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History - General

This guide is intended to help you get started with finding relevant information related to your history class or topics of interest.

Relevant Databases

Accessible Archives

Primary source material from 18th and 19th century periodicals, particularly useful for civil war and genealogical research. Includes: Godey`s Lady`s Book, The Pennsylvania Gazette, The Charleston Mercury, The New York Herald, Richmond Enquirer, 19th Century African American Newspapers, The 19th Century American County Histories to 1900, The Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County, The Industrial Revolution in Delaware County /w Vital Statistics, The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue: Chester County.

America History and Life

Covers North American (US and Canadian) history from prehistory to the present, providing references to journal articles, books, dissertations and reviews. America: History and Life covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide, including all key English-language historical journals and selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals.

America's Historical Newspapers

Contains more than 150 newspapers, including major titles from every region of the U.S. Coverage throughout the Civil War and into the critical postwar period.

American Civil War Collection

Featuring more than 13,500 works published between 1860 and 1922, this fully searchable collection offers printed items addressing all facets of the Civil War and its aftermath. These diverse materials, all filmed in full-resolution color, include broadsides, lithographs, maps, books, pamphlets, photographs, political cartoons, stereographs, and more. Coverage extends throughout the Civil War and well beyond into the critical postwar period.

American Indian Histories and Culture

American Indian Histories and Cultures features a wide range of materials including:Manuscripts (treaties, speeches, petitions, diaries, travel journals, ledger books, Artwork (illustrations, sketches, watercolours, oil paintings, American Indian art), American Indian Newspapers covering the 1960s to 1990s, Rare Printed Books, Photographs,and Maps.

Ancestry Library Edition

A wide range of resources for genealogical and historical research, including United States Census; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more.

Arts & Humanities Database

This ProQuest database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies. It is designed to complement the following indexes: ABM, Avery, BHA, BHI, DAAI, Index Islamicus, MLA, Philosopher's Index and RILM.

Baptists, Quakers, and Independent Church Periodicals, 1797-1881

Periodical collection presents the growth of the Baptist church and contains periodicals representing smaller church communities such as the New Jerusalem Church, Quakers, Shakers, Mennonites, Moravians, Brethren, and Church of God.

Civil War: Antebellum to Reconstruction, 1843-1877

Primary source documents for research into the American Civil War - provides access to more than 150 newspapers, 50,000 government documents and 4,000 rare broadsides and pieces of ephemera. Extensive local and national coverage of American culture, politics and society during this tumultuous period.

CREDO Reference

A collection of nearly 500 encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books provides a good starting point for research.

Fold3 (formerly footnote)

Historical documents collections, most never before available before on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, U S Presidents, historical newspapers and naturalization documents.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

A collection of specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographical, business and literary sources.

HeritageQuest Online

HeritageQuest Online combines digital, searchable images of U S federal census records with the digitized version of the popular UMI® Genealogy and Local History collection. This online database is a collection of unique material for both genealogical hobbyists and professionals.

Historical Abstracts

Key database for secondary sources covering world history from 1450 to to the present. Excludes North American history which is covered by America: History and Life.

Historical Statistical Abstract of the United States

Compendium of statistics, including social, political, economic, income and demographic data through 2012. For data after 2012, please use Proquest Statistical Abstract.

House and Senate Journals, Series 1, 1789-1817

Essential record of floor action from the early U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Includes matters considered on the floor, votes and other actions taken, executive department communications, and more.

International Medieval Bibliography

Topics related to the Middle Ages - primarily focused on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa - includes journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters.

Iter

Scholarship related to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700), including citations for books and journal material (articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies). Includes more than 842,000 records. Updated daily and with thousands of new records added annually, this research tool is useful to scholars of the Middle Ages and / or Renaissance (400-1700).

Missionary and Charity Periodicals, 1793-1902

Focuses on missionary and charity work undertaken by various faith groups. The publications in this collection include those for both foreign and domestic missions and represent outreach to many different groups that include African-Americans, Native Americans, women, the poor, immigrants, and specific ethnic groups. Subjects include slavery, home missions, hospital work, and social problems.

New York Times (Proquest Historical Newspapers)

Full-image articles for the New York Times dating back to the beginning of the paper in the 19th century.

Newspaper Source (Courtesy of WVInfoDepot)

Includes the Morgantown Dominion Post plus cover-to-cover full text for 28 national(US)and international newspapers and selected full text for more than 260 regional newspapers. Provided by the West Virginia Library Commission with funds from the WV State Legislature and the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Institute of Library and Museum Services.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online

Twelve collections of primary source material covering various aspects of the long nineteenth century. Coverage for literature, science & technology, women, commerce, travel and more.

Oxford African American Studies Center (5 users)

A collection of scholarship, including 8,000 articles and primary source documents, focusing on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture.

Oxford Handbooks Online: History

Articles from 21 Oxford Handbooks review the key issues, reveal original arguments and concepts, and set the agenda for new research in history, on topics such as cities, food, fascism, witchcraft, Europe, and more.

Oxford Reference

Oxford Reference spans 25 different subject areas and brings together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.

Political Handbook of the World

Information on the major aspects of each country's government and political party system, including: heads of government, heads of state, ambassadors, historical trends, regime changes, constitutional history, and regional and global policy issues of concern.

ProQuest Databases

All Proquest databases, cross-searchable, providing coverage for journal articles and other information in academic disciplines.

Proquest Statistical Abstract of the United States

Access to statistical information produced by US Federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations. Coverage begins in 2012.

Stalin Digital Archive

The Stalin Digital Archive contains a selection of documents, which cover Stalin's personal biography, his work in government, and his conduct of foreign affairs.

The web-based archive of archival and secondary research presents documents that have previously only been available at the RGASPI archive in Russia. Digital versions of Yales Annals of Communism series supplement the RGASPI collection with additional scholarly commentary on selected documents concerning the history of Soviet and international communism from Russian state archives spanning the 75-year history of the USSR.

Times Digital Archive

Digital images of the Times (London) complete from 1785 to 2006.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set

Historic reports, documents and journals of the US Senate and House of Representatives, originally published in approximately 13,800 bound volumes. Digitization is on-going. When complete, coverage will extend through 1980.

U.S. Declassified Documents Online

The most comprehensive compilation of declassified documents from the executive branch. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports.

West Virginia Newspapers from Newsbank (Courtesy of WVInfoDepot)

Includes the Dominion Post (Morgantown), Charleston Gazette, Charleston Daily Mail, Herald Dispatch (Huntington). Provided by the West Virginia Library Commission with funds from the WV State Legislature and the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Institute of Library and Museum Services.

Access to Resources

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Librarian

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Jewel (Rucker) Connell
Contact:
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History, a study of the past - who, what, where, when, why, and how

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." - Marcus Garvey

 

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

Heritage Month Guide

September: National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct 15)

October:      Italian-American Heritage Month

November:  National American Indian Heritage Month

February:    Black History Month 

March:         Women's History Month and Irish-American Heritage Month

May:             Asian-Pacific American Heritage and Jewish-American Heritage Month

Database Spotlight