| Background Sources | Secondary Sources: Books | Secondary Sources: Journal Articles |
| Finding Published Primary Sources | Selected Web Resources |
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.
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.
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Use the following databases 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.
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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.
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Secondary sources, scholarly journal articles and books, are a great source for identifying potential primary sources. Find a few articles, books or dissertations related to your topic and then mine the footnotes and bibliography. 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. |
The UW Libraries has a strong collection of books that can be considered primary sources for history. These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the 1890s), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to search for these materials.
Another place to try for 19th century and early 20th century (prior to 1923) books and publications is Google Books -- go to Advanced Book Search and choose the "Full view" option and limit by publication date. Google Books seems to work best when you search for a specific title rather than by keywords. The search example is from Google Books.
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The UW Libraries has a strong collection of magazines and journals from the 19th and 20th century. Most of them are in print (either in Suzzallo Periodicals or in a storage area). Use the databases below to identify articles on your topic.
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The libraries owns a number of American and British papers in microfilm such as the Police Gazette (London) 1828-1900, Manchester Guardian 1821- and Christian Science Monitor 1908-. These newspapers can be found in the Microform and Newspaper Collections (mcnews) on the ground of Suzzallo. In addition we have digitized versions of some major newspapers going back to the 19th century. For other digitized newspapers see Historical Newspapers
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The UW Libraries has a strong collection of U.S. government documents including federal agency publications, congressional hearings and reports, statistics, and other material. In addition the Library has a fairly complete run of British parliamentary papers and debates. For more information about locating government documents check with the Government Publications section located on Suzzallo Ground.
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For a more complete listing of history-related websites see History on the Web. For tips on evaluating primary sources on the web see Using Primary Sources on the Web.
Image: Detail from the illustration of Thomas More's Utopia.
History Subject Page | UW Libraries
10 January 2008
Theresa Mudrock
- mudrock@u.washington.edu
