History Databases
Recommended starting places
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost)
(article index)
A large academic multi-disciplinary database providing indexing for over 8,000 journals and full text for nearly 4,700 (including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals). PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for some journals.
America: History and Life (EBSCOhost)
(article index)
Covers Canadian and U.S. history indexing from 1964-present.
Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost)
(article index)
Covers indexing from 1954-present for post-1450 history excluding U.S. and Canada.
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American Memory Project (Library of Congress)
(digital collections)
Contains digitized collections from the Library of Congress, including photographs, sound recordings and documents.
America's Historical Newspapers
(newspapers)
Includes Early American Newspapers Series 1, 1690-1876 (over 710 historical American newspapers focusing largely on the 18th and early 19th centuries); African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 and Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980.
Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
(newspapers)
Contains digitized pages from 163 Colorado newspapers, ranging from 1859-1923.
Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford)
(reference resource)
Biographical entries for 50,000 people connected with Britain's past, from the 4th century BC to 2000.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
(reference resources)
A database of specialized encyclopedias and other reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Humanities International Complete (EBSCOhost)
(article index)
Indexing and links to full text content for over 1,700 journals in the humanities, as far back as 1929 for some titles. Includes all data from American Humanities Index and Humanities International Index plus unique full text content.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
(article index)
Covers literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Citations for journal articles, reviews, review articles, monographs, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies are included. The full runs of 730 scholarly journal titles, published since 1842, have been indexed.
JSTOR
(article index)
JSTOR's Arts & Sciences Collections I through VIII and Mathematics & Statistics Collection provide complete backfiles of approximately 1500 core scholarly journal titles starting with the first issues. Note that there is a gap, usually 1 to 5 years, between the most recent issue and the back issues available in JSTOR.
LexisNexis Academic
(article index)
News, business, legal, and reference information. Full-text newspapers include the Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Times (London), Financial Times (London), and many others.
ProQuest Congressional
(government resources)
ProQuest Congressional, formerly LexisNexis Congressional and Congressional Universe, indexes and provides selected full texts of Congressional publications, regulations, laws, legislative histories, and background information on members of Congress.
New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers, 1851-2007)
(newspapers)
Full text of the New York Times (1851-2007), with Index (1985-1993).
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (Alexander Street Press)
(digital collections)
Includes150,000 pages of diaries and letters representing the experiences of 1,325 women from Colonial times to 1950.
Oxford Reference
(reference resource, dictionaries and encyclopedias)
A collection of over 100 subject specific reference sources and dictionaries from Oxford University Press.
PAIS International (ProQuest)
(article index)
1972-present. Covers public and social policy issues related to a wide variety of disciplines including economics, law, education, political science, sociology, public administration, public health, science and technology. Contains references to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, and Internet material.
Project MUSE
(article index)
Over 200 full text journal titles covering the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others. Project MUSE titles are included in the Full Text Journals search in The Source.
Readers' Guide Retrospective (WilsonWeb)
(article index)
1890-1982. Contains indexing of popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada. Note that the content of this product is historical rather than current.
Sharpe Online Reference
(reference resources)
Several encyclopedias in the areas of U.S. History and Culture, along with enhancements and online resources. Titles include Colonial America (1492-1783), Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1877-1919), Jazz Age (1919-1929), Postwar America (1945 - Present), Social Issues in America, American Social Movements, and American Folklife.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
(government resources)
1817-1859. Reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Western History Photography Collection (Denver Public Library)
(digital collections)
An online collection of historical Colorado photographs, with annotations and a search engine.
Western Trails Project
(digital collections)
A history of Fall River Road in photographs and documents.
WorldCat (FirstSearch)
(reference resource)
A catalog of books and other materials from libraries worldwide.
Subject Librarian
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