HIST 083S: Disasters In America

Start by consulting a reference book for a brief overview of historical people, places, and events. They will help you identify key articles and books, and supply important background information.

• Gale Virtual Reference Library (full-text of reference sources in many subject areas)
• Oxford Reference Online (over 100 works published by Oxford University Press)
• Oxford African American Studies Online (essays on the African-American experience)
• Encyclopedia of American Studies (essays on all aspects of American life)

• Statistics Guide

Find Books (Research Guide)

• To find materials at Penn State use the library’s catalog, The CAT. Use “I Want it” to request items from other campuses. Use WorldCat to search for materials in libraries worldwide. Use the “Request via ILL” link in WorldCAT to have items delivered to you.

Book Reviews (Research Guide)

America: History & Life (use to find what historians have written about your topic)

HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals (use to find material about Hispanics in the U.S.)

History of Science, Technology & Medicine (for historical analysis of scientific topics)

International Index to Black Periodicals Full Text (key publications in Black Studies)

JSTOR (full-text of many early academic journals, including key science titles)

PubMed (Medline) 1966-present  (main database for locating articles in medical journals).
Also PubMed Central, a free digital archive

Women’s Studies International (use to find articles and other publications on women)

News and Magazine Articles:  A snapshot of contemporary opinions and attitudes

• Accessible Archvies (19th century news, including Civil War and African-American newspapers)
• American Periodicals Series, 1741-1900+, (1,000+ magazines up to around 1930)
• America’s Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922
• New York Times Historical (1851-2006) (Digital Archive) (current years on Proquest)
• Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
• Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers (includes the years before and after the war)
• Periodicals Index Online (covers early journals going back to the 18th Century)

Use the British Periodicals and Times of London databases if you want a British perspective on your topic.

• Access World News (full-text of international and U.S. news sources)
• Ethnic Newswatch (full-text articles from ethnic newspapers, Asian-American, African-American, Hispanic-American, etc…)
• LGBT Life (an index to articles on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender studies)
• Lexis Nexis Academic  (various news and magazines sources from the 1980’s to present)
• Newspaper Photos (images from the Associated Press)
• New York Times Historical 1851-2006 Digial Archive (full-text going back to 1851)
• Proquest (various magazines sources from the 1980’s to present)
• Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-1985 (if a British perspective is desired)
• Television News Archives (includes video clips from CNN and NBC)

Print copies are located in the Social Sciences Library. Many are online. If you can’t find what you need ASK a librarian for HELP!

Congressional Debate can be found in several places depending on the year you need.

• Century of Lawmaking  (covers up to1875)
• Congressional Record, Paper volumes, Call # J11.G5, 2nd Floor Paterno
•  Lexis Nexis Congressional  1986-present  (full-text of recent debates)

Lexis Nexis Congressional (Congressional Hearings and U.S. Serial Set) (Large collection of congressional materials.)  Documents not online can be found in the Social Sciences Library.

Executive Branch Documents can often be found in The CAT. Search by keyword or try using the agency as Author (e.g., Homeland Security). Many early documents are NOT in The CAT.

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

Services for History Researchers