WISER:
Information Sources for US History
Isabel D. Holowaty, OULS History Librarian
Aim
About electronic resources
•Finding out about publications
•Primary sources
•Special Collections & archives
•Portals
•
About e-resources
Lists of subscriptions http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/eresources
•OxLIP
•Oxford University eJournals
Off-campus access
•Virtual Private Network (VPN)
•Single Sign-On password
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/eresources/remote_access
Finding out about publications
Books
•Journals
•Articles
•Dissertations
•
Finding out about publications
Books
Library catalogues, Bibliographies, Reviews
Journals (print + electronic)
Library catalogues, Bibliographies, Oxford eJournals
Journal articles
Bibliographies (print + online)
Dissertations
Dissertation and Theses
Index to Theses
Theses completed & in progress (IHR website)
OLIS
The limits of presidential activism: Lyndon Johnson
and the implementation of the community action
program (1985 Columbia Univ thesis on microfilm)
America: History & Life
A complete bibliographic reference to the history of the
United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Published since 1964, the database 490,000+ bibliographic
entries for periodicals dating back to 1954, providing an
incomparable research tool for students and researchers of
US and Canadian history.
This extensive database covers over 2,000 journals
published worldwide. In addition to covering all key Englishlanguage historical journals, coverage includes selected
historical journals from major countries, state and local history
journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in
the social sciences and humanities.
America: History & Life
Nineteenth Century Short-Title
Catalogue (NSTC)
It aims to provide increasingly complete listings of British
books printed between 1801 and 1919. British books are
taken to include all books published in Britain, its colonies
and the United States of America; all books in English
wherever published; and all translations from English.
Includes holdings of Oxford, Cambridge, BL, Harvard,
Washington, etc.
NSTC
Nineteenth Century Short-Title
Catalogue (NSTC)
Early American Imprints, I 16391800 (Evans)
A major digital collection of full-text early printed American
imprints (1639-1800), compiled originally in the American
Bibliography by Charles Evans and enhanced by Roger
Bristol's Supplement to Charles Evan's American
Bibliography.
The collection of 37,000+ imprints embraces every aspect of
life in 17th and 18th century America (history, literary,
religion, witchcraft, agriculture, foreign affairs, temperance,
etc.).
Genre of material is very wide-ranging. In addition to
printed books, pamphlets and broadsides, the collection also
covers anything from advertisements to chapbooks, diaries to
gazetteers, and hymnals to wills.
Early American Imprints, I 16391800 (Evans)
Access also via OLIS:
Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Contains bibliographical references of Pollard & Redgrave’s
STC (1475-1640) and Wing STC (1641-1700) and 96,000+
images of early printed material.
Good source for exhaustive research in the areas of English
literature, history, philosophy, theology, art and music, politics,
and the history of science and medicine.
Eighteenth Century Collections
Online (ECCO)
Nearly 150,000 English-language titles and editions
published between 1701 and 1800 will be made available
online over the course of the next two years.
When complete, the product will allow full-text searching of
more than 33 million pages of material, in essence, every
significant English-language and foreign-language title
printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of
important works from the Americas.
ECCO
Other Primary Sources
Published in print
•Presidential Papers
•Newspapers
•Microform
•Official Publications
•Statistics
•
In Print
OLIS subject searches
United States – History – Civil War 1861-1865 - Sources
Americans – Travel – England – History – 19th century
Women – United States – History – 20th century
American Archives
Godwyn Pamphlets
Index at DH R.6.204
An essay upon the government of the English plantations on
the continent of America (1701) : An anonymous Virginian's
proposals for liberty under the British crown.
Material on early Congress
Letters of delegates to Congress 1774-1789.
[VHL JK 1033 .L47 1976]
Presidential Papers
Public papers v. private papers
Papers of Woodrow Wilson. 69 vols. [VHL E 660 .W717 1966]
Presidential Libraries
Presidential Libraries are repositories for the papers, records
and historical materials of the Presidents.
http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/contact/libraries.html
Newspapers & magazines
BAAS Newspaper Catalogue
BL Newspaper Catalogue
http://www.baas.ac.uk/
http://catalogue.bl.uk/
Early American Newspapers [microform]
American Periodicals Series, 1740-1900
New York Times, 1851Washington Post, 1877Chicago Defender, 1909-1975
The New Republic, 1914- [1988- online]
The Nation, 1865-
Newspapers & magazines
Ethnic Newswatch 1960sBlack Journals [microform]
Time Magazine
1923http://www.time.com/time/archive/
1990- Oxford eJournals
New York Times 1851-2002
American Periodicals Series,
1740-1900 (APS)
Over 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between
1740 and 1900.
Including special interest and general magazines, literary and
professional journals, children's and women's magazines,
and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Time Magazine
In microform
British sources relating to America in microfilm (BAAS)
•VHL Guide to microfilms (Title/ subject)
•
•
Papers of individuals
•
Papers of organisations
Salmon Chase, William H Seward, Thaddeus Stevens, etc.
American Colonization Society, American Home Missionary
Society Papers, Freedmen’s Aid Society Records, Congress of
Racial Equality Papers, NAACP Papers, etc.
Official Papers: Finding Aids
GPO Monthly Catalog
•Subject Index to Monthly Catalog
•CIS indices
•
Public documents
Executive Branch documents
Congress publications
Congressional Hearings
Official Papers
•
Congressional papers
American State Papers
US Serial Set
•
Senate and House papers
Journals
•
Congressional records
Annals of Congress etc
American Memory
Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
Digitised mss, publications, posters, maps, images, oral
history
Examples
•US congress 1774-1875: journals, debates, statutes
•Presidential Papers (Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln)
•Frederick Douglass Papers
and much more!!!
Senate House Journal
Official Papers
Foreign relations of the US
Selections http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/
Declassified documents
Declassified Documents Reference System
Digital National Security Archive
Foreign relations of the US
Foreign relations of the US
Declassified Documents
Reference System (DDRS)
500,000+ pages of previously classified government
documents.
Covering major international events from the Cold War
to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source
enables users to locate key information underpinning
studies in international relations, American studies, United
States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism and
more.
Statistics
Catalog of United States census publications
Historical Statistics of the United States
Statistical abstract of the United States. 1878-2000 (US
Census Bureau)
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html
United States historical census data browser
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus
iPOLL (Public Opinion Research)
Historical Statistics of the US
Special Collections
Finding aids:
•NARA http://www.archives.gov/
•NIDS
•ArchiveGrid
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel [RHO]
(British) Anti-Slavery Society [RHO]
Sir John Crampton [BOD]
American Papers of Sir Charles Vaughan [All Souls]
http://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R97600.pdf
Biographical Sources
American National Biography
•World Biographical Archive
•Who’s who
•Diplomatic List
•
Portals
BAAS
American Studies Research Portal (ASRP)
http://www.asrp.info/
Intute
http://www.intute.ac.uk/
American Memory (LC)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Questions?
Hands-on