Guides: History
Reference Sources
Credo Reference
Great starting point for research projects. Search in hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos.
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages:
Provides extensive information on the events, figures, and ideas of the Middle Ages, from the collapse of the West Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance.
The American Revolution, 1775-1783 : an encyclopedia:
a comprehensive two-volume reference work covering the Revolutionary War with hundreds of entries, essays, biographies (military, political, loyalist, Native American, women, Black figures), maps, a chronology, and bibliographies, reflecting contemporary historical scholarship and a global perspective on the conflict.
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution:
This encyclopedia describes clearly and readably the many different ideas and events that constitute what we know as the American Revolution. Equally suitable for browsing and as a reference source, and illustrated with many paintings, drawings, and documents of the period, this substantial volume is likely to remain a standard work on the subject for many years to come.
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture:
Over 5000 entries on Latin American history and culture.
Encyclopedia of the Renaissance:
A six volume encyclopedia with entries on the people, places, and topics of the Renaissance.
Primary Sources
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection:
More than 7,500 American magazines and journals from the AAS, documenting the life of America’s people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Subjects covered include art, music, literature, law, politics, religion, philosophy, science, family history, and ethnic studies. It is divided into five chronological series, which can be searched simultaneously:
- Series 1 (1691-1820)
- Series 2 (1821-1837)
- Series 3 (1838-1852)
- Series 4 (1853-1865)
- Series 5 (1866-1877)
African American Historical Serials Collection:
The African American Historical Serials Collection is an archive of periodicals that document the history of African American religious life and culture between 1829 and 1922. It includes newspapers and magazines, plus reports and annuals from African American religious organizations, including churches and social service agencies.
Civil War Primary Source Documents:
From the New-York Historical Society, Civil War Primary Source Documents is an archive of unique manuscripts chronicling the American Civil War as it was experienced. Providing both Northern and Southern perspectives, it covers all aspects of the war, including reactions and impressions from the home front.
Wisconsin Historical Society:
Research Portal including a number of digitized primary document collections.
Ripon College Archives:
A collection of historical documents and records from Ripon College.
Ripon Historical Society:
The Ripon community historical society, archives, and museum.
U.S. National Archives:
Records and historical documents from the U.S. National Archives.
World War I Resources at the Library of Congress:
Manuscripts, visual resources, maps, and a myriad of other primary sources of World War I.
American Memory Project:
Digitized texts, recordings, and other materials which document the American experience.
Early Americas Digital Archive:
Electronic documents written in or about the Americas from 1492 to 1820.
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS):
The official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication.
EuroDocs:
Selected transcriptions, facsimiles, and translations.
U.K. National Archives:
Records and historical documents at the British National Archives.
Old Maps Online Portal:
British funded site with thousands of maps from The British Library, The National Librarian of Scotland, and others.
Cold War International History Project:
The Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War, and seeks to accelerate the process of integrating new sources, materials, and perspectives from the former “Communist bloc” with the historiography of the Cold War, which has been written over the past few decades largely by Western scholars reliant on Western archival sources.
Veterans History Project:
The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
Densho:
The Densho Digital Repository (DDR) is an online archive of primary source materials documenting the Japanese American experience, with a focus on the history and legacy of World War II incarceration. It houses more than 100,000 items, including oral histories, photographs, government papers, personal letters, diaries, newspapers, and more.
Internet Archive:
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Additionally, it is a congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents.
Hathi Trust:
HathiTrust Digital Library provides historians with over 19 million digitized academic library materials, offering a vast corpus of public domain books and historical primary sources. It supports advanced, large-scale text analysis and computational research across its entire collection, facilitating deep historical inquiry.
Newspapers
Newspaper Source Plus (EBSCOhost):
Full text access to more than 700 newspapers and nearly 700,000 television and radio news transcripts.
Chronicling America:
Historic American Newspapers: Search and view newspapers from 1860 to 1922.
U.S. Newsstream:
Key national and regional sources, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, and over 80 local titles, like The Appleton Post-Crescent and The Green Bay Press Gazette. Content is updated daily, with same-day publication access to over 250 titles.
Newspapers.com:
Historical newspapers archive from the 1700s – 2000s containing thousands of well-known regional, state, and small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.
N.Y. Times TimesMachine:
TimesMachine is a browser-based digital replica of all issues of The New York Times from 1851-2002. Access is free through our complimentary “academic pass.” For more information including how to sign up, please read here.
Books
Lane Library Catalog:
Find books, e-books, and other resources held at Lane Library.
FirstSearch:
Access to WorldCat and ArticleFirst. Search for items not available through Lane Library (learn more about interlibrary loan).
ACLS Humanities E-Book Project:
Full text digital book collection of nearly 2,800 titles.
There are nearly 120,000 eBooks in this collection, representing a broad range of academic subject matter, including titles from leading university presses.
Project Gutenberg offers over 75,000 free ebooks. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired.
Articles
JSTOR:
Full text access to the archive of over 400 journals. The most current 3-5 years may not be available due to JSTOR’s publisher-defined moving wall.
Academic Search Compete (EBSCOhost):
Full text access to over 8000 journals.
Proquest Research Library:
Full text access to over 2,500 journals.
Humanities International Complete:
Broad coverage of humanities disciplines, with over 1200 full-text journals and books.