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HIST 302: Reagan's America

 

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Eric Novotny
Title: Acting Head Arts and Humanities


Arts & Humanities Library
W321 Pattee Library
Penn State University
814-865-1014
ecn1@psu.edu

Services for History Researchers

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Course Info

Course Name:
  HIST 302: Reagan's America
Semester:
  Fall
Campus:
  University Park (UP)
Instructor:
   Phil Jenkins

Reference Works

Reference Dictionaries & Encyclopedias provide brief overviews of significant people, places, and events. They also refer you to key articles and books for additional research.

Sources for modern American History include:

Additional sources are online via the Online Reference Shelf including:

  • Biographies (biographical essays)
  • Statistics  (For data about life in America during the Reagan years and Public Opinion polls)

CQ Researcher is a valuable tool for information on "hot topics" of the eighties

Ronald Reagan: A Bibliography is an extremely useful listing of books and articles. Find in the Library

Primary Sources

The library has acquired many anthologies of primary source documents. For example,

Speeches -- Most speeches are collected in anthologies. The standard collection is called Vital Speeches of the Day. This prints important speeches on a monthly basis.  Find a copy in the CAT
For other collections see the online guide to Finding Speeches.

 

Finding Primary Sources in The CAT

There's no foolproof recipe for locating primary sources, but here are some suggestions:

Search for historical figures in The CAT as Authors (e.g. Jesse Jackson, Ronald Reagan)

Search The CAT for a topic (Iran-Contra, Nuclear Freeze Movement, etc.) and add one of the following terms to your search;   "documents", "sources", "oral history", "diaries", "personal narratives" or "letters".

In the Advanced Search use the publication date to find items produced during the time period you are interested in.

 

News and Magazine Articles

News Sources

Google News Archive Includes a mix of freely available and pay-for view news sources.  Before paying, check to see if the library has a copy of the newspaper.  The University Libraries provide access to many newspaper titles in print and microfilm formats.  Use NewsCAT  to locate newspapers in any University Libraries collections.

 

Magazine Articles

  • Alternative Press Index Use to find articles published in "left-wing" magazines. Find in the Library
  • Popular Periodical Index (1973-1990). Use to identify articles from about 30 non-academic titles, including TV Guide, Spin, etc. Find in the Library
  • Proquest. Online database of popular magazines and scholarly sources, some publications go back to the 1980’s
  • Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982  An index to articles in over 200 popular American magazines like Time and Newsweek.  After 1982 use the print volumes of the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Find print volumes in the Library
  • Index to Black Periodicals.  Use to find articles published in African-American publications.  Later years are under the title Periodical Articles by and About Blacks. Find in the Library

 

Google Magazines provides full-color reproductions of selected popular magazines.  Not every magazine is available back to the 1980s. 

Scholarly Article Databases

 

There are many additional databases that cover other disciplines (Art, Music, Religion, etc...).   See our Research Guides by Subject for help locating databases outsides the ones listed here.

 

Full-Text History Journals

The databases below provide full-text of selected history journals. Check each database separately to see which titles they include and the years. America: History and Life covers far more sources, so do NOT limit your search to only full-text databases.

 

Books

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"

Search E-Books           

  • Google Book Search — This digital index to the contents of  over 10 million English language books is created from the contents of CIC university libraries and others.
  • Hathi Trust Digital Library — a digital catalog and repository created by research libraries.

Book Reviews

Find Book Reviews

Popular Culture

To find out which books, films, or songs were influential in the decade try these resources:

  • The Gale Virtual Reference Library includes the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture  and American Decades volumes which provide essays on popular films, television shows, art, and literature. 
  • Use Pop Culture Universe to find information about what was popular during the eighties. 

For more see our subject guides for:
Art,  English Literature, Film/video, and Music

 

Finding Novels, Movies, Songs in The CAT

  • If you know the title or author, you can use The CAT to find a copy of a particular work.
  • To find collections of songs when you do not know the title or artist use the subject heading: "Popular Music, 1981-1990". You can substitute other musical forms, e.g. "Jazz, 1981-1990" or "Rock, 1981-1990".
  • To find movies when you do not know the title or director use the subject heading for the type of movie you want to find. "feature films" is for general movies. More specific categories are "action films", "romance films", "adventure films", "comedy films", etc.
  • To locate a novel by subject try the Fiction Catalog which lists fictional works by subject
  • To locate reviews see the following Web guides: Book Reviews, Film Reviews