Research Guides: History resources: American history

Starting points: American history

America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Indexes books and journal articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. 1954+
Print predecessor Writings on American History covering 1904-1954 is in Firestone's General & Humanities Reference (DR) Z1236.L331.

Reader’s companion to American history [electronic resource]. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty; sponsored by the Society of American Historians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, c1991.
History Reference (SH). Firestone E174 .R43 1991

Reader's guide to American history. Editor, Peter J. Parish. London; Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR) AND History Reference (SH)
Z1236 .R43 1997

Dictionary of American history [electronic resource]. Stanley I. Kutler, editor in chief. 3rd ed. New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, c2003.
RECAP E174 .D52 2003

American foreign relations since 1600: a guide to the literature. Robert L. Beisner, editor. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c2003.
Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR) Z6465.U5 G84 2003

Blackwell Companions to US History:

A Companion to American Indian History
A Companion to Colonial America
A Companion to the American Revolution
A Companion to the Civil War and Reconstruction
A Companion to 19th-Century America
A Companion to 20th-Century America
A Companion to Post-1945 America
A Companion to the Vietnam War
A Companion to the American South
A Companion to the American West
A Companion to American Cultural History
A Companion to American Women's History
A Companion to American Technology
A Companion to American Immigration
A Companion to American Environmental History
A Companion to American Military History
A Companion to California History

American National Biography Authoritative biographies of prominent Americans who are deceased. As with the Oxford DNB, an excellent starting point.

Oxford Bibliographies Thorough bibliographies covering important works on many topics in history

Docuseek2 Complete Collection This link opens in a new window
Educational streaming access to documentaries.
Ideas Roadshow This link opens in a new window
Includes modules on learning the historical research process

Oxford Research Encyclopedia. American History
In-depth articles on major ideas, trends and events, with extensive bibliographies.

Cross-search multiple primary source databases

Gale Primary Resources This link opens in a new window
Cross-searching tool for Gale primary source collections (including Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Indigenous Peoples: North America, and Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture). Also allows users to analyze content using frequency and term-relationship tools.
Readex AllSearch This link opens in a new window
Search engine to Readex products.
AM explorer This link opens in a new window
Search engine to Adam Matthew archival materals.
ProQuest History This link opens in a new window
Combines various historical databases from ProQuest.
History Vault This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of U.S. history primary sources. Includes government documents, personal papers and organizational records.

Searching for Archival Material

ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Index to finding aids and other descriptive information about the holdings of manuscript and archival collections in libraries and research institutions throughout the world.
Archive Finder This link opens in a new window
Contains the entire holdings in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC). Current directory of thousands of repositories and over 220,000 collections of primary source materials across the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. 1959+
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Use "Advanced search" and Limit type to "Archival Materials"

Social Networks and Archival Context
Discover biographical and historical information about persons, families, and organizations that created or are documented in historical resources (primary source documents) and their connections to one another. Users can locate archival collections and related resources held at cultural heritage institutions around the world.

Tools for Finding Primary Sources

Princeton University Library

History resources

Starting points: American history

Primary sources: American history

Cross-search multiple primary source databases

Searching for Archival Material