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The American Experience television series from PBS features accompanying on-line resources.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/

The American Experience documentaries range from biographies of United States Presidents to explorations of American popular culture. The website supplements the television program with additional resources and primary sources.

Bruccoli, Richard and Richard Layman, Editorial Directors. American Decades. Series. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1995. [Ref. E 169.12.A419].

This multi-volume work provides an historical overview on a variety of topics from education to religion and science and medicine. Each volume is dedicated to the events, issues, and people of a specific decade. Also includes timelines of important events, biographies of relevant people, and supplementary photographs.

Bruccoli, Richard and Richard Layman, Editorial Directors. American Eras. Series. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997. [Ref. E 169.1.A471979 1997.]

Vol. 1: Early American civilizations and exploration to 1600

Vol. 2: The colonial era, 1600-1754

Vol. 3: The Revolutionary era, 1754-1783

Vol. 4: Development of a nation, 1783-1815

Vol. 5: Westward expansion, 1800-1860

Vol. 6: The reform era and eastern U.S. development, 1815-1850

Vol. 7: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877

Vol. 8: Development of the industrial United States, 1878-1899

This multi-volume work covers a variety of topics in American history before the Twentieth Century. Also includes timelines, biographies of relevant people, and supplementary photographs. Includes a comprehensive bibliography.

Fox, Richard Wrightman and James T. Kloppenberg, eds. A Companion to American Thought. Cambridge, MA; Blackwell Publishers, 1995. [Ref. 169.1.CD685 1995.]

This work covers major individuals and themes across a broad spectrum of American intellectual movements from the Beat Generation to Romanticism. Each article, written by an expert in the field, includes a bibliography for further reading.

Greene, Jack P. Encyclopedia of American Political History: Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984. Series. [Ref. E183.E5 1984]

Ranging from discussions of the armed forces to prohibition, this multi-volume work offers a comprehensive historical overview of the major issues in American history. Each lengthy article, contributed by an expert, includes sources for further reading.

Jackson. Kenneth T., ed. Atlas of American History, Revised ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984. [Ref. G 1201.S1.A8 1984]

With particular emphasis on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this work visually depicts snapshots of important aspects of everyday American life. Maps detail such issues as major transportation routes: road, railways, and canals; war activity, and the national parks and forests. Population data include the 12 largest cities in 1790 and 1870 as well as immigration information.

Kutler, Stanley E. Dictionary of American History. Third Edition. Series. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. [Ref. E 174.D52 2003]

This multi-volume encyclopedia provides an overview of a wide-range of topics from NATO to Prohibition. The essays, which vary from brief to in-depth analysis, are written by experts in their field. Every American state as well as all major American cities is discussed as are important issues, people, food such as corn and potatoes, companies, and cultural phenomenon.

The American Antiquarian Society

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/

Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, this national research library emphasizes American history and literature before 1876. The site features some on-line exhibits from the museum's collections.

Virtual Exhibits from the National Museum of American History.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/category.cfm?category=online

This Smithsonian museum which specializes in American history offers on-line exhibits ranging from September 11 to the history of medicine.

PERIODICAL DATABASES

Access the databases through the myLibrary tab in myLesley. Need help? Go to "Get Started."

PS = Primary Sources Included

Academic Search Premier - FT

This multidisciplinary full text database contains peer-reviewed articles from over 3000 scholarly publications on a variety of academic disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, education, language and literature, science, etc. Many historical subjects and eras are included.

Wilson OmniFile - FT

Wilson OmniFile is a composite of full-text databases in the fields of business, education, general science, humanities, and social sciences, as well as general periodicals. OmniFile enables interdisciplinary searches across subject areas, as well as limiting by subject area. The database provides full text content to 1994.

Expanded Academic ASAP - FT

This database provides full-text articles from over 1700 journals and magazines, with citations and abstracts for many more back to 1980. Topics covered include humanities, social sciences, science and technology, national news and general interest.

JSTOR - FT (on-campus access only)

This archive of scholarly journal literature contains complete backfiles of many journals, starting with the first issues, many of which date from the 1800's. Fields include history (39 journals), classical studies, population studies, sociology, and many others.

Project Muse - FT

Over 100 peer-reviewed journals in the social sciences and humanities, including ethnic and women's studies, culture, history, and politics are indexed in this full-text database.

New York Times 1851-1999 - FT (PS)

Full text and full image articles for The New York Times dating back to the 19^th century are found here. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue in downloadable PDF files.

SPECIFIC TOPICS

Eras

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S.Constitution from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/experience/index.html

An online multi-media exhibit, this interactive website details the experience of the Japanese Americans during the Second World War. The site features considerable audio and visual elements including film and music. Produced by the Smithsonian, this resource can be viewed as an interactive movie, or in text format.

Singleton, Carl, ed. The Sixties in America. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, Inc., 1999. [Ref. E 841.S55 1999]

This three-volume work covers the full range of American culture in the Sixties. Short descriptive entries detail important people, ideas, legislation, books, movies, and music. Illustrated with numerous photographs, graphs and charts.

Ethnic Groups

• Fischel, Jack and Sanford Pinsker. Jewish-American History and Culture. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992. [Ref. E 184.J5 J48 1992]

  This work provides signed articles featuring biographies of famous people, summaries of important issues, and analysis of the significance of artistic endeavors form music to poetry. Entries also include important cities such as Boston and New York.

   

• Levinson, David. American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation. New York: Simon & Schuster/Macmillan, 1997. 2 vols. [Ref. E 184.A1 A63448 1997]

  This two-volume work offers a comprehensive overview of the many ethnic groups who came from various countries to the United States. Each essay, by an expert scholar, details the political and economic conditions that existed in the home country and describes the unique experiences of each group in America. Each article also features a bibliography for further reading.

   

• Salzman, Jack and David Lionel Smith and Cornel West. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. New York: Macmillan Library/Simon & Schuster Reference, 1996.

  This multi-volume work offers in-depth articles on a wide range of topics related to the diverse experience of African-Americans. Signed articles by leading scholars cover all fifty states, important cities (Boston), and topics from illnesses such as Sickle-Cell Disease to Slave Religion. This work also provides biographies of important and famous people from entertainers to politicians. A comprehensive appendix includes relevant statistical data, a list of awards and honors, business profiles, and educational and health information.

   

• Thernstrom, Stephan. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 1980. [Ref. E184.A1.H35]

  This classic work details the experiences of immigrants who, for numerous economic and political reasons, came to America from various countries throughout the world. In addition to Irish and Italian immigrants, this work covers less-known groups such as Kurds and Tatars. The work also covers major themes in American immigrant history from education to assimilation and politics.

   

• Vecoli, Rudolph J., contributing editor. Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Detroit MI: Gale research, Inc. 1995. 2 vols. [Ref. E 184.A1 G14 1995.]

  This multi-volume work covers the experiences of ethnic groups who immigrated to America. This work details the conditions facing these people before they left and once they arrived. Also discusses the contributions and achievements of these peoples in America.

Primary Sources

American Memory Project from the Library of Congress.

http://memory.loc.gov/

The site features more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collectionsä on a wide-range of topics from politics to folk music. The full-text of these documents is searchable in a variety of ways. The numerous collections include documents and photographs on issues from slavery to women's suffrage and baseball to jazz.

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy from the United States Government Printing Office (GPO)

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/coredocs.html

Serves as a gateway to online versions of important American documents. This site includes famous documents such as the Declaration of Independence as well as less well-known materials such as materials from the debates on the ratification of the United States constitution.

Exhibits from the National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/

From the United States National Archives and Records Administration, this site features photography on a variety of topics as well as full-text and scanned copies of original historic American documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation, the United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.

Historic Documents. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1986-2002. 18 volumes. [Ref. E839.5 .H57]

This series reproduces significant primary source documents in American and world history. Volumes are organized by the year in which the document was created.

MOA: The Making of America. From the University of Michigan.

http://moa.umdl.umich.edu

The Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.

Regions

• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod, eds. Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996. [Ref. F591.E485]

  From the Alaska Gold Rush to Migrant Workers, this work covers a wide-range of topics related to the American West. The signed articles by scholars, which cover the people, places, events, and issues of the West, include suggested further reading. Illustrated with photographs and drawings.

   

• Documenting the American South. From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Academic Affairs Library.

  http://docsouth.unc.edu/

  This is a collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20^th century. This digital library collection includes full-text documents covering a range of topics from first-person narratives to slave and church history.

   

• The Massachusetts Historical Society

  http://www.masshist.org/

  Founded in 1791, this historical society is famous for its extensive research library. Many of its collections are available now on-line through its virtual exhibits.

Women's History

• Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth. The ABC-CLIO companion to Women's Progress in America. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1994. [Ref. HQ 1410.F76 1994]

  This work provides brief summaries of important events, issues, and people involved in the history of American women. Includes numerous large photographs.

   

• Schenken, Suzanne O'Dea. From Suffrage to the Senate: An Encyclopedia of American Women in Politics. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1999. [Ref. HQ 1236.5 .U6 S32 1999]

  This two volume encyclopedia examines the women and issues that have affected women's participation in American politics from colonial times to the present. Includes biographies of important figures from Anne Hutchinson to Betty Friedan. Also covers relevant legislation. The appendix includes documents and statistical data. Illustrated with a significant number of large photographs.

   

• Zophy, Angela Howard. Handbook of American Women's History. New York: Garland, 1990. [Ref. HQ 1410. H36 1990]

  Covering a wide range of issues and topics, this work offers alphabetically arranged, signed articles on the history of women's education. Portrays women's involvement in topics ranging from cigar makers to the Women's Army Corps (WAC). Also includes biographies of prominent women in a variety of fields.