Subject & Course Guides: History 177: From the Locomotive to the Smartphone: Culture, Space, and Time in the Machine Age: HIST 177

Reference Sources

Britannica online
Excellent place to find basic information about any technology.

American Decades
This reference source contains short entries on key technologies from 1900 to 2000.
Wikipedia
Obtain basic historical information.

Reader's guide retrospective
An index to periodical literature from 1890 to 1982. Most of these are available in the KU Libraries. Many will be on microfilm.

Academic search complete
An excellent sources starting in the 1980s. Be warned that you cannot search advertisements.
Business source complete
Even though this database focuses on business, remember every technology has to be bought and sold. This database has good coverage from the mid 1970s on.

Google Magazines
Variety of magazines freely available from Google. Be warned there is not any easy way to print or save. Titles can searched by keyword or flipped through.

Roper iPoll
Access public opinion polls back to the 1930s to today.
Historical Annual Reports
Search annual reports of public companies from 1844 to 2008. In addition to annual summaries, this database includes financials.
Liberty Magazine Historical Archive, 1924-1950
Once called the second most important magazine in the US, Liberty covers from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Life Magazine Digital Archive
Search the pages of one of the 20th centuries most important photographic magazine.
New York Times with index
The most important American newspaper in the 20th century.
Nexis Uni
Although this database doesn't have images or PDFs of original texts, the content here covers a significant portion of the twentieth century.
Vogue archive
Search all pages of the American edition of Vogue, including advertisements.
Wall Street journal (historical)
America's most read business newspaper.

Women's Magazine Archive
Search or browse the pages of Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents, Seventeen, Essence and many other magazines geared towards women.

adflip
Adflip is a privately financed archive of more than 6,000 print advertisements published from 1940 to the present.
The Advertising Archives
Collection of British and American advertisements.
John W. Hartman Center
The Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History at Duke University collects materials related to understanding of the social, cultural, and historical impact of advertising, marketing, and sales. There are a variety of digital collections available.

Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Search and watch various television news broadcasts starting in 1968.

Life Magazine Digital Archive
Search and browse the pages of the 20th centuries most important photographic magazine.

Life Tags
Search the images of Life by object. Use this database to look for things like "keyboard" or "kitchen sink."