History and Biography

This guide is suggested for students of HIS 8800.

Books
Journal Articles
Encyclopedias
Biographical Dictionaries
Diaries, Autobiographies, Letters ...
Book Reviews
Archives
Citing Your Sources
Research Appointment

Books

Falvey's Catalog
Keyword and subject searches in the Library's catalog are good starting points when first exploring a topic. Search results can be narrowed with facets such as topic, era, language or region. Facets are located on the right hand side of the results screen.

Examples of Library of Congress subjects:
Subject: Biography as a literary form
Subject: Autobiography
Subject: Women - Biography - History and criticism
Subject: Letter writing - History
Subject: Letters - History and critiicism
Subject: Serfs - Russia - Biography
Subject: Serfdom - Russia
Subject: "Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-"
Subject:" Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-" AND keyword: psycho*
Subject: "Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-" AND Psychology
WorldCat
Books that are not owned by the Library can be found via WorldCat. WorldCat is an online catalog that includes the collections of most U.S. libraries as well as a large number of libraries abroad. Titles owned by Falvey Memorial Library are tagged, those not held by Falvey can be requested through interlibrary loan with the Borrow from another library link. WorldCat uses the same Library of Congress subject headings as the Library's catalog. The Export feature makes it possible to download selected references into a RefWorks account.
Cambridge Histories Online
Download individual chapters and/or search across all series titles. Some of the titles included are:
Dissertations & Theses Full Text
Index and abstracts of U.S. dissertations with full text for most dissertations submitted after 1997. Ph.D. dissertations in history generally include detailed bibliographies with references to hard to find primary sources.
E-Z Borrow and Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary loan is available for books and journals that are not owned by Falvey. EZ-Borrow is generally faster than interlibrary loan, because it relies on a local library network. EZ-Borrow can be used for books that the Library owns, but that are currently checked out by somebody else.

Journal Articles

America: History & Life
Your guide to the contents of scholarly journals, historical magazines and dissertations. This database indexes scholarly journals concerned with the history of America (North and South). The FindIt button links to the full text of the articles in the Library's collection as well as to an interlibrary loan form. Interlibrary loan can only be used for those journals to which the Library does not have a subscription. It can take up to a week to process an interlibrary loan request. Article citations can be exported to RefWorks.
Suggested subject keywords: "Biography as a literary form," autobiographies, ...
Sample articles:
Rotberg, Robert I. 2010. "Biography and Historiography: Mutual Evidentiary and Interdisciplinary Considerations." Journal of Interdisciplinary History 40, no. 3: 305-324.
Banner, Lois W. 2009. "Biography as History." American Historical Review 114, no. 3: 579-586.
Historical Abstracts
This database indexes articles published in scholarly history journals. Please note that Historical Abstracts does not cover ancient and medieval history. U.S., Canadian and Latin American history are excluded as well.
There is substantial overlap for the more theoretical articles on biography as a literary form and autobiography. Both indexes can be searched simultaneously via the Choose Databases link at the top of the search screen.
Suggested subject keywords: "Biography as a literary form," autobiographies, "Serfs - Russia - narratives," ...
Sample articles:
Vasilieva, M. E., and John MacKay. 2000. "Notes of a serf woman by M.E. Vasilieva." Slavery & Abolition 21, no. 1: 146-158
Social Sciences Full Text
Index to international, English language journals in sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science and law.
Humanities Full Text
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than 300 periodicals in archaeology, art , classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history and world literature.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Life Writing
2 volumes, available in print only.
See entries on Gender and Life Writing, Confessions, Personal Narratives, and Diaries and Journals.
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Available online. See entries on Biography and Autobiography.
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology
Available online. See entries on Biography, Life History, Autoethnography, and Narrative.
The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods
Available online. See entries on Biography, Autobiography, Life Stories, Diaries and Journals, Autoethnography, and Memoirs.
American History Through Literature, 1820-1870
Available online. See entries on Biography and Autobiography.

Biographical Dictionaries

American National Biography Online
Biographical resource on more than 18,000 people from all eras who have influenced and shaped American history and culture.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online
50,000 specially-written signed biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of the British past, from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000.
Current Biography Plus Illustrated
23,000 biographies and obituaries of artists, politicians, business people, journalists, actors, writers, sports figures, scientists, and other people prominent in the news that have appeared in Current Biography Yearbook since 1940.
Research Guide to American Historical Biography
5 volumes, available in print only.
Covers notable historical figures in American history. Each entry includes a Chronology, Activities of Historical Significance, Overview of Biographical/Critical Sources, Evaluation of Principal Biographical Sources, and Overview and Evaluation of Primary Sources.
Research Guide to European Historical Biography, 1450-present
8 volumes, available in print only.
Covers notable historical figures in European history. Each entry includes a Chronology, Activities of Historical Significance, Overview of Biographical Sources, Evaluation of Principal Biographical Sources, Overview and Evaluation of Primary Sources, and Evaluation of Critical Sources.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as the most important retrospective works, that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world.
Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia
17 volumes, available in print only.
This set covers many women that are not listed in any other major biographical dictionaries.

Diaries, Autobiographies, Letters ...

American Diaries
An annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals
American Diaries
An annotated bibliography of American diaries written prior to the year 1861
And So to Bed
A bibliography of diaries published in English
Through a Woman's I
An annotated bibliography of American women's autobiographical writings 1946-1976
American autobiography, 1945-1980
A bibliography
A Bibliography of American Autobiographies
Black Americans in Autobiography
An annotated bibliography of autobiographies and autobiographical books written since the Civil War
British Autobiographies
Women's Diaries, Journals, and Letters
An annotated bibliography
Notable Women in World History
A guide to recommended biographies and autobiographies
Notable Women in American History
A guide to recommended biographies and autobiographies

Alternatively, search the Library's catalog or WorldCat to locate published diaries, autobiographies or letters. Use subject terms such as correspondence, personal narrative, diaries, or sources. Consult the Library's Primary Sources Research Guide for more detailed instructions.

Don't foget that many of the Library's digital collections such as Sabin Americana, Early American Imprints, and Early English Books Online, to name but a few, include a wealth of published autobiographies, letters, and diaries.

Book Reviews

Please note that the indexes listed above under Journal Articles all include book reviews.

Citing Your Sources

Chicago Manual of Style
15th edition. Available online. A print copy is available at the Information Desk in the Library. Call number: Z253.U69 2003
Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide
Made available free online by Chicago University Press.
Research and Documentation Online
Guide to the major documentation styles
Refworks
Never type a bibliography again! RefWorks will help you easily gather, manage, and store bibliographic citations for all types of information, as well as generate footnotes and bibliographies.
EndNote
EndNote has more or less the same functionality as RefWorks, but the software is downloaded to individual desktops whereas RefWorks is web-based.

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Last Modified: Sunday, February 5th, 2012

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