OWHL Guides: History 300: A Guide to Research: Progressive Reformers

Reference Sources

Reference Databases

Infobase African American History Online This link opens in a new window
This source features thousands of reference articles, covering the entire spectrum of African-American history over the past 500 years. Some primary sources may also be found here.
Infobase American History This link opens in a new window
This source features thousands of reference articles on American political, military, social, and cultural history over the past 500 years. Some primary sources may also be found here.
Infobase American Indian History This link opens in a new window
This source provides reference articles on over 15,000 years of Native American culture and history, and includes biographies, legends, treaties, and more. Some primary sources are included.
Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
This database provides biographical reference articles on more than 650,000 international figures from all times periods and areas of study. It will also link you to relevant popular and scholarly press articles.
Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window
Reference articles from one of the oldest and most trusted reference sources in the world.
CQ Researcher: 1923 to the Present This link opens in a new window
In-depth reports written by award-winning journalists on controversial and important topics of the day, from 1923 to the present. Professionally fact-checked, topics include economics, social issues, international affairs, politics, civil rights, public policy, and more.
ABC_CLIO Daily Life Through History (Academic Edition) This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive collection of primary and reference sources provides direct insight into the social history of societies ranging from the Australian Aborigines all the way to 21st-century China.

Secondary Sources

Journal Articles and Other eResources

EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary database provides the full text of more than 2,100 journals, including more than 1,700 peer-reviewed titles.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary database provides access to full text scholarly journals, mainly in the humanities and social sciences.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals, including Mexican Studies, US Latino & Oral History.
CQ Researcher: 1923 to the Present This link opens in a new window
In-depth reports written by award-winning journalists on controversial and important topics of the day, from 1923 to the present. Professionally fact-checked, topics include economics, social issues, international affairs, politics, civil rights, public policy, and more.
Infobase Issues & Controversies in History This link opens in a new window
This database use primary sources to analyze great conflicts in U.S. and World along with in-depth secondary source articles on historical events. It also provides each issue with its background information and its pro/con arguments.
ProQuest Social Science Database This link opens in a new window
This database offers the full text of hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of disciplines including anthropology, communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.

Find E-Books

Search for Books in the Catalog

E-Book Databases:

**In Noodleools, under new source, answer the questions like this for the correct citation form: "Where is it?" > Database, "What is it?" > Book

Art & Architecture ePortal This link opens in a new window
It is an authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design. Discover important art and architectural history scholarship from some of the world's finest publishers and museums in an innovative new way. Peer-reviewed born-digital content is also published on the A&AePortal.
All records in this database are also searchable via the Evergreen Catalog.
ProQuest E-Book Central This link opens in a new window
A vast collection of eBooks on all academic topics from scholarly publishers. All books available in eBook Central can also be found through the OWHL's catalog.

E-Book Websites:

**In Noodleools, under new source, answer the questions like this for the correct citation form: "Where is it?" > Website, "What is it?" > Book

Internet Archive - Online Options Abound
Start by creating a FREE account using your personal email address (this will allow you to access books after you leave P.A.). Search for access to all the free e-books that have been scanned by institutions.
Hathi Trust
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.

Primary Sources

Primary Sources on the Web

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress)
Chronicling America enhances access to America's historic newspapers. This site allows you to search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Documenting the American South (UNC Chapel Hill)
Slavery and Anti-Slavery Repository (Boston Public Library)
NOTE: You will need to register for a free Boston Public Library eCard to access this repository.
Women Working, 1800-1930 (Harvard)
DPLA: Primary Source Sets - US History
Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture
Making of America (Cornell University)

Finding Primary Sources in Databases

America’s Historical Newspapers Series: 1690-1922 This link opens in a new window
This database contains American newspaper articles from the late 17th century through 1922.
ProQuest American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
This database contains over 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children’s and women’s magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Search across 19th Century US Newspapers, Liberty Magazine Historical Archives (1924-50), Smithsonian Collections, The Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003) and The Times Digital Archive (1785-2009).
ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search and read full text articles from 28 historical newspapers
• The Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984)
• Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003)
• The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
• The Baltimore Sun (1837-1987)
• The Boston Globe (1872-1984)
• Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
• Chicago Tribune (1849-1992)
• The Christian Science Monitor (1908-2003)
• Cleveland Call and Post (1934-1991)
• Detroit Free Press (1831-1922)
• The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003)
• Hartford Courant (1764-1990)
• Indianapolis Star (1903-1922)
• The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times (1859-2015)
• Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005)
• Los Angeles Times (1881-1989)
• New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
• New York Times (1851-2014)
• New York Tribune (1841-1922)
• Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003)
• Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001)
• Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
• San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922)
• The Scotsman (1817-1950)
• The St. Louis Post Dispatch (1874-1922)
• The Times of India (1838-2007)
• The Wall Street Journal (1889-1999)
• The Washington Post (1877-1999)
Gale Primary Sources: Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (Gale) This link opens in a new window
This database provides full text access to hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers.
Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound - Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America This link opens in a new window
This digital archive of primary sources provides access to a wide variety of documents, from personal narratives, pamphlets, addresses, political speeches, monographs, and sermons to plays, songs, poetic and fictional works published between the 17th and late 19th centuries.