SELECTED REFERENCE SOURCES FOR HISTORICAL

RESEARCH FOR HISTORY 398

David Lincove, History, Political Science & Philosophy Librarian, Ohio State University Libraries,
Rm. 280D Sullivant Library; 292-2393; lincove.1@osu.edu

OSU Libraries: http://library.osu.edu/ net.TUTOR: http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/

Library and Web Resources for History, Political Science and Philosophy at OSU Libraries:

http://library.osu.edu/sites/history/indexFP.php

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND GUIDES:

The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature. Ed. by Mary Beth Norton; associate editor, Pamela Gerardi. New York : Oxford University Press, 1995. (D20 .A65 1995 in SUL Reference) An annotated guide to key literature arranged by topics and geographic areas.

Reference Sources in History: An Introductory Guide. ABC-CLIO, 1990. (Z6201F721990 in SUL Reference). 2004 edition online: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ebooks/reference/REFL2E

COMPUTERIZED CATALOGS:

OSU Library Catalog

OHIOLINK (Collected catalogs from academic libraries in Ohio, including OSU)

You may order items in the catalog from other university libraries in Ohio if the item is not at OSU or is checked out from OSU.

Check OSCAR and Ohiolink for Books, Films, bibliographies and other cataloged items on specific subjects.

Sample subject headings: Crime -- Great Britain -- Periodicals -- Bibliography

Serial Murders – Great Britain – History – 19^th century

London (England) -- Social Conditions – 19^th century

Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901

Keyword searches – homicid* and great britain and 19^th century (use * for wildcard)

SELECTED CHRONOLOGY AND ENCYLOPEDIC HISTORIES AND DICTIONARIES:

Chronology of World History. 4 Vols. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, c1999 (D11 .M39 1999 in SUL Reference) v. 1. The ancient and medieval world, prehistory-AD 1491 -- v. 2. The expanding world, 1492-1775 -- v. 3. The changing world, 1776-1900 -- v. 4. The modern world, 1901-1998

New Cambridge Modern History. 14 vols. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press, 1957- [Now is 2^nd edition] D208 .N4 in SUL Reference. Cambridge Medieval History. 8 Vols. New York : Macmillan, 1911-1936. [Now in 2^nd edition] D117 .C17 in SUL Reference. Cambridge Ancient History. 12 Vols. Cambridge [Eng.] The University Press, 1923-39. [Now is 3^rd edition, 1970- ] D57 .C17 in SUL Reference.

Dictionary of American History. 8 Vols. 3rd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, c2003. (E174 .D52 2003 in SUL Reference). Encyclopedia of American History. Ed. by Richard B. Morris and Jeffrey B. Morris. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1996. (E174.5E52 1996 in SUL Reference)

The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Edited by Peter Stearns. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2001. (D21 .E578 2001 in Sullivant Ref)

The London Encyclopedia. Ed. by B. Weinreb and C. Hibbert. London: Macmillan, 1983.(Da677L66 1983 in SUL Reference) Includes brief articles on crime, Jack the Ripper and many other topics, places and persons.

Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era. 4 Vols. Ed. by J.E. Adams. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier Academic Reference, 2004. (DA550E527 2004 in SUL Reference) Includes articles on crime, Jack the Ripper and social issues. Includes references to articles and books on each topic.

Oxford Reference Online (Search and display text of 100 dictionaries and reference books)

SELECTED INDEXES TO JOURNALS AND BOOKS:

See also indexes for other fields in science, religion, philosophy, social sciences etc. for historical literature.

America: History and Life. 1959-
Indexes journals, books, and dissertations in American history and culture from pre-colonial times to the present. This index is not good for finding very current literature. For the most recent articles check Humanities Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. For earlier publications see Writings on American History. (Publisher varies). 1906-1990 (Z1236G85, Z1236W7931985 in SUL Reference)

Historical Abstracts. 1955-

Indexes journals, books, and dissertations in world history beginning about the year 1450 to the present. Consult for more complete search on US relations with other countries. This index is not good for finding very current literature. For the most recent articles check Humanities Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index.

International Medieval Bibliography. 1967- (Z6203I53 in SUL Reference) Important source for books and articles on medieval history.

Humanities International Complete. 1975- Online index to literature with many full text links

JSTOR. www.jstor.org Online access and search of full text from core journals in history and other fields.

L'Annee Philologique: Bibliographie Critique et Analytique de L'antiquite Greco‑Latine. 1924- (Z7016M36 in SUL Reference) Important index to literature on ancient Greek and Roman history and culture.

Royal Historical Society Annual Bibliography (1945- )
Index to literature on British and Irish history

FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES

What is a primary source?

Primary sources may be letters, manuscripts, newspapers, clothing, pottery, recorded sound or other items that offer original evidence of a civilization, persons, events, or places.

Using Primary Sources on the Web – a guide to evaluating primary source web sites. http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/

Check OSCAR for primary sources owned by OSU on specific subjects:

Sample subject headings: United States -- History -- Civil War 1861-1865 -- Sources

Armenian massacres, 1915-1923 -- Personal narratives

Keyword search: Napoleon and revolution and sources

Slave trade and memoir*

Also, you may limit a subject or perform a word search with the following subject headings: archives, correspondence, diaries, personal narratives.

Sample primary source guides:

British Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of British Diaries Written Between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1950. (Z2014.D5 M3 at OSU Depository)

A Guide to Manuscripts at the Ohio Historical Society. Ed. by Andrea D. Lentz. Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Historical Society [1972]. Z6621.C58 L4 in SUL Reference. Also online at http://www.ohiohistory.org

Sample Internet documentary resources:

Abraham Lincoln Papers. American Memory collection at the Library of Congress. Search and read the full text of Lincoln’s personal and presidential papers. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive – produced Univ. of Virginia. http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/home.html

Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm

EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

North American Women's Letters and Diaries (colonial times to 1950) Available via OSU Libraries

Selected Primary Source Documents and Guides on the Web – a guide to selected resources

SELECTED SOURCES FOR CONTEMPORARY BOOKS AND PERIODICALS IN ENGLISH:

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 [Evans] Online via OSU Libraries web site (Keyword access to the full text and facsimile images of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published in American prior to 1801. Publications based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography (Z1215 .E92 in REF, ETC, MIC) Also available on microprint: AC1 .E2 Microprint in MIC)

Periodicals Archive Online [FULL TEXT] 1802-1995
An archive of hundreds of digitized journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.  Includes journals in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian. Also see Periodicals Index Online. 1770- Only on the Web via OSU Libraries Web Site; PCI is a multilingual index to periodicals.

Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. 1900- (Indexes, SUL Reference) See also Nineteenth Century Reader’s Guide, 1890--1899. Indexes contemporary, popular periodicals since 1890.

SELECTED NEWSPAPERS:

Other newspapers on microform - (Microforms Dept., Main Library). The newspapers are from the US and other countries. Check the list at the Microforms Desk.

America’s Historical Newspapers (1690-1900) Online from the OSU Libraries web site
Search and read the full facsimile text of a growing database of newspapers.

Lexis Nexis Academic. late 1970s-

Full text of many newspapers worldwide and periodicals, including many legal periodicals with history articles on legal and constitutional issues.

New York Times Online 1852-present (not including latest 3 years) Search & read facsimile text. Latest 3 years in Lexis/Nexis Academic above. Also available: Chicago Tribune (1845-1985); Washington Post (1877-1990); Times (London) Digital Archives 1785-1985  

SELECTED BOOK REVIEW SOURCES: (in addition to indexes above)

Academic Search Complete 1990s-present (some earlier) Academic and popular review sources

Book Review Digest. 1905-2005  (Sullivant Reference) Mainly popular review sources

Book Review Index. 1965- (Indexes in SUL Reference) Indexes both scholarly and popular reviews.

H-NET REVIEWS (Reviews in History) 1993-  Full text of reviews.  http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/

JSTOR. www.jstor.org 19^th c.- Search and read journals in history and other fields. Limit a search to reviews

SELECTED HISTORICAL ATLASES

The Times Atlas of World History. 4^th ed. Hammond, 1993. (G1030T54 1993 in MAP)

19^th C. maps of London: For example see http://www.victorianlondon.org/frame-maps.htm Also consult the library catalog by subject – London (England) -- Maps

SAMPLE STATISTICAL SOURCES

Sample subject heading in OSU catalog: Europe -- Statistics – History

International Historical Statistics. Europe 1750-2000. 5^th ed. B.R. Mitchell, 2003. (HA1107M5 2003 in SUL Reference; earlier editions also available) Includes historical statistics on population, vital statistics, agriculture, industry, trade, finance, education and national accounts.

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial times to Millennial Edition . 5 Vols. Cambridge, 2006.  (HA202H57 2006 in SUL).

SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES:

Check Oscar and Ohiolink for relevant books but name as author and subject; also search by subject words

Sample subject headings: Sample Author, subject names:

Baseball Players -- Biography Guevara, Che, 1928-1967 --> See GUEVARA, ERNESTO, 1928-1967

American National Biography 24 Vols. Oxford University Press, 1999. (CT213A68 in SUL Reference) See also Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Scribners, 1928-37. 20 Vols. (CT213D5 in SUL Reference). Supplements 1944- (CT213A52 in SUL Reference) Check OSCAR for other national biographical series available.

Contemporary Authors. Gale, 1962- PN771C74 in SUL Reference. Excellent source of biographical information on many contemporary historians. Also see Literature Resource Center Includes essays and briefer entries, including three volumes in the Dictionary of Literary Biography on American historians from colonial times through the 20th century.

Directory of American Scholars: Historians. LA2311C362 in SUL Reference (2002 ed.) and SUL (1999 ed). Vol. 1 includes capsule information about contemporary historians. Older editions in the Depository.

Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing. 2v. Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. (D14E581999 in HIS)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, From Earliest Times to 2000. New York : Oxford University Press, 2004. 60 Vols. Includes biographical articles on deceased British persons. [DA28 .O95 2004  in SUL Ref]

Who’s Who. New York: St. Martin’s 1849- (current volume in SUL Reference, DA28W6; older vols. in Ackerman stacks and Depository) International in scope. See also International Who’s Who for recent lives.

Who Was Who in America. 1607- Marquis Who’s Who, 1896-. (E663W62 in SUL Ref); Also Who’s Who in America. Marquis, 1899- (recent in SUL Ref, E663W6; older vols. in Ackerman Library.