Off-Campus Access

GERMANY 1871-1990

Background Sources | Books | Journal Articles | Selected Journals | Primary Sources | Selected Websites

This webpage provides resources to help you find more information on the themes and topics of the course.

Most of the databases on this page are restricted to UW students, staff and faculty. These are marked with a lock . To connect to these databases from home you will need to first click on the Off-Campus Access link in the upper-right hand corner and login.

Have questions or need research help? Please contact Theresa Mudrock, the history librarian, via email at mudrock@u.washington.edu or im me at ta mudrock (AOL) or t_mudrock (Yahoo) .

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. More importantly, because encyclopedias often cover the major issues surrounding the subect, they can help you narrow your research from a broad “who, what, where, when” topic to a “how or why” question. In addition many encyclopedia articles include short bibliographies that will lead you to the major works on the topic.

Encyclopedia of contemporary German culture      Suzzallo Reference -- DD290.26 .E53 1999 Encyclopedia of European social history from 1350 to 2000      Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- HN373 .E63 2000 The encyclopedia of the Third Reich      Suzzallo Reference.Undergraduate Reference -- DD256.5 .G76313 1991 Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia      Suzzallo Reference -- D1058 .E8754 2001 Modern Germany: an encyclopedia of history, people, and culture, 1871-1990      Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference -- DD14 .M64 1998

Locating Books

Use the following catalogs to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through Summit (if available at one of the member libraries) or through Interlibrary Loan.

UW Libraries Catalog A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries. Summit Joint catalog of more than 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Books can be requested and shipped to the UW for pick-up. Especially useful when the book you need is checked-out. OCLC WorldCat Joint catalog of thousands of major libraries in the U.S. and abroad.

Use research databases to find articles on a topic. Since most databases cover a specific subject area, choose those that best fit your research topic. For a complete list of databases see Research Databases on the UW Libraries Homepage.

To find a copy of the article, use the Check for UW Holdings button available on most databases to locate a copy in the library. If there is no button, search the UW Libraries Catalog for the title of the journal to locate a copy. Be sure to have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year) of your article.

Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested via Interlibrary loan.

Expanded Academic Index This is a good general beginning database to find articles on all subjects. Includes some fulltext. For another similar database see Research Library. Historical Abstracts This is the best database to find articles dealing with modern world history (1450 onward) excluding American and Canadian history. International bibliography of periodical literature General index to articles, especially strong in European sources. To access you need to navigate through a few pages (Databases - IBZ - International Bibliography...). JSTOR JSTOR is a collection of more than 40 full-text history-related journals. Earlier material in JSTOR can be considered primary sources.

Selected Journals

This is a short selection of English-language journals that are particularly useful for modern German history. All are located in Suzzallo Periodicals, (3rd floor Suzzallo Library).

Title	Print	Online
Central European history, 1968-	D901 .C45	1999-
German history: the journal of the German History Society, 1989-	DD290.26 .E53 1999	1998-
German studies review, 1978-	PT1 .G43	1978-1999
Journal of modern history , 1929-	D1 .J6	1997- / 1929-1999
American Historical Review, 1895-	973.05	1999- / 1895-1999
Journal of Contemporary History, 1966-	D410 .J66	1999- / 1966-2001
New German Critique, 1973-	DD61 .N48	1973-2001
Journal of Social History, 1967-	HN1 .J68 (1967-2001)	1999-
Feminist Studies, 1972-	HQ1104 .F44	1990- / 1972-1997
Gender and History, 1989-	HQ1075 .G44	2004-2005
Signs, 1975-	HQ1101 .S55	2002- / 1975-2002

Using Secondary Sources to Find Primary Sources

Secondary sources, scholarly journal articles and books, are a great source for identifying potential primary sources and additional secondary sources. Find a few articles, books or dissertations related to your topic and then mine the footnotes and bibliography. Keep in mind that most of the primary sources on German history will be in the German language. You will have the best luck finding published primary sources such as books, government reports, newspapers and magazines within the UW Libraries. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to determine if we have the primary source.

Finding Primary Sources -- Books

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of books (in print, microform and electronic) that can be considered primary sources for history. These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the 1800s), books written by key people, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprinted collections of primary source material.

Using the UW Libraries Catalog Limit your search by publication date. Search for books written by key participants and organizations. Use special subject terms that designate primary sources: sources, personal narratives, diaries, correspondence Example of a Keyword search: germany and women and (diaries or correspondence)

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

The following databases will help you identify magazine and newspaper articles. The databases primarily cover English-language publications so you will find American and British perspectives on Germany. You can also use JSTOR to find older scholarly articles in fields such as sociology and political science.

19th Century Masterfile Formerly Poole's Plus, index to articles in 19th century American and British magazines. For the 20th century American magazines see Readers' Guide Retrospective. American Periodicals Series Online American Periodicals Series Online includes full-pages images of more than 1,000 18th, 19th and early 20th century American magazines. Humanities & Social Sciences Retrospective Index, 1907-1984 Index to older American and European (includes some German) journals in the humanities and social science fields. Also see the in-library use only CD-ROM Periodicals Contents Index. Historical New York Times Fulltext New York Times articles from 1851-2001 Times Digital Archive Full-text of the newspaper from 1785-1985.

Selected Websites

This is a short selection of web sites useful for modern German history.

Deutsches Historisches Museum Image Archive poster exhibit German History in Documents and Images - incomplete some material in sections 3,4,9 and 10. German Propaganda Archive History of Germany: Primary Documents Center for Retrospective Digitization, Gottingen Selected Exile Publications 1933-1945 Internetarchiv judischer Periodika Protokolle des Reichstags (1867-1895) Nuremberg Trials Project: A Digital Document Collection