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History and Political Science Search Tools: Home

History and Political Science Search Tools

This guide provides a variety of resources to locate materials about topics in the areas of History and Political Science.

You have many types of information and writing styles to consider—and, depending on your needs, to utilize!

Basic Search Tools for History and Political Science

Facts, Definitions, & Background Information

Our Facts/Definitions page searches hundreds of reliable dictionaries and encyclopedias.


Research Reports and Expert Opinions

Expert opinions can be found in Journal articles. Use thew following indexes to our journals and packages:

Academic Search Complete  Articles from over 6,000 journals in many fields.

Central Index. Broad coverage of interdisciplinary journals and other material.

AAS Historical Periodicals Materials from more than 6500 historical periodical titles dating from 1693 to 1877.

America: History and Life NOTE: replaced by the Central Index database.

Scopus. Articles in science, medicine, technology, and the social sciences; track citations and find high impact articles.

    NOTE: JSTOR and MUSE articles can be found within the broader materials located using the tools above.

 

RESEARCH REPORTS and EXPERT OPINION (books)

Expert opinions can be found in books: see our local book catalog for searching. You may want to expand your search to the I-Share state-wide catalog (using the drop-down option under the search box) or our electronic book page.


News

Newspaper Source. Articles from regional United States newspapers, international newspapers, and newswires.

Library of Congress Chronicling America program. Contains over 450 newspapers dating from 1860-1922.

Google News Newspaper Archive Includes hundreds of historic newspapers digitized and/or indexed by Google through their News Archive Partner Program.

Ethnic Newswatch. Articles from over 340 alternative-press newspapers, magazines and journals. Includes the Chicago Citizen (1991-), Chicago Defender (1999-), Chicago Independent Bulletin (1996-2007), Chicago Jewish Star (1993-), Chicago Reporter (2009-), and Chicago Weekend (1992-).

Chicago Tribune  For newspaper articles in the Chicago Tribune from 1985 to the present.

Chicago Tribune Historical Files  For newspaper articles in the Chicago Tribune, 1849 to 1984.

New York Times historical files. Articles from 1851 to 2008. For articles after 2008, use Nexis Uni (new interface to Lexis-Nexis).

HarpWeek  Articles from the 19th-century illustrated newspaper Harper's Weekly (1857–1912).

New York Review of Books  Full text of every article dating from 1963 to the present. You must be on-campus to use the NYRB; there is no off-campus access.

Today in History - see important events on this date.

C-Span Video Library. Follow Congress, the White House, and the courts.

TV News. Search and view transcripts from selected United States programs since 2009.


Media

Academic Video Online  Online streaming video on many academic topics.

American History in Video  Newsreels, archival footage and important documentaries.

American Song  Songs by and about children, cowboys, immigrants, Native Americans, pioneers, slaves and others. Songs about politics and civil rights, war and peace.

C-Span Video Library. Follow Congress, the White House, and the courts.

TV News. Search and view transcripts from selected United States programs since 2009.


DATA

Data can be found using the resources found on our Statistics and our Handling Information and Data pages. SimplyAnalytics (was SimplyMap) contains United States census data, business data, and business points that can be manipulated and mapped. You can rank locations based on variables, create demographic analyses, and map variables to the county or sometimes the census Block.  If you sign in as a guest, you won’t need to create an account. Accounts are needed only to save search parameters and data results. (Information and help video page.)

Advanced Research Tools

Resources for Advanced Research

GPO (Government Printing Office)  A listing (no full text) of all types of United States government documents, including congressional reports, hearings, debates, records, judiciary materials and documents issued by executive departments.

Historical Statistics of the United States  Quantitative data on a wide range of topics, including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade.

Homeland Security Document Library  United States policy documents, presidential directives and national-strategy documents, plus theses and reports from various universities, organizations and local and state agencies.

Military & Government Collection  Articles on military-related journals and general-interest magazines.

Scopus. Articles in science, medicine, technology, and the social sciences; track citations and find high impact articles.

 

Primary Sources

Do you need some primary sources for that paper? We've got you covered! Take a look at this guide to locating primary sources.

Web Material

Subject-Specific Portals (for non-published information, teaching tools, equipment, and software):

H-Net:  Humanities & Social Sciences Online  Contains lists and web sites for peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussion for colleagues and the interested public.

The China Biographical Database is a freely accessible relational database with biographical information about approximately 360,000 individuals as of April 2015, primarily from the 7th through 19th centuries.

Digital Collections at the Library of Congress provides extensive primary-source material, all available for free online.

The Smithsonian Museum digital gallery of selected objects.

Social activism in the United States: "Digital collection and primary sources" by Jennifer Kaari, Mount Sinai West and St. Luke’s.

Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide.

Political Posters - The “All Of Us Or None” (AOUON) archive project was started by Free Speech Movement activist Michael Rossman in 1977 to gather and document posters of modern progressive movements in the United States.

Ancient History Encyclopedia the largest and most popular history encyclopedia on the internet.

Pleiades is a community-built gazetteer and graph of ancient places. It publishes authoritative information about ancient places and spaces, providing unique services for finding, displaying, and reusing that information under open license.

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