Finding Resources in History

Before you start searching, you should know what you want to find. The type of information you want determines where you look: find books using TOPCAT and articles using indexes. Primary sources can be in various places. The keywords you select will affect what you find. Plan where you want to search and what terms you will search for. The plan may change as you find results and learn from them.

Where you look for information in History depends on what you hope to find. There is no ONE PLACE to search for everything. Information is often "owned" by an organization and you'll need to search a specific database to find it.

Background Reading

Don't start the research process in the middle. If you don't understand your topic very well, journal articles won't help you. They're not general background reading - they're written on specific topics for an audience that knows the subject well. If the topic is new to you, start by getting some general information.

Course textbooks and Reserve readings are often a great place to start. They provide background reading and may include a bibliography. Check to see what's already available for your course. The list of reference books below may also offer helpful background reading and bibliographies. You can search TOPCAT to see if the Library has any dictionaries or encyclopedias for your subject.

See a screen shot of a TOPCAT search for an encylcopedia on war. (click on the image to see the full size)

Use TOPCAT (the Library catalogue) to search for books in the Trent Library. There's a quick tutorial that explains how TOPCAT is searched and a link to TOPCAT appears on every page in the Library website.

The Bata Library has a large history section on the 3rd floor. The general call number range for history includes the C, D, E, and F sections. It's too large an area to browse, and browsing the stacks in these sections won't help you find any of our online resources, our Government Publications or Maps, Reference books, or books that are in another area for a very good reason. TOPCAT directs you to all the resources we have on your topic, so you should always start with a good search of our Library catalogue.

Use a keyword search to find books on a topic. Think about the important keywords for your topic and combine them using "and" and "or". If you're not familiar with keyword searching techniques, take a quick look at the online tutorial for keyword searching.

In subject headings, "History" usually appears as a subdivision, as in the following:

Racism--Canada--History
Colonization--History
Land tenure--Great Britain--Colonies--History
Slavery--Canada--History--18th century

However, at times it could be an adjective: Historical Linguistics. Or the word "history" may not appear at all:

Canada--Politics and Government

Thus, it may be best to truncate the word to find both: histor$. Be careful when truncating "histor$" and "canad$", however, because TOPCAT will reach its retrieval limit and cut your list short. You may need to break it into several different searches.

All the useful indexes for history are listed below in the index section. In particular, take a look at America: History & Life or Historical Abstracts. Use these databases to search for your topic. The index tells you which journals have published articles on your topic and provides citations. From there, follow the links to full text, or click to check for availability at Trent. Remember that an index tells us what's been published, and not not what's at our Library.

For help with the process of finding articles, see the online tutorial. This is a difficult process to understand until you've done it a few times. Most of this work can be done from within the Library, or from off-campus, because the majority of our journals are online.

Other

Under "Other Online Resources" find links to some of our more unique databases that might apply to your topic. These include primary documents, images, statistics, and specialized encyclopedias.

African History on the Internet

Annotated collection of resources under such headings as economic history, explorations 15th-19th c., military history, religion, slavery, etc.

Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library

Links to scholarly documents, resources and information systems concerned with or relevant to Asian Studies. Includes listings by individual countries and regions.

The Atlas of Canada

Discover Canada through maps and facts.

Best of History Web sites

Sites are reviewed and evaluated for quality, accuracy, and usefulness. Links are divided into categories such as prehistory, ancient/biblical, medieval, U.S. History, early modern European, 20th century, WW11, art history, maps, and also include the best sites for lesson plans/activities, etc.

Early Modern Resources (c.1500-1800 A.D.)

Annotated listings under such headings as Old & new worlds; Society, economy & demography; Women, gender sexuality; Medicine & illness; Religion, science, philosophy; Politics, rebellions, revolutions; and others.

Early Modern Women Database

Scholarly resources useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas, focusing on the period from ca. 1500 to ca. 1800. Also covers the Medieval period and 19th Century. Some links to full text.

The Encyclopedia of World History : Ancient, Medieval, and Modern 6th edition

Comprehensive chronology of more than 20,000 entries, spanning from prehistoric times to the year 2000. (from Bartleby.com).

EuroDocs : Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe

Historical documents, from mediaeval times to the twentieth century, are listed under individal European countries.

Feminae : Medieval Women and Gender Index

The Medieval Feminist Index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. It indexes over 300 journals from 1994/95 onwards. Links to other resources on mediaeval women are also included.

 Historical Directories

Historical Directories is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 to 1919. It contains high quality reproductions of comparatively rare books, essential tools for research into local and genealogical history.

History Guide

Subject gateway to scholarly relevant websites in history . Choose geographical area, time period and general subject area.

HUMBUL: History

The Humbul Humanities Hub, hosted by Oxford University, is a service of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN, http://www.rdn.ac.uk/ ). Sites are listed under such headings as primary sources, secondary sources, etc., but can also be accessed by period. This resource is aimed at the academic community.

Index of Resources for History

Over 2,500 links to sites arranged alphabetically by subject and by name. (Part of the World Wide Virtual Library WWVL).

Internet African History Sourcebook

Direct links to historical documents.

Labyrinth

A World Wide Web Server for Medieval Studies.

NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources

Almost 2,000 links, hundreds of news items, and an impressive glossary .

Online Medieval and Classical Library

The Online Medieval and Classical Library (OMACL) is a collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization.

ORB : On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies

Orb is a cooperative effort on the part of scholars across the internet to establish an online textbook source for medieval studies. Also includes the Internet Medieval Sourcebook .

Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe

An Atlas Depicting the states of the European continent at the end of each century from AD 1 to AD 2000.

Repositories of Primary Sources

Links to over 4300 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar. Access is by region or by an alphabetical index. Many Canadian sites are include.

World History Archives

Full-text documents to support the study of world history from a working-class and non-Eurocentric perspective.

Canadian and American History

American Memory

Historical collections from the U.S. National Digital Library, Library of Congress. Over 7 million digital items are searchable by keyword or collection.  Includes Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves tell their stories.

 

Best of History Web sites

Sites are reviewed and evaluated for quality, accuracy, and usefulness. Links are divided into categories such as prehistory, ancient/biblical, medieval, U.S. History, early modern European, 20th century, WW11, art history, maps, and also include the best sites for lesson plans/activities, etc.

Canadian Constitutional Documents

Full text of the Constitution Acts from 1867 onwards.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

The site contains the complete text of the acclaimed Canadian Encyclopedia in English and French, the text of the Junior Encyclopedia of Canada (in English only), numerous interactivities, feature articles, games, the Canucklehead Quiz, and an extensive timeline of Canadian and world events. The entire text can be searched via the simple search or advanced search and the user can switch languages at any time.

Canadian Heritage Gallery

Searchable, browsable collection of Canadian historical photos, original documents, artwork, maps, and illustrations documenting Canada's early history.

Canadian Heritage Information Network

Information gateway to museums, galleries, and heritage in Canada and around the world.

Canadian History on the Web

An annotated collection of online resources. Sites are listed within such headings as Content based, Historical documents, Historical graphics, Museums, heritage sites and archives, etc.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online provides access to the fourteen volumes already in print. The biographies are fully searchable by keyword and volumes 2, 4-8, and 11-14 are accessible by identity/profession and volumes 2, 5-8, and 11-14 are accessible by geographic region.

Digital Library of Canada: History

From the National Library, this site includes such digitized collections as   Canadian Mail Order catalogues from the 1890s to the 1970s,    fifteen pre-1901 Canadian directories,   Indian Affairs Annual Reports 1864-1990.  Other research aids include a Guide to Canadian Labour History Resources   and Native Residential Schools in Canada: A Selective Bibliography .

Early Modern Women Database

Scholarly resources useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas, focusing on the period from ca. 1500 to ca. 1800. Also covers the Medieval period and 19th Century. Some links to full text.

Government of Canada - Primary Internet site.

Canadian government information - federal, provincial and links to other government sites.

Government of Ontario web site

Information is listed under such headings as Ministries and Agencies, Business Ontario, Ontario facts, Travel Ontario, Publications Ontario, Government FAQs, etc.

Historical Atlas of Canada. Online Learning Project

An ongoing digitization project to make the Historical Atlas of Canada available online. It explores major themes and episodes in the history of Canada using maps, text and graphics. Some content available for download.

Historical Statistics of Canada

Access to a wide range of economic, social and political data and a considerable amount of material descriptive of the data for the period from Confederation to the mid-1970s.

History Guide.

Subject gateway to scholarly relevant websites in history . Choose geographical area, time period and general subject area.

National Archives of Canada

Digital collections are available under the headings of living memory, places, people,

 

 

Our Roots

Collection of local history resources digitized and made available via a collaboration amongst universities and government agencies.

The Presidential Timeline

Provides a single point of access to digitized assets from the collections of the twelve Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. You’ll find documents, photographs, audio recordings, and video relating to the events of the presidents’ lives.

Repositories of Primary Sources

Links to over 4300 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar. Access is by region or by an alphabetical index. Many Canadian sites are included.

United States Historical Census Data

The data presented here describe the people and the economy of the US for each state and county from 1790 to 1960.

WWW-VL History: Canadian History

An extensive and impressive collection of resources. Well organized part of the World Wide Web-Virtual Library.

E-Books
	xreferplus An online collection of 100 reference books
European and World History

General Reference Books
	Annual Register [of world events]  D 2 .A7 REF
	The Blackwell encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England  DA 152 .B58 1999 REF
	Encyclopedia of European social history from 1350 to 2000  HN 373 .E63 2001 REF
	Encyclopedia of North American immigration  JV 6465 .P68 2005 REF
	The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery  HT 861 .H57 1997 REF
	Modern China : an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism  JC 311 .M54 1998 REF
	The Modern encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian history  DK 14 .M6 REF
	Who was who  DA 28 .W65 REF
	World war I : encyclopedia, volume 1 - 5  D 510 .E53 2005
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Bibliographies
	The Russian Revolution, 1905-1921 : a bibliographic guide to works in English  Z 2510 .F73 1995 REF
	Slavery and slaving in world history : a bibliography  Z 7164 .S6 M544 1999 REF
	Subject bibliography of the First World War  Z 6207 .E8 E58 1990 REF
	Subject bibliography of the Second World War  Z 6207 .W8 E59 1990 REF
Canadian and American History
General Reference Books : Canada
	Canadian news facts  F 5000 .C34 REF
	Dictionary of Canadian biography  F 5009 .D53 REF
	Dictionary of Canadian military history  FC 226 .B47 1992 REF
	Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador   F 5403 .E48 REF
	The Home Front Encyclopedia : United States, Britain,and Canada in World Wars I and II, volume 1-3  D 570 .H54 2007 REF
	Language of Canadian Politics : a guide to important terms and concepts  JA 61 .M33 2006
General Reference Books : United States
	American national biography  CT 213 .A68 1999 REF
	Colonial wars of North America, 1512-1763  E 46.5 .C65 1996 REF
	Encyclopedia of the North American colonies   E 45 .E53 1993 REF
	Vietnam War: handbook of the literature and research  DS 558 .V58 1993 REF
Bibliographies : North America
	Books about early America, 2001 titles   Z 1237 .B66 1989 REF
Bibliographies : Canada
	A bibliography of Canada's peoples  Z 1395 .E4 G742 1993 REF
	The Bibliography of Ontario history  Z 1392 .O6 B57 REF
	Canadian history : a reader's guide  Z 1382 .C23 1994 REF
	Guide d'histoire du Québec : du régime français à nos jours : bibliographie commentée  Z 1392 .Q3 G83 1993 REF
Bibliographies : United States
	The American Historical Association's guide to historical literature  Z 6201 .A55 1995 REF
	The 1960's : an annotated bibliography of social and political movements in the United States  Z 7164 .S66 J28 1992 REF
	United States history : a selective guide to information sources  Z 1236 .B57 1994 REF