Historical Research
Note: If you are looking for books (or articles in books), those resources with the swirling star in front include material originally found in print resources.
Books
Search the library catalog using keywords. Once you find a good book click on Show More (see below) to find the Subject Headings for your topic. Searching with Subject Headings will usually give you relevant results. Remember to write down the call number and title and then check the availability before going to the shelves to find the book.
Don't forget the Reference room. Books in that room will have call numbers starting with REF. You might try browsing in the REF 973 area.
Databases
EBSCO's Discovery allows you to search the library catalog and databases all at once. Please note, you must still search individually the resources on the right sidebar.
Consider starting with this resource for its excellent primary sources and introductory material. Login using the username and password on the back of your ID card.
The History Study Center is a good place to find reference material as well as multimedia. See the sample search below for additional information.
EBSCO publishes several databases that might help with historical research. Try your search in the search box below. For further database choices click on EBSCO and select from other choices including the Biography Reference Center or the Student Research Center.
EBSCO ebooks: We now have access to thousands of searchable ebooks. Login to EBSCO and select EBSCO ebooks towards the top right of the database choices. My sample search on Civil War morale came up with this result.
Includes easy reading reference and primary source material. We do not subscribe to all the FactCite databases so the FIND box at the top of the page does not work well. Click on one of the databases; American History, Defining Moments or Biography for Beginners and then browse or use the FIND box within the database. MLA citations at bottom of articles.
Includes multiple databases that you can powersearch all at once. Narrow down your results by looking at the Subject headings or doing an Advanced Search with boolean logic. Remember to select Content Types on the left sidebar to view all results. Gale provides MLA citation information at the bottom of each source (a word of warning, most Gale MLA citations need careful editing before including in your works cited).
To look just for books in Gale, search the Virtual Reference Library (use the widget below). Try typing Red Badge of Courage.
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2,100 entries from 1493 to the present, all primary source documents. Browsing by date seems to be more effective than keyword searching. Make sure to edit the preformatted citations as not all citation information is included.
Browse under Events, locate American Civil War and then scan through the primary source document titles. MLA citations along the top right toolbar, click on the square with a checkbox.
This is all rights cleared images which include many from the American Civil War. Searching for Battle of Chancellorsville brought up 49 images. All have MLA citations.
We subscribe to 8 ABC-CLIO databases. The login is on the back of your ID card. Start with World at War or American History. The search across all databases is also an option. Look at the top right of the articles for the Print, Email of Cite links. This database is different because besides collecting information sources from others, ABC-CLIO hires experts to write content for their databases.
Below is an example of content from the American History database:
Login with username and password that is on the back of your ID card. This is an academic source with complete access to journal articles that are often found in Google Scholar search results. If you find an article that is particularly good, try using the 'Find Similar Articles' search on the right side of the article you found, MLA citation information provided but make sure to edit for format.
Includes videos, images, clipart, sound effects for presentations.Username: Student ID#, Password: Student computer login password
Internet Resources
Docs Teach Search site for National Archives' documents including photos, maps, written documents, charts, etc. arranged by historic period and searchable.
OPA Online Public Access to the multiple public archives including the national, presidential and state archives. Make sure after you search to click Available Online across the top horizontal toolbar.
- Making of America a digital library (from the University of Michigan) of primary source materials reflecting
American social history dating from before the Civil War through reconstruction (roughly, 1830-1902). It contains about 8,500 books and 50,000 magazine articles published in the 19th century. The collection is made up of scanned images of the pages in the books and magazines.
- Crisis of the Union Information on "the causes, conduct, and consequences of the US Civil War." Consists of books, broadsides, cartoons, pamphlets, and other printed ephemera from 1830 to 1880. It includes speeches by Charles Sumner, cartoons by Thomas Nast, and promotional material from the Know-Nothing Party. The archive can be searched and browsed by author, date of publication, title, or subject. Documents can be viewed in their original format. Publisher: Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image, University of Pennsylvania Library.
- CivilWar150@Smithsonian examines the Civil War through the Smithsonian Institution's extensive and varied collections. Excellent artifacts.
- The Valley of the Shadow reference and census source information as well as letters and diaries from pre, during and post Civil War. Honored site produced by the University of Virginia.
- Digital Civil War Collection includes diaries and letters from the Civil War, antebellum and reconstruction eras.
- Ken Burns' Civil War a PBS site which includes over 200 images, extensive maps and information on specific battles, biographies and primary sources. The links below were recommended on this site and may prove helpful in your further research.
- Civil War History Center produced by the Civil War trust dedicated to preserving battlegrounds. Exellent photos, maps and other primary sources.
- EyeWitness to the American Civil War Primary sources: first person accounts of Civil War events from educational publisher, Ibis Communications.
- Civil War Voices: Soldier Studies Database of soldiers' letters from the Civil War. You can search by keyword or by subject. Provides basic biographical information about the soldier writing the letter. The letters are transcribed which makes them easier to read.
- Civil War Diaries and Letters Iowa Digital Library and University of Iowa jointly provide access to thousands of pages of transcribed letters and diaries.
- Civil War in the American South More than 10,000 primary source documents housed by 30 southern universities. Many letters & diaries.
- Letters Home Arch Rowland, a Union soldier's letters from the Civil War dated from 1862 - 1864.
- Civil War Love Letters Virginia Tech's digitized collection of manuscripts.
Noodletools is not required for this paper. You may utilize to create your citation.
Ms. Powell's 6 articles on the Civil War's psychological effects on soldiers. You can use the links to get back to the fulltext of the article.
Evaluating with CARS
CARS Google Docs Template (Make sure you are signed in to Google, copy and save with your name in front of the document)
Please title your document Last Name CARS
Sample CARS evaluation on a Civil War diary
CARS Prezi
Purdue Owl How to Cite Pictures and Charts
Purdue Owl How to Cite Digital Archives Materials (including a letter)
Sample Letter Citation (created with Noodletools):
Bean, A. A. "Bean Family Letters 1862-1863." 26 Sept. 1862. Iowa Digital
Library, U of Iowa Libraries, digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/compoundobject/
collection/cwd/id/5821/rec/8. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018.
Ms. Metzgar's Junior Citations Hunt
Last updated October 25, 2017.
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