Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Subject Guides - Historical Studies

This is a selective list of resources including both article indexes and carefully selected websites. Please consult the subject guides for American Studies, Ancient Studies, Political Science, and Public Policy for additional resources.

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Online Resources by Subject

• American & World History
• Biography
• Census Data
• Diplomatic & Military History
• Science & Technology History
  
  
• General Reference & Interdisciplinary Databases
  
  
• Full-text Electronic Archives

Reference Resources in Print, on CD, and Online

• Newspaper & Primary Source Collections on CD and Microform
  
  
• Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Indexes [Print and Online]

Resources in Special Collections

• Image Collections
• Archives, Manuscripts, Newspapers

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American & World History

• America: History & Life

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

• American Memory Collection [Library of Congress]

  Selected digitized full text and image files from the Library of Congress collections. Includes selections from Presidential papers, Congressional documents, maps, pamphlets music and photographs from significant social, cultural and political movements.

• CONSTITUTION FINDER @ University of Richmond

  This database offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents. Nations of the world are linked to their constitutional text posted on the Web. Historical versions are offered where available. Includes states and territories.

• Early Modern Women Database

  Gateway to Web resources useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas. Resources have been selected for their scholarly value by members of the Arts and Humanities Team of the University of Maryland Libraries.

• Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

  Feminae covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.[Books written by a single author are not indexed in Feminae]

• Historical Abstracts

  Historical Abstracts indexes journals covering world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Currently over 2,000 journals published throughout the world are covered.

• ITER Database & Journals

  A searchable bibliography of 225,000 plus records from the complete runs of more than 300 scholarly journals, monographs, and collected essays pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Includes access to ITER journals.

• Monastic Matrix: a scholarly resource for the study of women's religious communities from 400-1600 CE

  the Matrix includes information on the location and establishment of women's religious communities, primary and secondary sources on communities, biographical information on founders/membes, a glossary, bibliography, and an image file of related art.

• ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies

  ORB is an academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students. ORB provides access to full length textbooks, encyclopedia articles, bibliographies and primary source materials.

• The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

  Database of primarily web-based resources for medieval topics, arranged by category and type of material. Sponsored by Georgetown University.

• 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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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.

• 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.

• Biography Index

  Coverage includes English-language periodicals and more than 1,800 books added each year.

• In the First Person : An index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives.

  In the First Person provides in-depth indexing of collections of oral history in English from around the world. It allows for keyword searching of more than 300,000 pages of full-text by more than 15,000 individuals from all walks of life.

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [DNB]

  The Oxford DNB includeds the complete text of 55,000 biogrphies with 10,000 portrait illustrations of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2002

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Census Data

• American Factfinder

  Access data from the 1990 Decennial Census, the 1997 Economic Census, the American Community Survey, and Census 2000 data as they become available. American FactFinder is a service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Historical US Census Data

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

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Diplomatic & Military History

• Foreign Relations of the United States

  The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Published by the Department of State. Select volumes.

• Foreign Relations of the United States (Archive)

  The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. Produced by the U of Wisc and the U of Ilinois at Chicago

• Military & Government Collection (Ebsco)

  Provides cover-to-cover full text for nearly 300 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for nearly 400 titles pertaining to all branches of the military and government.

• 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

• NSA Historical Publications

  Full-text pamphlets and monographs published by the National Security Agency. Topics range from slavery through Prohibition, World War II, Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, cryptology, misc.

• The Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University [Virtual Vietnam Archive]

  The mission of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University is to support research & education regarding all aspects of the history of the American Vietnam experience. Materials include full text documents, maps, oral histories, diaries, videos, other.

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Science & Technology History

• Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online

  This website provides Darwin's complete publications, many handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published. There are also over 170 ancillary textsfrom reference works, reviews, obituaries and more.

• Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology

  Access point to the Dibner Library's online editions and databases. Includes links to pdf versions of selected Dibner Library Lectures, the scientists' biographies database, and links to other collections in the Smithsonian.

• ECHO: Exploring & collecting history online

  Since 2001 the Echo project has used the Internet to collect and present the recent history of science, technology, and industry. Echo provides a centralized guide and portal for those seeking websites on the history of science and technology.

• Internet History of Science Sourcebook [from Fordham University]

  The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. The History of Science Sourcbook is a subset of the major sourcebooks.

• Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology

  Intute is a free service that offers access to high quality Web resources in the physical sciences; there are currently over 33,300 resources in astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences, materials sciences, physics, and science history and policy

• 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.

• Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical [index]

  The Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical (SciPer) index provides an scholarly synopsis of the material relating to science, technology, and medicine appearing in sixteen non-scientific periodicals published in Britain between 1800 and 1900.

• The swords of Armageddon: U.S. nuclear weapons development since 1945

  Includes a complete technical glossary;a history of American thermonuclear weaponry; weapons physics; technological innovations in weapons design; individual war-head histories. Full text files on REF workstation, CD available in stacks at U264.S96 1995

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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.

• Dissertation Abstracts (Proquest Digital Dissertations)

  Indexes U.S., Canadian, British, and other European dissertations and theses; dissertations abstracted since 1980, theses abstracted since 1988. Full Dissertations published since 1997 (1991 from UMBC) are available in PDF digital format.

• 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.

• 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.

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

  Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations and public administration / policy.

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Full-text Electronic 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.

• Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland [ Queen's University, Belfast]

  EPPI Project features a comprehensive searchable database of Parliamentary Papers relating to Ireland 1801-1922, with bibliographic information, Library of Congress subject descriptors and, for a significant selection of items, abstracts of contents.

• 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.

• 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

• In the First Person : An index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives.

  In the First Person provides in-depth indexing of collections of oral history in English from around the world. It allows for keyword searching of more than 300,000 pages of full-text by more than 15,000 individuals from all walks of life.

• 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.

• 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.

• National Archives Records [on Footnote]

  Digitized records from the National Archives. Collections are varied: Continental Congress, Civil War pensions, FBI documents, Southern Claims Commission, Brady photographs, others. see also http://www.nara.gov/

• 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.

• 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

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Newspaper & Primary Source Collections on CD and Microform

• Archives of Maryland Vols. 1-72 [micro in REF]
• Baltimore Afro-American [various editions 1893-2002 microfilm in SERIALS]
• Baltimore City Directories: 1752,1799-1930 [Micro in REF]
• Baltimore Sun 1831- [print copy to 1960s in SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, micro in SERIALS]
• Challenger (Space Shuttle) data base [Micro in REF TL867.C45]
• CIA Research Papers (Africa) 1946-1976 [micro in REF]
• Early English Newspapers (17th & 18th century) [microfilm #476 in SERIALS]
• New York Times 1851- [micro in SERIALS]
• Times of London 1785- [micro in SERIALS]
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in Baltimore 1820-1891 [micro in REF]
• Schomberg Collection (African American History) [micro in SERIALS]
• Slavery Collection (primary source documents) [micro in REF]
• Southern Historical Papers [CD-ROM E483.7.S76 1997 at REFERENCE DESK]
• U.S. Census Rolls - Maryland - 1800-1920 [micro in REF]
• Washington Post 1961- [micro in SERIALS]

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Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Indexes

The Reference Collection holds a variety of encyclopedias and handbooks on historical topics. Call numbers for History are primarily in the Ds, Es, and Fs. Browse the shelves or use catalogusmai to find specific titles.
Some examples are:

• Dictionary of the Middle Ages D114.D5 1982
• Facts on File Yearbooks 1941- D410.F3
• English Historical Documents (c.500-1914) DA26.E55
• Sources in British Political History DA566.7.C66 1975
• Modern Japan :an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism DS805.M63 1998
• Encyclopedia of American History E174.E53 2003
• Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present HA202.H57 2006 v.1-5
• Historical Documents (U.S) 1972- E839.5.H57
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography Q141.D5

Online Historical Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia of the Cold War [ABC-Clio]
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
• Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
• Oxford Companion to World Exploration
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures
• Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance
• Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation>
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
• **'Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography' is available throughGale Virtual Reference Library under the Science tab.

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Indexes to Periodical literature, newspapers & reviews not covered or published earlier than those covered by the electronic databases can be found in the Abstracts & Indexes section of the library to the left of the Reference Desk. Titles are shelved alpahbetically.

Major titles include:

• Alternative Press Index 1969-
• Book Review Digest 1905-
• Book Review Index 1965-
• Christian Science Monitor Index 1973-
• Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History 1838-1974
• Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in Political Science 1866-1974
• Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in Sociology 1895-1974
• Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities 1960-1982
• International Medieval Bibliography 1968-2004
• National Library Service Cumulative Book Review Index 1905-1974
• New York Times Index 1862- (UMBC has the microfilm from 1850 on)
• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) 1915-
• Readers Guide to Periodical Literature 1890-2000
• International Index to Periodicals (shelved with/becomes Social Science Index) 1916-
• Palmers Index to the Times of London 1790- (UMBC has the microfilm from 1785-)

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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].