Arts & Humanities Library
W321 Pattee Library
Penn State University
814-865-1014
Background sources provide brief overviews of historical people, places, and events. They also refer you to key articles and books for additional research.
These sources are online via the Online Reference Shelf
Sources for modern Europen History include:
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350-2000
Europe: 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire
Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction
Oxford Reference Online
The Country Information and Data Sources page links to historical overviews and data about specific European countries.
To find materials at Penn State use the library's catalog, The CAT. Use "I Want it" to request items that are checked out or at other campuses.
Use WorldCat to search for materials in libraries worldwide. Use the "Request via ILL" link to have items delivered to you. For more options see "Materials not at Penn State"
Books in the library stacks are organized by Library of Congress Classification system. European History can be found in the Pattee Stacks Levels BA and 1 in the following order.
* Class D History (General)
* Class DA Great Britain
* Class DAW Central Europe
* Class DB Austria - Liechtenstein - Hungary - Czechoslovakia
* Class DC France - Andorra - Monaco
* Class DD Germany
* Class DE Greco-Roman World
* Class DF Greece
* Class DG Italy - Malta
* Class DH Low Countries - Benelux Countries
* Class DJ Netherlands (Holland)
* Class DJK Eastern Europe (General)
* Class DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics - Poland
* Class DL Northern Europe. Scandinavia
* Class DP Spain - Portugal
* Class DQ Switzerland
* Class DR Balkan Peninsula
Historical Abstracts
Use to find articles about world history (from 1450 to the present). The main scholarly database in the field of European history.
Francis
Use to find scholarly articles from journals in the humanities and social sciences. The database is a convenient way to locate scholarship produced in Europe, and is especially strong for locating French sources.
IBZ (International Bibliography of Periodical Literature)
Use to find scholarly articles in all subject areas. Especially strong coverage of German scholarship as well as articles published on the European continent.
Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective
Use to find articles and information about artists, art movements, and individual works of art from all time periods and cultures. More Art databases can be found here.
MLA International Bibliography
Use to discover articles, book chapters, and other writings about world literature, including specific authors and works, or more general literary themes.
Periodicals Index Online
Use to find older scholarship (published before 1995) in many subject areas. Good coverage of European sources.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
Use to find articles written about music and musicians. More music databases are here.
Women’s Studies International
Includes material from a variety of women's studies databases covering key research in the field. More women’s studies databases are here.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
The best place to start to find articles on political topics. More political science databases are here.
History Cooperative, JSTOR, Muse and Periodical Archives Online provide full-text of selected history journals. Check each separately from the library’s home page at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/eres/PSU_azlist.html#azlist to see which titles they include and the years. Historical Abstracts contains links to articles in these journals.
Google Scholar scans the contents of a FEW library databases. However, it only can “see” a handful of the more than 400 databases the library has. It can be very convenient, but use it as a complement to library searches, not a replacement.
Cold War International History Project
CQ Historic Documents Series. Primary sources covering current events around the world from 1972 to present.
Empire Online, 1492-1969. Original documents on the history of colonialism. Emphasis on the British Empire.
Eurodocs Online Sources for European History
Europeana (European Digital Library)
European Library (digital books, maps, images, etc…)
European Navigator. Multimedia Library of documents on European integration/unification.
Modern Internet History Sourcebook. Europe since 1945.
Testaments to the Holocaust
Western European Studies Resources
Women's History Online, 1543-1945 (Gerritsen)
Full text books, pamphlets and periodicals reflecting the evolution of feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights up to 1945. includes many European sources.
World Wide Web Virtual Library: History an extensive collection of links to historical websites.
MANY primary sources are not online. Use The CAT to find early printed books, government documents, maps, videotapes, sound recordings, music scores and many other types of materials. Limit your CAT search by date to find documents produced near the time of the event you are researching.
The Special Collections Library contains original primary source documents. Many of these can be found in The CAT, but others are not yet listed
The News and Microforms Library contains primary source documents in microformat (microfilm, fiche, etc...). We have early pamphlets on socialism, documents from the Holocaust, women's rights materials, etc... Ask for help locating these
Below are some keywords you can use in The CAT to locate published primary documents:
Sources (combine with other keywords for document collections, e.g. Germany history and sources)
Eyewitness or Personal Narratives (crimean war and eyewitness)
Letters or Correspondence (add an author's name, e.g. Charles De Gaulle and correspondence)
Diaries/Diary (Works best with the author's name, e.g. Diary and Anne Frank)
Documents or Documentary (combine with a topic, e.g. documentary history and france)
and Women)
Use NewsCAT, as a finding tool, to access hundreds of international and domestic news sources in print and online.
British Newspapers (1600-1900)
British Periodicals [Digital Archive] (magazines from the 1680s to the 1930s)
Economist, 1843-2003 (British magazine with analysis of world events)
ICON Newspaper Digitization U.S. and international papers freely online
Newspaper Photos
The Times of London (1785-1985) [Digital Archive] (Excellent coverage of Europe. Later years on Lexis Nexis Academic)
Access World News (U.S. and international news sources from the mid 1990s)
Major World Newspapers (via LexisNexis Academic-News Sources)
PressDisplay Electronic Image Databases — more than 1000 newspapers in 39 languages (most recent 60 days only)
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports (1974-1996)
First release : Series 2 includes Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) 1974-1980; South Asia (SAS) 1980-1987; Africa (Sub-Sahara) (AFR) 1987-1988; Sub-Saharan Africa (AFR) 1988-1996
Continues after 1996 as World News Connection
Television News Sources
Additional Foreign News Sources online and in the Library
The subject specialists in the Arts and Humanities have created specialized guides for locating specific types of materials. If you are not finding what you need contact me, or the specialist listed on the page for assistance.
Image Databases Use to locate online art images from European history (paintings, sculptures, etc...)
Music Databases Select "Music Audio for a list of databases containing digital music recordings.
The Arts and Humanities Home Library lists resources for European Languages and Literature, including:
