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History: America

American history resources

Reference works are books and other materials that provide information on a specific topic. Examples include dictionaries, encyclopaedias, almanacs, and handbooks. They are often consulted for background information, to clarify concepts, or to find specific facts or details on a subject, and may provide useful bibliographies for further reading.

There's a selection of titles above but if you can't find something relevant in the list then go to Search and copy the following search (replace civil war with your own keywords): civil war AND (handbook OR companion OR encyclopedia OR encyclopaedia OR dictionary)

If you'd like to go browse the shelves, some relevant locations are listed below. Otherwise you can search for books (print and electronic) in Search.
 
Administration of Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865, Civil War 973.7
African-American history 973.0496073
African-American politics 323.1196073
American civil rights activists, abolitionists and social reformers 923.673
Colonial period 973.2
Constitutional period 973.4
Periods of Revolution and Confederation, 1775-1789 973.3
Political history 320.0973
Race, race relations and racism 305.8
Race and ethnicity in the United States 305.800973
Reconstruction period 973.8
Southern States history, 1865-1950 975.04
United States history 973
1809-1845 973.5
1845-1861 973.6
1901 onwards 973.9

In History there are, broadly speaking, two types of databases. Those you use to find primary sources and those you use for journal articles. For primary sources look at the Primary Sources library guide.    

For journal articles, books, theses, conference papers and more:

For more, look at the full list of History databases

Below are some of the key journals in American history. Clicking on the covers will take you to the journal record in Search. To go to the journal articles, click on View it and select one database. To search across a wide selection of journals, use one of the recommended databases in the previous 'Journal article databases' tab.

American nineteenth century history Civil War history Journal of American History
The journal of southern history The American Historical Review Journal of Negro History
Western History Quarterly