D427
.D39 1950-59
American History Research Page
http://library.bowdoin.edu/rguides/amerhist/
Find Secondary Sources
Library Catalogs for Books
Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Access to Bowdoin Library's holdings of books, videos,
government documents, etc.
MaineCat
Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. It
has an online request button—requests from Colby
and Bates take 1-2 days.
NExpress
Combines access to the library holdings of Bowdoin,
Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Williams and Northeastern;
requests usually arrive in 2 days.
WorldCat
Combined database of library catalogs nationwide.
Indexes and Databases for Journal Articles
Some of these databases are strictly bibliographic-- they provide citation only. Others contain the full text of the journal articles. To discover whether Bowdoin Library holds the journal in print or full text, use either the "Check Availability" link from the database or select the "Find Journals" function in the Library Catalog.
Academic Search Premier
Online;
date coverage varies.
Academic Search Premier indexes over 1800 peer reviewed journals in the social sciences, humanities and science, some general interest magazines and a few major American newspapers.
America: History and Life
Online; 1960 - present.
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.
Essay and General Literature Index
Online; 1985
- present.
Main Per Index; 1900 - present.
This index is unusual because it indexes the contents of books, that is, individual chapters or essays within a book. Access points are subject, author, and title. Subject matter covered includes literature, social sciences and history.
Government Documents Monthly Catalog
Online; 1976 - present.
Government Index; 1895 - 1976
Bowdoin's collection of U.S. government documents is not 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; date coverage
varies.
Academic Universe 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.
Reader's Guide Retrospective
Online; 1890 -
1982
Main Per Index; 1900 - 2003
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. Reader's Guide
Retrospective is a new online fulltext source for the same publications.
Locate Primary Information
To understand Primary and Secondary sources, please read this guide. Below are examples of primary sources you might want to use:
New York Times Archive http://library.bowdoin.edu/erl/ip/nyt.cgi
Online (1851-present)
Microfilm (1851-present)
Historical Statistics of the United States : Colonial Times to 1970
Govt Ref C 3.134/2:H 62/789-970/
All U.S. Government Documents, both paper and online.
American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/
Twentieth Century Documents from the Avalon Project at Yale
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/20th.htm
AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/amdocs_index.html#1900
Browse the Library stacks in the numerical range for American History: E740 - F975. You may find memoirs, diaries, collections of speeches, etc.
Sharpen your Research Skills
- Search by both keyword and subject in the Library Catalog and other databases.
- Consult "Library Research and Navigation" for an overview of the research process and for tips for efficient database searching.
- Check descriptors or subject headings for additional search words.
- Use footnotes and bibliographies for additional source material.
- Browse the library shelves in your subject area.
- Ask a reference librarian.
This page created and maintained by Ginny Hopcroft. Last update: January 23, 2007.