Applied English for American History II
Fall 1999
Tokyo International University of America
J. E. Seibert

 

GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY RESEARCH
HATFIELD LIBRARY
(Adapted from Information Provided by Willamette University's Hatfield Library)

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Encyclopedias and dictionaries can provide an overview of a topic, place it in context to a broader subject area, and may indicate secondary or related subjects. Encyclopedia articles also frequently provide a bibliography that can be used for further research. The following are all located in the Reference area.

 

General Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia Americana. 30 volumes.

Ref. AE5 .E333 1998

New Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. 32 volumes.

Ref. AE5 .E363 1993

 

  • Consult the index to find information in volumes 1-30. The electronic version is also available from the library’s InfoStations and the WebStation.
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    Special Subject Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

     

    Encyclopedia of American history.

    Ref. E174.5 .E52 1982

     

    Encyclopedia of American social history.

    Ref. HN57 .E58

     

    Japanese American history.

    Ref. E184 .J3 J3355

     

    Historical statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970.

    Ref. HA202 .B87 1976

     

    Historical Atlases

     

    American heritage pictorial atlas of United States history.

    Ref. Atlas G1201 .S1 A4 1966

     

    Atlas of American history.

    Ref. Atlas G1201 .S1 J3 1978

     

     

    FINDING IN-DEPTH INFORMATION

     

    The Online Catalog

     

    The online catalog indexes all cataloged material in the library, including

  • books, documents, periodicals, and audiovisual materials.
  • Materials can be searched by Title, Author, and Subject, as well as by using a Word search, which will look for a term in the title, subject and notes fields of a catalog record.

     

    Indexes to Journals and Newspapers

     

    Both indexes and abstracts provide all the information needed to locate articles (author, article title, journal title, volume and date of journal, page numbers). Abstracts provide summaries of the articles as well. Newspapers are considered to be periodicals also, and indexes are available for some major newspapers. Note that indexes are available in print and electronic formats. Print indexes are located in the Reference Index Collection located along the south wall of the first floor of the library. The following indexes are available in the Hatfield Library:

     

    America: History and Life (1954 to date) electronic and print

     

    Expanded Academic Index ASAP (1980 to present) electronic

     

    Humanities Index (1974 to date) print

     

    International Index (1907 to 1965) print

     

    New York Times Index (1851 to 1993) print

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    • FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES

  • Primary sources are documents or other materials written or created during the time period being studied. They may include newspaper reports, government reports, journals, letters, oral histories, songs, stories, or physical objects.

    Letters and other writings of prominent persons can be found by searching the online catalog under the author's name.

    The following either contain the text of primary materials or provide access to primary materials:

    •
    Documents of American history
    Ref. E173 .C66 1973b

    Excerpts of important primary documents arranged chronologically "to illustrate the course of American history from the Age of Discovery to the present."

     

    Harvard guide to American history.

    Ref. E178 .F77 1974

     

    Historic documents.

    Ref. E839 .H57

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