United States History Research Guide
Databases
Online databases and periodical indexes help you search for primary sources, full-text articles, or article citations in United States history. Available on Library computers to all. Available off campus to UMass Amherst students, faculty, staff, and affiliates with an OIT account; enter your OIT username and password when prompted.
Suggested United States history databases and periodical indexes follow. In addition, see the Afro-American Studies Research Guide for databases useful for the study of African-American history. (See Research Databases for the Library's complete database list.)
Primary Sources
African American Newspapers | User's guide
Major African American newspapers published in the United States during the nineteenth century: Freedom's Journal, The Coloured American, The North Star, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, Frederick Douglass Paper, and The Christian Recorder.
Black Studies Center
Three major twentieth century African American newspapers: Chicago Defender (1910-1975); Daily Defender (1956-1975); New York Amsterdam News (1962-1993).
Ethnic Newswatch & ENW: A History | User's guide
An "interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish)...full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press." Coverage begins in 1990.
Historical Boston Globe
Searchable image files of all issues from 1872 to 1924.
Historical New York Times
Searchable image files of a major U.S. newspaper. Coverage starts in 1851 and includes all but the latest few years.
LexisNexis Academic | User's guide
Full-text of articles in national, international, and college newspapers, general interest magazines, and business, legal, and medical periodicals. Also includes television and radio news transcripts. Dates covered vary by source, most dating from after 1980.
Massachusetts Newsstand (or click here to access through your Massachusetts public library)
Full-text of Massachusetts newspapers:
Berkshire Eagle 2005-
Boston Globe 1980-
Boston Herald 1991-
Business West (Chicopee) 1992-
Gazette (Haverhill) 12/31/92-8/9/97
New England Business 10/75-4/92
North Adams Transcript 2005-
Patriot Ledge (Quincy) 1991-
Plymouth County Business Review 1991-
Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg) 2005-
Standard-Times (New Bedford) 1992-1997
The Sun (Lowell) 2004-
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester) 1989-
North American Women's Letters and Diaries | User's guide
Diaries and correspondence of 1,325 women, written from Colonial times to 1950.
Springfield Republican (or click here to access using your Western Massachusetts public library card)
Full-text of the Republican and Union-News, the Springfield (Mass.) newspaper, from 1988 to the present.
Wall Street Journal
Searchable image files of the U.S. financial newspaper. Covers 1984 to the present.
Wall Street Journal Archive
Searchable image files of the U.S. financial newspaper. Covers 1889 to 1990.
Secondary Sources
America: History and Life | User's guide
Bibliographic citations and abstracts of articles, book reviews, and dissertations on U.S. and Canadian history, published in more than 2,000 journals from 1954 to the present.
American National Biography Online
Posthumous two- to three-page biographies of about 17,500 notable American men and women from earliest history to the current day. Searchable by name, occupation, birth date, and birthplace.
Biography Resource Center
Biographies from the Dictionary of American Biography and many other sources.
Historical Abstracts | User's guide
Citations and abstracts of books, dissertations, and articles in more than 2,000 journals on world history (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Covers materials published from 1954 to the present.
Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present
Statistical tables may be searched, customized, and downloaded.
Humanities E-Book (HEB)
Searchable full-text collection, including hundreds of English-language books of "major importance to historical studies." May also be browsed by author, title, and subject.
JSTOR | User's guide
Searchable full-text collection of core scholarly journals in many subjects, including history, from earliest issues published to about three to five years from the present. May also be browsed by subject and title.
Readers' Guide Abstracts
Subject and author index to general interest magazines. Covers 1983 to the present.
Readers' Guide Retrospective
Subject and author index to general interest magazines. Covers 1890 to 1982.
More Secondary Sources
Academic Search Premier
Full-text collection indexes articles published from 1975 to the present in more than 8,000 scholarly journals and general interest magazines, covering all subjects.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science)
Bibliographic information, including cited references, for articles published from 1975 to the present in nearly 1,130 arts and humanities journals, and for selected articles from science and social science journals.
Columbia International Affairs Online: CIAO | User's guide
Full-text "source for theory and research in international affairs...publishes...scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs."
Credo Reference
Searchable database of full-text reference works, including historical and biographical dictionaries.
Dissertations and Theses | User's guide
Citations and abstracts of doctoral and some masters theses, mostly completed in colleges and universities of the United States and Canada. Full-text access to recent UMass dissertations. Time period covered: 1861-present.
Expanded Academic ASAP | User's guide
Full-text collection indexes articles published from 1980 to the present in more than 4,500 scholarly journals, covering all subjects, and in many general interest magazines.
Humanities International Complete
Index to about 1500 scholarly journals and specialized magazines on history and other subjects. Indexing from 1975 to the present.
International Political Science Abstracts
Indexing and abstracting of articles on political science, government, and international relations, published in nearly 900 journals from 1989 to the present.
Left Index
Citations, abstracts, and some full-text from many sources, including scholarly journals, radical periodicals, books, theses and dissertations, bulletins, newsletters, and Internet documents. Covers materials published from 1980 (some earlier) to the present.
LexisNexis Statistical
Citations and abstracts (with some links to full-text) of statistical reports, including U.S. federal government publications from 1973 to the present, and many publications of state governments and private organizations from 1980 to the present.
Oxford English Dictionary | User's guide
Comprehensive dictionary traces the history and usage of English-language words through quotations from books, periodicals, and other sources.
Oxford Reference Online
Searchable database of full-text reference works, including historical and biographical dictionaries.
PAIS International | User's guide
Index to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences, covering journal articles, books, government documents, statistical compilations, and more. Covers materials published from 1972 to the present.
Project Muse | User's guide
Full-text articles from scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences, including history and American studies. Includes three to five years of current issues of each journal.
Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science)
Bibliographic information, including cited references, for articles published from 1956 to the present in over 1,700 social sciences journals, and for selected articles from science and technology journals. |
