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Penn State University Libraries

American Social History by Eras and Decades

 

Contact

Eric  Novotny photo

Eric Novotny
Title: Acting Head Arts and Humanities


Databases

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Examples:

  • American Decades
  • American Decades: Primary Sources
  • Dictionary of American History
  • Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America
  • People's Chronology
  • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture


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

General Resources

American Eras  (8 volumes cover the 1600's to the 1990s) (find in the CAT)

The American Years: a Chronology of United States History (find in the CAT)

Annals of America (find in the CAT)

Chronicle of America (find in the CAT)

Daily Life through History (Series from Greenwood Press) (find in the CAT)

Dictionary of American History.  The Learning Guide in volume 10 has a list of entries by time period.

Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History (find in the CAT)

Everyday Life: American Social History (find in the CAT)

Fashion and Costume in American Popular Culture: a Reference Guide (find in the CAT)

Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture (find in the CAT)

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America

 

Colonial and 18th Century American Life

Advances and Innovations in American Daily Life (1600s-1930s) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E161.G76 2002, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E45.E53 1993, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Events that Changed America in the Eighteenth Century (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E195.E94 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Events that Changed America Through the Seventeenth Century (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E18.82.E94 2000, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Colonial America to 1763 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E188.P86 1999, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Daily Life During the American Revolution (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E209.V65 2003, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Daily Life in the Early American Republic, 1790-1820: Creating a New Nation (find in the CAT), UP Copy: Call # E164.H44 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Historic Dress in America, 1607-1800 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # GT607.M22 1969, Pattee - Stacks 1A

19th Century America

Advances and Innovations in American Daily Life (1600s-1930s) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E161.G76 2002, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Daily Life in Civil War America (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E468.9.V6 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Daily Life in the Early American Republic, 1790-1820: Creating a New Nation
(find in the CAT), UP Copy: Call # E164.H44 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Daily Life in the Industrial United States, 1870-1900  (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E168.H965 2004, Pattee Stacks Level 1

Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century (3 volumes) (find in the CAT), UP Copy: Call # E169.1.E626 2001, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Events That Changed America in the Nineteenth Century (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E337.5.E9 1997, Pattee Stacks Level 1

History of American Costume, 1607-1870  (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # GT607.M22 1969, Pattee - Stacks Level 1A

Victorian America, 1876 to 1913 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E168.S55 1996, Arts & Humanities Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

World Almanac and Book of Facts (annual since 1868) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # AY67.N5 W7, Pattee Stacks Level B

20th Century America

All-American Ads (1920s-1970's).  Call # varies. Check The CAT for locations

American Decades (Gale Virtual Reference Library)

American Chronicle: Year by Year Through the Twentieth Century  (find in the CAT)

Bowling, Beatnicks, and Bell Bottoms: Pop-Culture of the 20th Century (5 volumes) (find in the CAT)

Britannica Book of the Year (1938-date) (find in the CAT)
Gives an overview of the year includes American cultural life and trends

Daily Life in the United States (Greenwood Press) (find in the CAT)
Volumes cover different decades/topics/era.  Some are online.

Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century (5 volumes) (find in the CAT)

Fun and Games in 20th Century America: A Historical Guide to Leisure (find in the CAT)

Life and Times in Twentieth Century America (find in the CAT)

Rediscovering America: the Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000 (find in the CAT)

Pop Culture Universe

Social History of the United States
A 10 volume set, each volume covers a decade

Twentieth Century American Culture
A 10 volume set, each volume covers a decade.

Twentieth-Century Teen Culture by the Decades: a Reference Guide  (find in the CAT)

More Resources

 

Pictorial and Illustrated Sources

Album of American History (5 volumes and supplement) (find in the CAT)
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) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E161.T55, Arts & Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Five Centuries of American Costume (find in the CAT)
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) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E178.5.P195, Pattee Stacks Level 1

 

Performing Arts

American Theatre Companies, 1749-1887
UP Copy: Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee
Volume 1: 1749-1887, Call # PN2237.A43 1986 (find in the CAT)
Volume 2: 1888-1930, Call # PN2256.A44 1987 (find in the CAT)
Volume 3: 1931-1986, Call # PN2266.A54 1989 (find in the CAT)

Annals of the New York Stage (15 volumes, covering colonial period to 1898) (find in the CAT)
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 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # Z1033.B3J87 1998, Pattee Stacks Level 2

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (1955-present) (find in the CAT)
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)  (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # ML128.P63J37 2002, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

A Chronicle of American Music, 1700-1995 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # ML200.H15 1996, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Cinema: Year by Year, 1894-2003 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # PN1993.5.A1C56 2003, Arts and Humanities Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Pattee

Eighty Years of Best Sellers, 1895-1975 (find in the CAT)
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 (find in the CAT)
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) (find in the CAT)
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), (find in the CAT)
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
(find in the CAT)
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) (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # PN1992.5.U5C37 2003, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno

 

Statistics

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 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # HB235.U6V358 2005, Business Library ReferenceCollection, 3rd Floor Paterno

The Value of a Dollar, 1860-1999 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # HB235.U6V35 1999, Social Sciences Library Reference Collection, 2nd Floor Paterno