American Studies

Articles | Reference Books | Web Sites | Librarians

See also the other "Resources by Subject" pages related to American Studies:
Anthropology, Art, Communications, Dance, Economics, English, Foreign Languages,
Geoscience, History, Political Science, Sociology, and Theatre.

Core Databases and Indexes

Click on the to see database description ‡ Citations Only

Title	Access Restrictions	Help
Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost)	On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:N5 Within:(W5)
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCOhost)	On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:N5 Within:(W5)
America: History and Life (EBSCOhost)	On & Off Campus	Truncation:*

To search for a specific journal, use the A-Z Journal List.

Related Databases and Indexes

Click on the to see database description ‡ Citations Only

Title	# Users	Access Restrictions	Help
American FactFinder (Census)		Unrestricted	Truncation:*
BGMI - Biography and Genealogy Master Index ‡		On & Off Campus	Truncation:*
Core Documents of U.S. Democracy		Unrestricted	Truncation:*
CQ Researcher (Congressional Quarterly)		On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Within:(W5)
Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost)		On & Off Campus	Truncation:*
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (EBSCOhost)	4	On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:<near/5>
Humanities International Index (EBSCOhost)		On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:N5 Within:(W5)
In the First Person		Unrestricted	Truncation:*
PRIMO		Special
Public Documents MasterFile		Special
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (EBSCOhost)	12	On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:<near/5>
Sanborn Maps		On & Off Campus
SocINDEX (EBSCOhost)		On & Off Campus	Truncation:* Near:N5 Within:W5

To search for a specific journal, use the A-Z Journal List.

Reference Books

The following are selected resources for research in American Studies. For more books on this topic, including people, events, minorities, Native American history and so on, please use the Library Catalog.

To find books in other libraries, try using WorldCat, a collective catalog for thousands of libraries in the United States, Canada, and around the world. This catalog should not be used as a substitute for this library's catalog, but as another avenue of searching for books.

Atlases

Historical Atlas of the United States (Reference Collection: G 1201. S 1 H 5 2003): This resource uses hundreds of color maps to trace the history of the United States from the first Native American tribes to the first Gulf War and the events of September 11th, 2001. Also included are supplementary maps, for example maps showing election results from 1789-2000 and the acquisition of foreign territories in the Twentieth Century.

Dictionaries

Dictionary of American History (Reference Collection: E 174. D 52 2003): This ten-volume dictionary contains articles on a wide range of topics in America history, such as political, social, cultural, military history, and more. Volumes one to eight contain the articles. Volume nine is made up of maps and primary documents. Volume ten has a learning guide and a cumulative index to the entire collection.

The Guide to United States Popular Culture (Reference Collection: E 169.1 D399 s001): If you are interested in U.S. pop culture, this book will help you learn about the country's most popular television programs, actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, trends, novels, etc. It will connect you to other sources that expound on the topics in question.

Encyclopedias

American Indian History (Reference Collection: E 77. A 496): This two-volume encyclopedia consists of articles on the legal and diplomatic history of Native American tribes and the United States government from colonial times to the present. A cumulative categorized index can be found in the second volume.

Encyclopedia of American History (Reference Collection: E 174. E 53 2003): This eleven-volume series divides American history into ten periods (covered in each of the first ten volumes). Volume eleven is a comprehensive index. Each of the first ten volumes contains articles on people, places, events, Native American tribes, concepts and more. Also included are articles on relevant world history and concepts in world history. Each volume contains a complete list of entries for the set.

Encyclopedia of American Studies (Reference Collection: E 169.1 E 625 2001): This four-volume encyclopedia has hundred of lengthy articles on a wide variety of topics of interest to students and researchers in American studies. This encyclopedia not only encompasses historical topics, but also a wide range of social and cultural topics. A cumulative index can be found in volume four.

Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics (Reference Collection: E 184. A 1 E 574 2000): Editors of these two volumes assign entries into one of four parts, representing the following minorities: African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. Each entry includes a brief bibliography. Appendices, tables, and indices offer additional information on minority organizations, timelines of important events, excerpts from historical documents, and minorities who served in Congress.

Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes (Reference Collection: E 77. G 15 1998) This four-volume set contains extensive articles on more than 400 Native American tribes and profiles of important Native Americans. Volume one covers the eastern United States and the Caribbean tribes; volume two covers the Great Basin and Central American tribes. Volume three covers the Arctic, Great Plains, and Plateau tribes. Volume four covers the Western United States and Hawaii. Each volume has a list of tribes recognized by the United States government, a glossary, and a cumulative index. Tribe names are arranged alphabetically by region. See the table of contents at the beginning of the volume to locate specific tribes.

Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures (Reference Collection: E 169.12 G 74 2004): This eight-volume set contains long articles on the literature, folklore, language, art, music, food, etc. of different regions of the United States. Each volume contains a table of contents, an index, and a bibliography. Volume one covers the American South, volume two New England, volume three the midwest, volume four the Pacific, volume five the Rocky Mountains, volume 6 the Great Plains, volume seven the Southwest, and volume eight the Mid-Atlantic region. Indexed.

Statistics

Statistics Sources (Reference Desk: Z 7551. S 84): Organized topically, this guide to statistics resources points out thousands of different places to find statistical information.

Web Sites

American Memory Project: Created and maintained by the Library of Congress, this Web site contains links to primary sources (original and first-hand) documents on topics in American history and culture.

Early Americas Digital Archive: The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (University of Maryland) has created this searchable archive of full text historical documents written about the Americans between 1492 and 1820.

INFOMINE: INFOMINE is a special database that searches for Web site and documents that most search engines miss, primarily Web pages and documents on university Web sites. This database is developed and maintained by the Library of the University of California, Riverside.

Popular Culture: Resources for Critical Analysis: This site links to thousands of web sites on topics in American culture, history, and society. Washington State University professors and graduate students maintain this site as well as several others, such as Digital Diversity, Cultures & Environments, Multicultural American West, Nineteenth Century Historical, Literary & Cultural Studies, Social Movements & Cultures, and Theory and Method in American/Cultural Studies. These projects are among only four Web sites featured by the ASA's Electronic Crossroads as exemplary "directories" of online resources in American Studies.

Rutgers University Libraries: History--American and British: Rutgers University Libraries has collected dozens of history resources on American and British history, including online digital archives, history portals, listservs, and general sites about American and British history.

Librarians

Reference Librarian for American Studies	Bibliographers for American Studies
Spencer Jardine Reference (208) 282-5609 jardspen@isu.edu	Sandra Shropshire Dean/University Librarian (208) 282-2671 shrosand@isu.edu

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