American Social History by Eras and Decades
General Resources | Pictorial Sources | Colonial and 18th Century Life |
19th Century Life | 20th Century Life | Performing Arts | Statistics |
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General Resources Covering Multiple Eras
American Eras (8 volumes cover the 1600's to the 1990s)
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.A471979 1997, Social Sciences Library Encyclopedias Area, 2nd Floor Paterno
The American Years: a Chronology of United States History
UP Copy: Call # E174.5.G753 1999, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Annals of America
UP Copy: Call # E173.A793, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Chronicle of America
UP Copy: Call # E174.5.C55 1997, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Daily Life through History Series (Greenwood Press)
Search The CAT to see a list of books in this Series (scripted series search)
Dictionary of American History
The Learning Guide in volume 10 has a list of entries by time period.
Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.E624 2001, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America
Everyday Life: American Social History
UP Copy: Call # HN57.E93 1998, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno
Fashion and Costume in American Popular Culture : a Reference Guide
UP Copy: Call # GT605.O45 1996, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.H2643 2002, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
Pictorial and Illustrated Sources
Album of American History (5 volumes and supplement)
UP Copy: Call # E178.A24, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
- Digital Dress Costume Collections
- Can search by decades, for example, enter 1900-1909.
- Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
- For more 20th Century ads, see All-American Ads below
This Fabulous Century (8 volumes covering 1870-1970)
UP Copy: Call # E161.T55, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Five Centuries of American Costume
UP Copy: Call # GT605.W5, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States (14 volumes)
UP Copy: Call # E178.5.P195, Pattee Stacks Level 1
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
Colonial and 18th Century American Life
Advances and Innovations in American Daily Life (1600s-1930s)
UP Copy: Call # E161.G76 2002, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Early American Imprints, 1639-1800
Digital editions of works published in the United States before 1800. Includes some popular material such as playbills, cookbooks, and children's books.
Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies
UP Copy: Call # E45.E53 1993, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Events that Changed America in the Eighteenth Century
UP Copy: Call # E195.E94 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Events that Changed America Through the Seventeenth Century
UP Copy: Call # E18.82.E94 2000, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Colonial America to 1763
UP Copy: Call # E188.P86 1999, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Daily Life During the American Revolution
UP Copy: Call # E209.V65 2003, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Daily Life in the Early American Republic, 1790-1820 : Creating a New Nation
UP Copy: Call # E164.H44 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Historic Dress in America, 1607-1800
UP Copy: Call # GT607.M22 1969, Pattee - Stacks 1A
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
Advances and Innovations in American Daily Life (1600s-1930s)
UP Copy: Call # E161.G76 2002, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Daily Life in Civil War America
UP Copy: Call # E468.9.V6 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Daily Life in the Early American Republic, 1790-1820 : Creating a New Nation
UP Copy: Call # E164.H44 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Daily Life in the Industrial United States, 1870-1900
UP Copy: Call # E168.H965 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century (3 volumes)
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.E626 2001, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Events That Changed America in the Nineteenth Century
UP Copy: Call # E337.5.E9 1997, Pattee Stacks Level 1
History of American Costume, 1607-1870
UP Copy: Call # GT607.M22 1969, Pattee - Stacks Level 1A
Victorian America, 1876 to 1913
UP Copy: Call # E168.S55 1996, Arts & Humanities Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
World Almanac and Book of Facts (annual since 1868
UP Copy: Call # AY67.N5 W7, Pattee Stacks Level B
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
All-American Ads (1920s-1970's)
Call # varies. Check The CAT for locations
American Decades (10 volumes)
Print Copy: UP Copy: Call # E169.A419 1994, Social Sciences Library Encyclopedias Area, 2nd Floor Paterno.
American Decades: Primary Sources
American Chronicle : Year by Year Through the Twentieth Century
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.G665 1999, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Desk Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Bowling, Beatnicks, and Bell Bottoms: Pop-Culture of the 20th Century (5 volumes)
UP Copy: Call # E169.1.B7825 2002, Social Sciences Library Encyclopedias Area, 2nd Floor Paterno
- Britannica Book of the Year (1938-date)
- UP Copy: Call # AE5 .E364, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Patte
- Gives an overview of the year. Although published in Britain it includes much on American cultural life and trends.
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century (5 volumes)
UP Copy: Call # E740.7.E53 1996, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Desk Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Fun and Games in 20th Century America: A Historical Guide to Leisure
UP Copy: Call # GV53.G56 2003, Social Sciences Library Encyclopedias Area, 2nd Floor Paterno
Life and Times in Twentieth Century America
UP Copy: Call # E741.L497 2004, Education and Behavioral Sciences Library Reference Collection, 5th Floor Paterno
Rediscovering America : the Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000
UP Copy: Call # E741.R327 2003, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Oral History Online
An index to interviews documenting life in America. Some interviews are online.
Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939 : Decades of Promise and Pain
UP Copy: Call # E169.K985 2002, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Daily Life in the United States, 1940-1959 : Shifting Worlds
UP Copy: Call # E169.K139 2000, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno.
Daily Life in the United States, 1960-1990 : Decades of Discord
UP Copy: Call # E169.02.M3547 1997, Pattee Stacks Level 1
Sports in America
UP Copy: Call #GV583.S6826 2004 v.1-v.8,
Educ. & Behav. Sci., 5th Floor Paterno - Juvenile
Twentieth-Century Teen Culture by the Decades : a Reference Guide
UP Copy: Call # HQ799.U65R65 1999, 2nd Floor Paterno
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
Performing Arts: Popular Music, Books, Plays, Television, and Movies
- American Theatre Companies, 1749-1887
- UP Copy: Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
- Volume 1: 1749-1887, Call # PN 2237.A43 1986
- Volume 2: 1888-1930, Call # PN2256.A44 1987
- Volume 3: 1931-1986, Call # PN2266.A54 1989
Annals of the New York Stage (15 volumes, covering colonial period to 1898)
UP Copy: Call # PN2277.N5O4, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Bestseller Index : all Books, by Author, on the Lists of Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Through 1990
UP Copy: Call # Z1033.B3J87 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 2
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (1955-present)
UP Copy: Call # ML156.4.P6W44, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999)
UP Copy: Call # ML128.P63J37 2002, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
A Chronicle of American Music, 1700-1995
UP Copy: Call # ML200.H15 1996, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Cinema: Year by Year, 1894-2003
UP Copy: Call # PN1993.5.A1C56 2003, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Eighty Years of Best Sellers, 1895-1975
UP Copy: Call # Z1033.B3H342, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Entertainment Awards : a Music, Cinema, Theatre and Broadcasting Guide, 1928 through 2003
UP Copy: Call # PN2270.A93F68 2005, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Movie Time : a Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from its Beginnings to the Present (1995)
UP Copy: Call # PN1993.5.U6B687 1995, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio (3 volumes)
UP Copy: Call # PN1991.5.M87 2004, Social Sciences Library Encyclopedias Area, 2nd Floor Paterno
Radio Programs, 1924-1984 : a Catalog of over 1800 Shows
UP Copy: Call # PN1991.9.T47 1999, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno Library
Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television (1944-2003)
UP Copy: Call # PN1992.5.U5C37 2003, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
Historical Statistics of the United States Millennium Edition
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970
- Statistical Abstract of the United States
- Online, 1878-present
- Mostly economic data with some social statistics especially in the 20th Century
The Value of a Dollar : Colonial Era to the Civil War, 1600-1865
UP Copy: Call # HB235.U6V358 2005, Business Library Reference Collection, 3rd Floor Paterno
The Value of a Dollar, 1860-1999
UP Copy: Call # HB235.U6V35 1999, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno.
See-also General and Multi-Decade Sources
The following Subject Guides may help you identify additional resources
Communications and Media Studies
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For questions about the page, contact:
Eric Novotny, History
Arts & Humanities Library, 2nd Floor Pattee
814-865-1014
ecn1@psu.edu
IM: HistoryLibrarian