F&M Library: HIS 420

Lib Res.

HIS 420: Progressive Era

Reference Resources - Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks and bibliographies

Reference or secondary sources are informational resources written by individuals who were not the actual participants in the topic at hand. They may be of value to your research since they often provide greater objectivity and different perspectives as a result of the passage of time. Common secondary sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and bibliographies.

Please Note: The general call number range for the United States - Late nineteenth century, 1865-1900 through WWII is E660-E812

The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia: Ref Room D510 .U65 1995 Vol. 1
Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas, 2nd ed.: Ref Room E185 .E54 2006 Vol. 1
Encyclopedia of the Guilded Age and Progressive Era: Ref Room E661 .E53 2005 Vol. 1

ANB Online: The American National Biography includes more than 17,400 men and women whose lives have shaped the nation. Updated quarterly.
Encyclopedia Britannica (with Webster's Dictionary): Latest article database, including articles not in the print edition, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and the Britannica Book of the Year (1994 - present), with thousands of web links selected by editors.

Search Terminology - Keywords and Subject Headings

When conducting research, always consider alternative keywords and subject headings for your topic. Begin by analyzing your topic or research question, and break it down into its key concepts. What keywords appear? Are there alternative keywords that come to mind?

For this course, keywords may include: War of 1898, Spanish-American War, Great War, WWI, imperialism, empire, progressivism etc.

Subject headings may include: "Progressivism (United States politics)", or "Imperialism History 20th century", or "United States Politics and government 1865-1933" etc.

How to find books

Select CATALOG from the Library home page. In finding books for this class, try using the keyword and subject terms mentioned above.

When you discover a book of interest, select the "DETAILS" tab, and then the "FULL RECORD" tab to look at the assigned subject headings for that item. Note related subject headings, and click on them to find other books that are described in a similar way, and may prove useful.

Remember to search out call numbers in both the STACKS and the REFERENCE ROOM. Call numbers are designed to mirror themselves in these two areas. If you find a valuable book in the STACKS, you will find similar, high quality REFERENCE items under the same call number in the REFERENCE ROOM.

How to find and locate journal articles

Start by consulting the following electronic resources:

Secondary Sources

JSTOR: A collection of abstracts and articles from over 250 scholarly journals, many dating from the nineteenth-century to the last 4 or 5 years.
America: History and Life: Comprehensive bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to present. Covers abstracts 1964 to the present.

Primary Sources

American Broadsides and Ephemera: Fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides (political materials) printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. Ephemera includes: government proclamations, tax bills, town meeting reports, autobiographies, dying confessions of convicted criminals, theater playbills, sheet almanacs, advertisements, patriotic and popular songs and poems.
America's Historical Newspapers: Fully searchable, cover-to-cover reproductions of early American newspapers including titles from all 50 present states. Includes: Early American Newspapers, Series 1 (1690-1876), Early American Newspapers, Series 2 (1758-1900) and Early American Newspapers, Series 3 (1829-1922).
New York Times - Full Image: The New York Times (Sep 18, 1851 - Dec 31, 2004, full-image) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: Comprehensive indexing of 500 of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of 20th century America. The complete database covers the years 1890 through 1982.

Progressive-era Magazines and journals available in S-FL. Unless marked with an (m) for microfilm, (a) for archives, or, all magazines and journals are available on the basement floor of S-FL, shelved alphabetically by title.

General interest journals and magazines:

American City
Atlantic Monthly
Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine
Cosmopolitan - nothing like the current Cosmo
Crisis (m) - African American journal
Forum
Fortnightly Review
Graphic
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Weekly (a, m)
Independent (m)
Ladies Home Journal (m)
Literary Digest
McClure's Magazine - only through 1905
Nation
New Republic (m) - major source for the antiwar debate
Outlook - the premier Progressive journal
Popular Science Monthly
Scribner's Magazine
World's Work

If the article you find is available in full-text, follow the appropriate links. If not, take note of the JOURNAL NAME being cited, and go to the Journals at F&M page to see if the library subscribes to the journal. If so, locate the journal in print or microfilm, and make a copy for your research.

For additional article resources, look under the Electronic Resources - A to Z List on the Library homepage.

Don't Forget: Always consult the bibliography at the end of a journal article for additional resources!

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web can be a helpful environment in which to access scholarly information. To search for more authoritative sites, use mediated search directories such as the Librarians Index to the Internet or Google Scholar.

Lancaster County Historical Society: Exhibitions on Lancaster history and research library. Find 19th and 20th century local newspapers, photographs, manuscripts and archival collections.
History Matters: Designed for college teachers and students, History Matters serves as a gateway to web resources and offers other useful materials for teaching U.S. history.
Library of Congress: Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929: Library of Congress Learning Page featuring an overview of the Progressive Era with various sub-topics.
Public History Resource Center, Progressive Era History, vol.9: People, Places, Politics, and Social Movements of the Progressive Era.
H-SHGAPE Internet Resources: Gilded Age and Progressive Era Resources: You may find the following Internet sites of use for materials on Gilded Age and Progressive Era America.