Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Subject Guides - American Studies

This is a selective list of resources including both article indexes and carefully selected websites. Please consult the other disciplinary subject guides for additional resources.

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Online Resources

• General Reference & Interdisciplinary Databases
  


• Arts & Culture
• Business & Economics
• Census & Demographics
• Communications & Mass Media
• Education
• Health & Welfare
• History & Biography
• Science & Technology


• Full-text Electronic Archives



• Newspaper & Primary Source Collections on CD & Microform



• Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Indexes

Resources in Special Collections

• Image Collections
• Archives, Manuscripts, Newspapers

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General Reference & Interdisciplinary Databases

• Academic Search Premier (Ebsco)

  Provides full-text for over 3,400 scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, sciences, and more. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

• Credo Reference (formerly Xrefer plus)

  It includes 100 general reference titles, covering the spectrum from arts, business, biography, geography, history, language & linguistics, social sciences, science and technology, law, literature. Now includes Britannica and other encyclopedias.

• Encyclopedia of American Studies

  Online, searchable, full text encyclopedia covering a variety of topics from a range of disciplines describing the cultures of the U.S. Incorporates comparative studies of Canada and Latin America and the global impact of American culture.

• Gale Virtual Reference Library [GVRL]

  Gale Virtual Reference Library offers online access to reference sources including encyclopedias, almanacs, series and more. UMBC titles cover biography, business, law, public health, economic history, and multicultural studies.

• Humanities International Complete (Ebsco)

  Humanities International Index is a comprehensive database covering journals, books and other reference sources in the humanities. The database contains bibliographic records from a multitude of U.S. and international journals, books and reference works.

• LexisNexis Academic

  Search for news, legislation, business information. Features full text of many newspapers. Includes Federal & State case law, biography, country & state profiles, almanac, medical reference, quotations, polls & surveys, radio and TV transcripts.

• Web of Science

  The Web of Science includes Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Covers approximately 8,700 high impact research journals and provides access to cited and citing references. Additional searchable resources on the Web of Knowledge homepage (select from dropdown menu).

• WorldCat

  Records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Includes manuscripts written as early as the 12th century.

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Arts & Culture

• American Cultural History: 19th Century

  Webpages and links highlighting developnments in American culture in the 19th century arranged by decade. Art, business, economics, literature, social developments, and science and technology are included.

• American Cultural History: 20th Century

  Webpages and links highlighting developments in American culture in the 20th arranged by decade. Art, business, economics, literature, social developments, and science and technology are included.

• Art Abstracts (Ebsco)

  Indexes and abstracts international English-language arts publications covering advertising, archaeology, crafts, folk art, graphic arts, design, video, film, architecture and art history.

• CAIRSS Music Index

  Database of music research literature in music education, music psychology, music therapy, and music medicine. 1,354 different journal titles; 18 of which are indexed cover to cover. Now with a Web interface.

• Music & Performing Arts Online

  It brings the International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) and the International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) together in one site, enabling users to search both resources simultaneously. It covers areas such as music, theatre, dance, television, film, and other performing arts

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Business & Economics

• Business Source Premier (Ebsco)

  Full-text of nearly 1,400 scholarly business journals covering management, economics, finance, accounting, and international business. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

• EconLit (Ebsco)

  Subject indexing and abstracts of journals, books, collective volumes, dissertations, and working papers in Economics.

• Home Economics Archive: Research Tradition History (HEARTH)

  HEARTH is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines published between 1850 and 1950. The full text of these materials is freely accessible on this site.

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Census Data

• America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being

  Report presents a statistical overview of the well-being of America's children. Topics include children's economic security, health, behavior and social environment and education. Contains data on demographic measures including child well-being.

• County and City Databook

  From the US Census Bureau. Summary demographic and vital statistics; employment, education, government, housing, production and weather data for states, counties, and all cities of 25,000+. See also C3.134/2. Most current ed. On RDYREF.

• Historical US Census Data

  Population, demographics, and economic data for all states and counties, from the United States decennial census, 1790 - 1970.

• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

  Online version of Bureau of Justice Statistics annual publication. Includes data on crime, criminals, victimization, courts, corrections, law enforcement, and more. Print version in 1st floor GovDocs, call# J29.9/6:

• Statistical Abstract of the United States (US Census version)

  Basic summary statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the U.S., various regions, the states, MSAs, and cities of 100,000 or more residents.

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Communications & Mass Media

• Alternative Press Index [API]

  Indexes roughly 380 alternative, radical, and left publications, which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change.

• Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC) - Ebsco

  Indexes over 700 journals, including National Communication Association journals, as well as major journalism reviews, recent encyclopedias, and handbooks in the area of communications studies. Full-text of over 200 journals.

• Gallup Brain [Gallup Poll News Service]

  Current and historical data from one of the leading public opinion research firms.

• National Newspapers (Proquest)

  Baltimore Sun: 1990 - present
  Christian Science Monitor: 1988 - present
  New York Times + Book Review & Magazine: 1999 - present
  Wall Street Journal: 1984 - present
  Washington Post: 1987 - present

• New York Times Historical (Proquest)

  Offers full page and article images from 1851-2001 with searchable full text back to the first issue. Includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

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Education

• Education Abstracts

  Indexes/abstracts articles from major education journals. Topics include administration, teaching methods and curriculum, literacy, government funding, and more.

• ERIC (EBSCO)

  Indexes Current Journals in Education (CIJE) and Resources in Education (RIE). NOTE: ERIC Documents may be available online through EDRS or available on microfiche in the Library. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

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Health & Welfare

• CINAHL (Ebsco)

  Indexes/abstracts nursing and allied health literature. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

• Health Source Plus (Ebsco nursing & consumer editions)

  Searchable full-text for nearly 270 journals and abstracts and indexing for over 430 general health, nutrition and professional health care publications. Now includes Clinical Reference Systems. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

• Medline (EBSCO)

  Indexes/abstracts more than 3,200 journals from the biomedical field.

• National Center for Health Statistics

  Select FASTATS, Data Warehouse, or Frequently Asked Questions for quick access to the most-requested data. Source citations are included.

• PsycArticles (Ebsco)

  Full text of 51 journals published by the American Psychological Association and allied organizations. Funded by the UMBC Psychology Department.

• PsycINFO (Ebsco)

  Indexes 1,300 Psychology journals from nearly 50 countries. Also includes abstracts for dissertations, books and book chapters. Same coverage as PsycLit.

• SocIndex with Full Text (EBSCO)

  This sociology and social sciences index features more than 1,300,000 records including full text for 242 "core" journals dating back to 1895, 72 "priority" journals, 547 books and monographs, and 6,711 conference papers.

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History & Biography

• African American Biographical Database (AABD)

  Biographical information on thousands of African Americans, assembled from biographical dictionaries and other sources. Initial content was drawn from Chadwyck-Healey's Black Biographical Dictionaries 1790-1950. Provided by the Bell endowment.

• America: History & Life

  America: History and Life (AHL) indexes the historical literature on North America and Canda.

• American National Biography Online

  American National Biography [ANB] offers portraits of more than 17,400 men and women whose lives have shaped the nation. The online edition of the ANB is updated quarterly with additions and revisions.

• Biography and Genealogy Master Index

  Indexes current and retrospective reference works containing multiple biographies. 10 million+ entries.

• Historic Government Publications from World War II: a digital library

  SMU Central University Libraries, part of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), have digitized hundreds of historical World War II publications and photographs and made them available to the public.

• Making of America (MOA)

  Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Subject areas include education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.

• Maryland State Archives

  The Maryland State Archives is the historical agency for Maryland and serves as the central depository for government records of permanent value. Records date from the founding of the colony in 1634 to the 1990s. Open to the public. Located in Annapolis.

• National Security Archive at George Washington University

  The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library that collects and publishes declassified documents, providing access to critical declassified records on national security, military history, foreign policy

• Probing the Past: Virginia and Maryland Probate Inventories, 1740-1810

  Probate records provide valuable information about the lifestyles of people during the colonial and early national periods.Included in the database are 325 inventories of the household items that provide insight into furnishings, dining habits & behavior

• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000

  Database of books, documents, images, scholarly essays, commentaries and bibliographies of all aspects of American Women's public lives and political activities.

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Science & Technology

• Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (ASTA)

  Indexes and abstracts periodicals in space science, engineering, fire prevention, food industry, petroleum, textiles, and related fields. (Ebsco database)

• Compendex (via Engineering Village 2)

  Indexes the entire spectrum of engineering, in depth, with abstracts from over 5,000 international journals, conference papers and technical reports. You may set up a profile, save searches, and have search results emailed bi-weekly.

• Ecology Abstracts

  Focuses on how organisms of all kinds interact with their environments and with other organisms. Included are relevant papers on evolutionary biology, economics, and systems analysis as they relate to ecosystems or the environment.

• NASA History Division

  NASA History Division serves two key functions: to disseminate aerospace information as widely as possible and help NASA managers benefit from the study of past accomplishment and difficulties. Pages include both documents, photographs and links.

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Full-text Electronic Journal & Newspaper Archives

**Pay careful attention to holdings information

• African American Newspapers: The 19th Century

  Updated monthly. Provides searchable full text access to the major African-American newspapers published in the United States during the 19th century. Part I, II and III are included.

• Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History, & Diplomacy

  The Avalon Project will mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. Coverage includes documents from ancient history to the present.

• History Cooperative

  A joint venture of the American Historical Assn., Org. of American Historians, U. of Illinois Press and Nat'l Academy Press. Includes full-text journals & information on member organizations. No login needed, use Search or go to journals

• JSTOR

  Electronic archive of selected core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years. UMBC subscribes to Arts & Science I, II, III, General Science, Ecology & Botany.

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Newspaper & Primary Source Collections on CD and Microform

• Southern Historical Papers [CD-ROM E483.7.S76 1997 at REFERENCE DESK]
• U.S. Census Rolls - Maryland - 1800-1920 [micro in REF]
• Archives of Maryland Vols. 1-72 [micro in REF]
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in Baltimore 1820-1891 [micro in REF]
• CIA Research Papers (Africa) 1946-1976 [micro in REF]
• Schomberg Collection (African American History) [micro in SERIALS]
• Slavery Collection (primary source documents) [micro in REF]
• Baltimore Afro-American [various editions 1893-2002 microfilm in SERIALS]
• Baltimore Sun 1831- [print copy to 1960s in SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, micro in SERIALS]
• New York Times 1851- [micro in SERIALS, Index in Abstracts & Indexes]
• Times of London 1785- [micro in SERIALS,Index in Abstracts & Indexes]
• Wall Street Journal 1889- [micro in SERIALS,Index in Abstracts & Indexes]
• Washington Post 1961- [micro in SERIALS,Index in Abstracts & Indexes]

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Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Indexes

The Reference Collection (first floor of the library) holds a variety of encyclopedias and handbooks on relevant topics. Use catalogusmai to find specific titles, or use the New Titles search in the UMBC catalog for a comprehensive list of additions to the collection.
Some recently acquired titles:

• Encyclopedia of witchcraft: the Western tradition [Call Number: BF1566.E56 2006 v. 1-4]
• Encyclopedia of science and religion [BL240.3.E53 2003 v.1-2]
• New dictionary of the history of ideas [CB9.N49 2005 v.1-6]
• A dictionary of contemporary world history: from 1900 to the present day [D419.P32 2003]
• Greenwood library of American war reporting [D5.G84 2005 v.1-8]
• Encyclopedia of American History E174.E53 2003
• Encyclopedia of presidential campaigns, slogans, issues, and platforms [E176.1.R6 2004]
• Iberia and the Americas: culture, politics, and history: a multidisciplinary encyclopedia [E18.75.I24 2006 v.1-3]
• Americans at war: society, culture, and the homefront [E181.A453 2005 v.1-4]
• Statistical handbook on racial groups in the United States [E184.A1H417 2000]
• Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present [HA202.H57 2006 v.1-5]
• Atlas of poverty in America: one nation, pulling apart, 1960-2003 [HC110.P6G543 2006]
• Forensic science : an encyclopedia of history, methods, and techniques [HV8073.T55 2006]
• The almanac of American politics [JK271.B343 2006]
• Greenwood encyclopedia of rock history [ML3534.G754 2006 v.1-6]
• 100 Anime [NC1766.J3B76 2005]
• New keywords: a revised vocabulary of culture and society [PE1580.N49 2005]
• Historical dictionary of African-American television [PN1992.8.A34F43 2006]
• The film encyclopedia: the most comprehensive encyclopedia of world cinema in a single volume [PN1993.45.K34 2005]
• First Hollywood sound shorts, 1926-1931 [PN1998.B64 2005]
• Renewable energy handbook: a guide to rural independence, off-grid and sustainable living [TJ808.3.K44 2005]
• Internet: a historical encyclopedia [TK5105.875.I57I5372 2005 v.1-3]

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Resources in Special Collections

The Special Collections Department has a variety of resources useful to historians, including major photography collections, regional archives and manuscript collections, as well as being the rare book and alternative press collections repository. Full details on holdings can be found on the Library website at Special Collections.
Collections of particular interest to historians include:

Images

Photography collections can be viewed in the department during business hours or by appointment. An Index to the collections is available, as is a partial database of individual images. Digitized images not listed below are linked through the database.

Digitized image collections online

The digitized collections include photographs of child labor, African-American history, American Civil War, others. Collection descriptions are available on the webpage.

Print & Negative Collections

Baltimore Sun Photos [prints and negatives only, no online]

Primarily local news photographs, some world coverage, bulk 1920s-1970s. Arranged by personal name and subject. Online index forthcoming.

Hughes Collection [glass plate negatives, some prints]

Local commercial photographers, primarily late 19th-early 20th century. Baltimore businesses, store windows, street scenes, buildings, with a separate collection of panoramic views. Partial finding aid available in the department. Scanning is permitted of negatives in suitable condition.

News American Collection [prints & negatives only, no online]

World news service photographs. Primarily early to mid-twentieth century. Arranged by subject, minimal captions, no finding aid.

Underwood & Underwood Collection [prints & negatives only, no online]

World news service photographs, with captions. Primarily early to mid-twentieth century. Arranged by subject, no finding aid.

Regional Archives, Manuscript Collections, Newspapers

Ernest Kempe Collection

Finding Aid to the collection of Ernest Kempe including newspaper clippings of articles, broadsides, postcards, negatives and photos dealing with Baltimore, Maryland, from 1865-1953. Clippings cover various streets, buildings and notable residents of Baltimore.

F.C. Latrobe Collection

Finding Aid to the collection of materials written by Ferdinand C. Latrobe and relating to Mr. Latrobe. Latrobe was Mayor of Baltimore for seven terms, spanning the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Perry Hall Improvement Association

Finding Aid to the papers of the PHIA. Includes the documents on the founding and organization of the Association, projects undertaken, membership lists, newspaper clippings and zoning regulations from the period.

Philip M. Wagner Collection

Finding Aid to the documents relating to the life and work of Philip M. Wagner (1904-1996). The materials are organized into series which reflect the major areas of life & work: personal, Sun papers & Boordy [vineyards].

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Newspapers Collection [hard copy]

An index to the newspaper holdings in Special Collections is available. The holdings represent UMBC's contribution to the preservation of original copies of American newspapers. Titles are primarily from the Northeastern and Central states. Dates of publication range from the early 19th century to mid-20th century.

The Department is also the depository for a complete run of the print holdings of the Baltimore Sun (1837-1968)and the Evening Sun (1910-1964) [no index].