Research Guide for History

Departmental Representatives

Most professional librarians serve as subject bibliographers for one or more academic departments or programs. They work with faculty members to develop the library's collection, promote its use and provide library instruction.

For the Department of History, the subject bibliographer is:

Tim Smith, Reference Librarian
Office: Alden Library Learning Commons (2nd floor)
Phone: (740) 593-2634
E-Mail: smitht@ohio.edu

The faculty library liaison person is:

Chester Pach, Associate Professor of History
Office: Brown House 102
Phone: (740) 593-0096
E-mail: pach@ohio.edu

• History Department Home Page
• Contemporary History Institute Home Page

Article Indexes/Research Databases

There are a number of article databases that cover various times and places for the field of history. Please note that, due to license restrictions, all of the databases listed below are available only to member of Ohio University. Many other databases in related disciplines such as Political Science or International Studies are available through our InfoTree system.

America: History and Life

Covers all periods of U.S. and Canadian history.

Dates of coverage: Items published from 1954 to the present

L'Annee Philologique

Major database for classical studies, including ancient history of the Greco-Roman world.

Dates of coverage: Items published from 1959 to 2002.

Brepolis Medieval Bibliographies

A bibliography of the European Middle Ages, covering the years 450 - 1500; incorporates the International Medieval Bibliography and the Bibliographie de Civilisation MÈdiÈvale.

Dates of coverage: Items published from 1967 to the present.

Access limited to computers in Alden Library only.

Historical Abstracts

Covers world history--exclusive of U.S. and Canadian history--since about 1450 A.D.

Dates of coverage: Items published from 1960 to the present

Iter: Gateway to the Renaissance

A "bibliography of close to 500,000 records for articles, essays, books, and reviews" covering the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).

Dates of coverage: Items published from 1842 to the present.

Access limited to Ohio University's Athens campus only.

JSTOR

Full-text runs of a number of major history journals, beginning with vol. 1. The journals may be browsed by volume and issue number, or searched by keyword.

Dates of coverage: varies by title; does NOT include the most recent years

Access limited to Ohio University's Athens, Eastern, and Lancaster campuses.

Between them, the two interdisciplinary databases below provide access to the major journals in the field over a long span of time.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Indexes articles in core journals in History as well as citations to scholarly resources.

Dates of coverage: 1980 to the present; updated weekly

Access limited to Ohio University only.

POI: Periodicals Index Online

"An electronic index to the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1990/1991. Every article is indexed." Covers core History journals, and includes listings for book reviews.

Access limited to Athens campus Ohio University only.

Several other history databases are listed on our History Databases menu page.

Electronic Journals

We have online access to a growing number of electronic history journals available via the web. In some cases, due to licensing restrictions, the most recent years of certain journals are not available in electronic format. In other cases, only recent years are available. All electronic journals are also listed on ALICE, where they can be found by doing a Title search.

Another way of locating electronic journals is through our E-Journal Gateway, which categorizes online journals by subject area and also indicates which databases index a given journal.

Finding Books

There are three different "levels" of searching involved in trying to locate particular books or books a a particular topic.

1. ALICE. Search ALICE, Ohio University's online catalog. ALICE will give you call number, location, and availability status for books on all campuses of Ohio University. If a book is not available in the library you are using, you may be able to request it from one of the other campuses using ALICE's "Request Item" button.
2. OhioLINK. If no Ohio University campus can provide you with the item, try the OhioLINK Central Catalog, which represents the combined holdings of more than 50 libraries around the state. You may request items through the OhioLINK Central Catalog as long as they are not indicated as available at any Ohio University campus.
3. Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery. If no OhioLINK member library can provide you with a particular book, you may wish to try to obtain it elsewhere via our Interlibrary Loan service. The Document Delivery service will make scanned copies of articles that we do own, and allow you to "pick them up" online. Both services are available through the Interlibrary Loan service link.

Call Numbers

Below is an outline of the major call number ranges for books and bound volumes of history journals. More information about call numbers and how they work is available on Understanding Library of Congress Call Numbers, one of ALICE's Help Screens.

General Websites

This and the next two sections of this Subject Guide provide a selected list of history-oriented websites. If you wish to search for specific topics not covered here, try some of the Web directories and search engines listed in InfoTree.

Academic Info History: Home Page and Index

An excellent collection of annotated listing of websites on many different areas of historical research.

American Memory Project

A constantly growing collection of digitized movies, sound clips, photographs, and other graphics from the Library of Congress.

Countries and Regions (Princeton University Library)

Links to pages dealing with United States, Africa, Australia and the Pacific, Middle East and Israel, Western Europe and Britain, Asia , Latin America , and Russia and Eastern Europe.

Eighteenth Century Resources

Includes links to many sites on history, literature, etc.

Foreign Relations of the United States

Featuring original documents from the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Administrations, this is "the official documentary historical record of major US foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity."

Government Documents Home Page--Ohio University

Information on OU's Government Documents Department, which contains links to a variety of government sources.

The History Cooperative

A resource run by the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, along with the University of Illinois Press and the National Academy Press. Contains full text electronic versions of articles published in The American Historical Review and the Journal of American History. These electronic artices date back to June of 1999. Also has links to previous online discussions led by eminent historians.

H-Net: Humanities Online

A wide-ranging collection of information on the humanities and social sciences. Includes links to listserv-related websites, reviews of books and media, teaching materials, a job guide, and other useful information.

HUMBUL: The HUManities BULletin Board (Oxford University)

Particular emphasis on Great Britain and Continental Europe.

Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Large compendia of primary historical documents. The three main sourcebooks cover Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History. Additional sourcebooks include African, East Asian, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, Women's, Gay/Lesbian, Global History, and the History of Science.

The Making of America

A cooperative venture of the University of Michigan and Cornell University to produce "a thematically-related digital library documenting American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Full-text, scanned documents covering the years 1850-1877 in American history.

Microform Sets at the Ohio University Libraries

A comprehensive listing of microform research materials available on the first floor of Alden Library.

Selected Topics in History (Princeton University Library)

Links to resources on African-Americans, Art and Archaeology, Chronologies, Demography/Population, Economics, Government Sources, Historical Maps, Military History, Native Americans, Science and Medicine, Treaties, and Women.

The Sixties Project

A collection of documents, bibliographies, reviews, personal narratives, etc. on the Sixties.

Today in History

Descriptive information about the current date in history, abundantly illustrated with resources from the Library of Congress. Part of the American Memory Project.

World History Compass

Huge number of links to websites, arranged geographically.

WESSWEB

Links to websites for Classics, French, German, Iberian, and Italian studies. From the Western European Specialists Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Women's History

Articles and links relating to women's history.

World Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalogue

A large collection covering most aspects of history.

Historical Maps

David Rumsey Map Collection

Huge collection of digitized historical maps, with main emphasis on the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries, but also including maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.

Exploring the West from Monticello

A collection of digitized maps from "Columbus to the Lewis and Clark Expedition."

Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century

A collection of thematic maps and commentary on various aspects of modern history.

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Includes a number of historical maps.

Rare Map Collection at the University of Georgia

Collection of digitized maps. Emphasis on American history.