History: Getting Started
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Reference and Topic Overview Resources
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Credo Reference Access to general and subject-specific reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations and proverbs). Provides a graphics-based Concept Mapping option for topic exploration.
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eBooks (Gale) Search across subject-specific reference encyclopedias.
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Oxford Reference Online Resource of reference materials such as dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. Provides database-wide searching, subject searching across sources, and individual title searching.
General Open Access Databases
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BASE A search engine for academic web resources - includes journals, institutional repositories, digital collections etc. Many open access resources.
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Digital Public Library of America DPLA materials come from America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of these are freely available and include; photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, etc.
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Directory of Open Access Journals Access to quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals covering a range of topics and languages.
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Dissertations and Thesis - Open Access (Proquest) Provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.
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HathiTrust Digital Library A digital preservation repository that provides access to millions of digitized materials from libraries around the world. For enhanced access to materials, log into HathiTrust using your Macalester email credentials.
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Knowledge Unlatched Open access to scholarly ebooks primarily in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
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MDPI Scholarly OA publisher since 1996. Supports many diverse, peer-reviewed, OA journals with over 35,500 academic editors. Serves scholars from around the world to ensure the latest research is freely available.
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Open Book Publishers Find peer-reviewed open access books in a variety of subjects.
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Open Library of Humanities The Open Library of Humanities is a non-profit open access publisher for the humanities and social sciences.
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1findr An integrated OA search platform that provides access to articles in the arts, humanities, social, behavioral, natural and health sciences.
Featured Journals
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Minnesota History
Minnesota History is a lively, richly illustrated magazine about the history of the state and the Upper Midwest. Published quarterly by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. -
Journal of Caribbean History
Contains articles on aspects of Caribbean history, including the histories of the mainland territories of North, Central and South America, where these are related to the Caribbean. -
Radical History Review
For over forty years, Radical History Review has stood at the point where rigorous historical scholarship and active political engagement converge. The journal is edited by a collective of historians—men and women with diverse backgrounds, research interests, and professional perspectives. Articles in RHR address issues of gender, race, sexuality, imperialism, and class, stretching the boundaries of historical analysis to explore Western and non-Western histories. RHR includes sections devoted to public history and the art of teaching as well as reviews of a wide range of media—from books to television and from websites to museum exhibitions—thus celebrating the vast potential for historical learning in the twenty-first century. --from journal homepage
Best Bets
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AfricaBib A collection of Africana social science titles consisting of 2 bibliographic databases covering Africana periodical literature and African Women's literature.
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America: History and Life with Full Text Scholarly journals, books, and dissertations covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada from before European contact to the present.
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Arts and Humanities Citation Index Provides article references for journals across the arts and humanities disciplines, including art and art history, archeology, architecture, dance, music, film and theater, history, humanities, literature, and religion. Offers cited reference searching.
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Historical Abstracts with Full Text Index to journal articles in history, especially non-US history, covering 1450-present.
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Index Islamicus Indexes worldwide literature in European languages on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covers Muslim life including history, beliefs, societies, cultures, languages and literatures. Includes journals, conference proceedings, monographs and book reviews. Journals and books indexed o the article and chapter level.
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International Medieval Bibliography Comprehensive and up-to-date interdisciplinary bibliography of the Middle Ages covering Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa during the period 400-1500.
Newspapers and Periodicals
Recent Newspapers
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US Newsstream (ProQuest) Current and archived news from over 700 United States and international news sources, including the Star Tribune, New York Times, The Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
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Nexis Uni Offers a large selection of newspapers, periodicals, and wire services from around the world.
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Access World News: Research Collection International, national, regional, state, and local newspaper articles and video clips.
Historical Newspapers - International
Historical US Newspapers and Periodicals
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New York Times Archive Searchable full text of the New York Times from the first issue in 1851. Includes full page and article images. Most recent years of the Times can be searched in Global Newsstream.
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America's Historical Newspapers Early American Newspapers from 1690-1922 and African American Newspapers from 1827-1998.
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American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collections Digitized images from American magazines and journals held by the American Antiquarian Society, documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Includes over 6,500 titles featuring more than 10 million pages of content. Also titles in more than two dozen languages including French, German, Norwegian, Spanish.
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Independent Voices Chronicles the 60s, 70s and 80s through the lens of an independent alternative press. Access to the voices of feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more.
Historical British Newspapers and Periodicals
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The Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822–2006 (Gale Primary Sources) Full-text and full-image archive to the Times of London for the years 1785-1985.
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British Library Newspapers, Parts I & 2: 1800–1900 (Gale Primary Sources) Contains full runs of influential national and regional newspapers representing different political and cultural segments of British society.
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Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals (Gale Primary Sources) Access to resources covering the events, lives, values and themes that shaped the 19th century world.
Online Newspaper Collections
Wikipedia has a list of newspapers that are available online, sorted by country. Keep in mind that this list could be out of date and/or incomplete.
Local Resources and Organizations
A handful of links to local resources and organizations here in the Twin Cities to help kick-start your research process.
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Eastside Freedom LibraryThe ESFL’s mission is to inspire solidarity, advocate for justice and work toward equity for all. The library houses non-circulating research collections that appeal to interested general learners as well as scholars, with innovative databases and finding aids that make using the collections fun and vital.
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MNopedia: Minnesota EncyclopediaA resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history
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Minnesota Historical SocietyThe Minnesota Historical Society is a dynamic and widely recognized educational organization that is a trusted resource for history. It is highly valued for its historical resources, educational impact, service, advocacy and leadership
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Minnesota People Records SearchResearch selected Minnesota birth, death, and state census records, as well as Veterans Graves Registration and World War I Gold Star Rolls.
Citation in History
The most commonly used citation style in historical scholarship is Chicago. Check out our Citation Guide for other styles, and more in-depth information about Chicago.
Subject Expert
Ginny Moran
Contact:
Library, room 303
vmoran@macalester.edu
vmoran@macalester.edu
651-696-6398
Subjects:Art & Art History, Asian Languages and Cultures, Classical Mediterranean and Middle East, Dance, English, French and Francophone Studies, German Studies, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Russian Studies, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies, Theater, Theater and Dance, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
New Books in History
Saint Paul Public Library
St. Paul Public Library has more than 42,000 ebooks and 300 audiobooks that you can check out online, including an extensive fiction collection.
You can sign up at https://sppl.org/ecard. Once you've registered, you can borrow and download ebooks and audiobooks to view on an e-reader, computer, or mobile device.
More info: