Start Here
- Britannica online This link opens in a new windowSearch the most academic of the general encyclopedias.
- Oxford reference This link opens in a new windowCross-searchable online database of Oxford University Press subject dictionaries and reference works.
Reference Resources
Scholarly Articles
These databases index scholarly articles in history or related disciplines. If the full-text is not available use the KULink button to track down the actual article.
- America: history and life This link opens in a new windowAmerica, History and Life indexes articles, book reviews, and other secondary literature dealing with the United States and Canada.
- Historical abstracts This link opens in a new windowHistorical Abstracts indexes articles covering world history, excluding the United States and Canada from 1450 to the present.
Citation Resource
Chicago Manual of Style OnlineISBN: 0226104206
Books
There are two primary ways to identify books. One is searching through catalogs, like the KU Libraries Catalog and WorldCat. The other is to utilize bibliographies from books and articles. Once you have a title of a work, use these catalogs to see KU owns it. If not order it through Interlibrary Loan.
- KU Libraries CatalogUse the KU Libraries Catalog to identify materials here on campus. Use a Keyword search to start--then look at subject headings to find more specific titles
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat can be used to identify sources not in the KU collection. Use Interlibrar Loan to request what you find. But remember, this takes time and not everything can be loaned.
- HathiTrust digital library This link opens in a new windowA digital repository of books and journals of some of the United State's major research libraries. Approximately 20% of the content is in the public domain and freely available.
Searching the Online Catalog
Examples of keywords that retrieve primary sources: sources, personal narratives, diaries, papers, letters, documents. Another way to find primary sources is to do an author search of the individual or organization whose writings you hope to find.
Here is an example of how to use the Advanced Search
Selected Primary Sources
Finding primary sources takes creativity, patience, and tenacity. KU Libraries subscribes to a number of electronic primary source resources. But these are only a place to start. Below are some resources to get you started. Be sure to explore the "Chronological Periods" tab at the top for more comprehensive lists.
- American history in video This link opens in a new windowStreaming video that includes all of American history. There is a significant number of news reels covering the mid-twentieth century.
- American MemoryAmerican Memory is a gateway to the Library of Congress’s vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document U.S. history and culture, American Memory is organized into more than 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled, or donated them to the Library.
- C19, the nineteenth century index This link opens in a new windowC19 Index includes major publications from the USA and UK. Content extends well into the 1920s and some of it is full text.
- Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (1–4) This link opens in a new windowAn archival research of U.S. and British trade magazines covering film, music, radio, and theater from 1880s to 2000.
- Irish Times (1859- 3 years agoThe historical Irish Times provides comprehensive news reporting as well as sports, business, arts, lifestyle coverage, and more.
- Kansas MemoryA collection of online documents from the Kansas State Historical Society. They are searchable a number of different ways, including county, time period, and subject.
- KU Libraries CatalogKeyword searching in the catalog on a topic and words that indicates primary sources can often retrieve excellent results. Try pairing a topic with words such as: diaries, journal, paper, autobiography, or correspondence. Also, the catalog contains records for newspaper and periodicals, which can be used as primary sources.
- New York Times with index This link opens in a new windowView full page and article images as well as keyword search the New York Times from 1851 to four years ago
- ProQuest Executive Branch Documents 1798-1932We have access to this database until April 6th. This database contains all publish documents of government entities that are part of the Executive Branch.
- Reader's guide retrospective This link opens in a new windowSearch Readers' Guide Retrospective for access to popular literature from the twentieth century. Some of the magazines indexed include: Sports Illustrated, Black Enterprise, Look, Time, and Good Housekeeping.
- The Times of LondonAccess the Times of London from 1785-2006, the Sunday Times 1822-2006, and the Times Literary Supplement, 1902 to five years ago.
- U.S. Congressional serial set (Readex) This link opens in a new windowDatabase of texts from the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives
- Vogue archive This link opens in a new windowThe Vogue Archive contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition) from 1892 to the present day. Vogue is a unique record of American and international popular culture that extends beyond fashion.
Subject Guide
1425 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045-7544
Other Guides
- Historical American Newspapers @ KUA guide to finding historical newspapers published in the United States. There is a section devoted to Kansas papers.
- US Primary SourcesA guide with links to all the digital primary sources provided by KU Libraries, as well as, helpful tips and suggestions for finding primary sources.
- American HistoryA guide to do basic research for American history.
Relevant Print Indexes
These indexes are excellent tools to find primary sources from 20th century periodicals. The links provided are to just one of the many entries for the title. If the link doesn't include the years you need use the "Continues" and "Continued by" to find the location of the volume you need.
- British Humanities IndexKU has most dates from 1917 to 2006.
- Canadian Periodical IndexThis index, which has many name variations, covers the literature from Canada. More recent years also index films.
- International Index to PeriodicalsThis index, which has three different titles, indexes materials from 1913 to 1960. As the title implies the periodicals, many of which are in English, are from around the world.
- Readers’ Guide to Periodical LiteratureThis American Index covers popular periodical literature. 1900 to 1994 is available in Watson.
- Subject Index to PeriodicalsPublished in London, this index mostly includes British titles. KUs holdings range from 1915 to 2006.