RESOURCES FOR HISTORY

General Historical Bibliography | General Indexes to Journals | Specialized Indexes 

Specialized Resources:  (American History, Biography, Church History, 

Other Periods and Places) | Other Tools | Web Resources | Beyond Brown | Ask for Help

This guide can only recommend a fraction of the resources that may be available both in an out of the Library. It is meant only to suggest various tools that may be useful to get started on a new project, or to establish a foundati on in an area of study that may be unfamiliar to you. In either case, please do not forget to use the various general and specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias, which can often be very useful for both background and basic bibliography. One of the m ajor examples is the Encyclopaedia Britannica, available online at: http://www.eb.com

FOR A GENERAL ORIENTATION TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HISTORY:

Although very dated, this guide can still be quite useful for locating major reference tools, indexes, journals, and books. It may often be worthwhile searching JOSIAH for more recent editions of what one finds here. There is a much more recent edition of the guide, but it is more limited in its scope, and it includes only works published after the first guide:

The American Historical Association's guide to historical literature. 3rd ed. (New York : Oxford University Press, 1995) 2 v. 
ROCK REF 1-SIZE D20 .A55x 1995 

MAJOR GENERAL INDEXES TO JOURNAL LITERATURE:

Historical abstracts (Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO, 1954-present)
ROCK REF 1-SIZE D1 .H21
Also available online from Library web page or:
http://serials.abc-clio.com 

An index of scholarly journals in history. Covers the world since 1450, except the U.S. and Canada, which is covered by its companion, America: History & Life.

America, history and life. (Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-Clio, c1954-present)
ROCK REF 1-SIZE E171 .A48x
Also available online from Library web page or:
http://serials.abc-clio.com

MORE SPECIALIZED INDEXES:

This is a unique resource that can be searched like a standard index, but its real usefulness lies in the fact that it indexes articles by the works cited by them. It can thus be used to search forward in time by locating art icles that cite works you already know are important. Its title is misleading; it is really an amalgamation of the Science Citation Index, the Social Science Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

LEXIS-NEXIS academic universe ([Dayton, Ohio] : LEXIS-NEXIS, 1997-present) 
Online resource, available from the Library's Web page or at:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe

Databases of information on a wide range of topics, including news, business, politics and government, law, state and country information, biography, references works and dictionaries, health and medicine, and taxes and accoun ting. Includes full-text from many newspapers.

SPECIALIZED RESOURCES FOR PERIODS, REGIONS, AND TOPICS:

AMERICAN HISTORY

Harvard guide to American history -- Rev. ed. .(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974.
ROCK REF E178 .H3 1974 

Prucha, Francis Paul, Handbook for research in American history : a guide to bibliographies and other reference works -- 2nd ed.-(Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1994).
ROCK Z1236 .P78 1994 

Parish, Peter J., Reader's Guide to American History (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997)
ROCK REF 1-Size E178.1.R43x 1997

BIOGRAPHY

There are generally two types of biographical resources: current and historical. first decide whether the person in question is living or dead. For the living, there are the various Who's Who's, general and country or even b y topic. For longer articles, see:

Current Biography (New York: H.W. Wilson, 1940- ) Monthly, with annual cumulation.
ROCK REF 1-SIZE CT120 .C9

Major national biographical dictionaries cover only dead individuals:

The dictionary of national biography (London, Oxford University Press, H. Milford [1937-38]) 33 vols., with supplements. 

ROCK REF DA28 .D4 1937 [etc.]

The chief source for British biography.

Dictionary of American biography (New York: Scribner's, 1928- ) 30 vols, with supplements. 

ROCK REF E176 .D56

This was the major source for American biography, but has now been updated by the following. You may still need to use if for some persons.

American National Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) 24 vols.
ROCK REF CT213.A68 1999

There are, of course, similar works for other countries, both older ones and newer (but still incomplete) titles, such as: Dictionnaire de biographie franÁaise (ROCK REF 1-Size DC36.D5), and the Dizionario biografico degli italiani (ROCK REF DG463.D58)

CHURCH HISTORY

A good, general, one-volume resource. A good place to begin for church history.

New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967-1979). 17 volumes, incl. index and supplements.
REF 1-Size BX841.N42

For fuller articles than the Oxford Dictionary can give you. 

Dictionnaire historique de la papautÈ (Paris: Fayard, 1994)
REF BX950.F7D55x 1994

Up-to-date and very complete. A similar useful book in English is The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, by J.N.D. Kelly (Oxford University Press, 1986) REF BX955.2.K45 1986

Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) 4 vols.
ROCK REF 1-Size BR302.8.O93 1996

OTHER PLACES AND PERIODS

OTHER TOOLS

ROCK REF 1-Size D14.E58x 1999

These and similar titles are useful for looking up major historians, and schools and genres of historical writing.

Chronology of World History (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABD-Clio, 1999). 4 vols.

ROCK REF D11.M39 1999

Good for checking on the dates of important events, and just to see what else as happening in the period you are researching.

WEB RESOURCES

BEYOND BROWN

FINALLY . . .

2. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Most of what you are researching has already been done. Begin with the general: encyclopedia articles and books. Look for bibliographies, especially annotated ones that will select for you the more important wo rks.

3. Ask for help. Not only do we have reference librarians who are very familiar with our resources in the Reference Room itself, but we also have subject specialists, several with deeper knowledge of history in various areas. The Brown University Library has a whole group of librarians responsible for History and Area Studies:

William S. Monroe, Head, Collection Development Dept., 

Rockefeller Library (Box A) 

History (except American, Latin American, East Asian),
Middle Eastern Studies (temporary)
(William_Monroe@brown.edu) x32406

Mary-Jo Kline, Curator of American History Collections, 

John Hay Library (Box A)

American History (i.e., U.S. and Canada), 

Latin American Studies (temporary), 

Special Collections: American Historical Collections 
(Mary-Jo_Kline@brown.edu) x31511

Steve L Thompson, Reference Librarian, 

Rockefeller Library (Box A) 

Afro-American Studies, 
American Civilization 
(Stephen_L_Thompson@brown.edu) x33581

Ann Dodge, Conservator, John Hay Library (Box A) 

Classics 
(Ann_Dodge@brown.edu) x31502

Li Wang, Curator of East Asian Collection, Rockefeller Library (Box A) 

East Asian Studies 

(Li_Wang@brown.edu) x32171 

Linda Ewbank, Catalog Librarian, Rockefeller Library (Box A) 

Modern Greek Studies
Slavic Studies
(Linda_Ewbank@brown.edu) x39963

Peter Harrington, Curator of the A.S.K. Brown Military Collection, 

John Hay Library (Box A) 

Special Collections: Military History 
(Peter_Harrington@brown.edu) x32414

Mark Brown, Curator of Manuscripts, John Hay Library (Box A)

Special Collections: Manuscripts 
(Mark_Brown@brown.edu) x31512

Michael Jackson, Reference Librarian, Rockefeller Library (Box A)

Women's Studies (temporary)
International Studies
(Michael_Jackson@brown.edu) x33581

Dan O'Mahony, Head, Government Documents Unit, 

Rockefeller Library (Box A) 

Government Documents
(Daniel_O'Mahony@brown.edu) x32522

compiled by William S. Monroe (william_monroe@brown.edu)