Maine: A Community and Environmental History

Professor: Sarah McMahon
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft
Spring 2007


Begin Research

Getting Started Page-- http://library.bowdoin.edu/1st/

Maine History Research Guide-- http://library.bowdoin.edu/rguides/amerhist/maine/

Find Secondary Information

Catalogs for Books and other Monographs

Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Search our catalog 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 ILL 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 ILL requests online.

WorldCat
Use this union catalog to find books and other monographs from academic libraries nationwide.

Indexes and Databases for Journal Articles

America History and Life
Subject index of scholarly articles, books and dissertations about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. .

Academic Search Premier
Index of over 1800 English language scholarly and general interest journals. About 60% full text.

J-STOR Journals
Searchable archive of full text scholarly journal articles.

American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
Web site from the Library of Congress with images and texts for American History.

Locate Primary Sources

Description of Primary and Secondary Sources

For the categories below, do a subject search in the library catalog under the town or family name:

  • Maine Town Directories
  • Maine Town Histories
  • Maine Town Annual Reports
  • Maine Family Histories

Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970
Online
Print: Govt Ref C 3.134/2:H 62/789-970/

Maine State Documents—use Bowdoin Library catalog and MaineCat to identify and locate.

American Periodicals Series Online 

America's Historical Newspapers

Making of America Journal Collection

United States Congressional Serial Set

Population Schedules of the Censuses of the United States: Cumberland County
Main Micro Film 3098
Microfilmed lists of the names of people in the census enumerations.

Reprints of the Federal Decennial Censuses 1790 -1870
Govt Index I 2.5:1/reprint
Statistics and data from the U.S. censuses.

Federal Decennial Censuses 1880-
Govt Doc Numbers vary; check indexes.
Statistics and data from the U.S. censuses.

Tips for Efficient Research

  • Search by both keyword and subject in the Library Catalog and other online indexes/databases.
  • Pay attention to descriptors/subject headings as additional search terms.
  • Read footnotes and bibliographies for other books and articles.
  • Browse the library shelves.
  • Ask a reference librarian.