Please Note: Access to the databases is restricted to the CCSU community.

19th Century Masterfile (includes Poole’s)
The 19th Century Masterfile is an accumulation of various indexes to printed materials from the nineteenth century.  The library subscribes to Series I, which includes the following:
Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1907
Index to Legal Periodical Literature, 1786 – 1922
An Alphabetical Subject Index and Index Encyclopedia to Periodical Articles on Religion, 1890-1899
Index to Periodicals, 1890-1902

America: History and Life
Index to scholarly articles on topics in American History, such as politics, military history, social history, economic history and more.  Time periods range from the Paleolithic to the present.  This database indexes approximately 1,700 titles.  This source does not provide full text, but it does offer links where available to full-text articles through full-text sources such as Project MUSE, JSTOR and more.  Coverage begins in 1964, but varies by title.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800
Full-text collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, government documents and ephemera printed in America from 1639-1800.  This collection is based on the bibliography originally compiles and edited by Charles Evans.

Early Encounters in North America: People, Cultures and the Environment
This project documents the relationships among peoples from 1534 – 1850.  The collection presents the perspectives of traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, officials, native Americans and others.

History Reference Center
Offers full text from more than 1,000 reference books, encyclopedias, and non-fiction books, cover-to-cover  full text for 60 historical magazines, 58,000 historical documents, 43,000 biographies of historical figures, more than 12,000 historical photographs and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.  HRC is provided by iCONN, the Connecticut Digital Library.

JSTOR
JSTOR is a collection of full-text journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences including history that are exact images of the original journals. Every title in the collection begins with the first volume and issue, and runs to within 5 years of the present date if the journal is still published.

In the First Person: Index to Letters, Diaries, Oral Histories and Other Personal Narratives
Provides indexing of more than 2,500 collections of oral history from around the world.  There are more than 26,000 pages of full-text by over 9,000 individuals from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.

Library of Congress American Memory
American Memory is a gateway to the Library of Congress’ vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document United States History and Culture, American Memory is organized into more that 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled or donated them to the Library. The original formats include manuscripts, prints, photos, posters, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, and sheet music.

Proquest Historical Newspapers
Full images of the complete New York Times from 1851-2002, Hartford Courant from 1764-1980, and the Chicago Tribune from 1849-1985. Search by keyword, by date, etc.  Images of specific articles and full pages available.

Readers’ Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)
Presenting a rich account of United States cultural history in a single source, Readers’ Guide Retrospective allows the user to search the online equivalent of 44 Readers’ Guide Annuals.

Sanborn Maps (CT) - 1867-1970
Includes digital versions of the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for CT cities and towns. Sanborn fire insurance maps are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, environmentalists and anyone who wants to learn about the history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000
Contains several hundred primary documents, teaching tools and document projects about Women and Social Movements.

New Books

For a list of the most recent acquisitions available in American History click here.

Print Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Handbooks

Search the Library Catalog (CONSULS)

Note: REF = Reference Dept. – Third Floor

American Eras (REF E169.1 A47194 8vol.)
Detroit: Gale Research, 1997-99

The American Republic: Primary Sources (REF E173 A7536)
Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (REF E208 B635)
Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Reference, 1991

Civil Rights in the United States (REF E184 A1 C47 v. 1-2)
New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000

The Civil War Dictionary (REF E468 B7)
New York, N.Y.: McKay, 1988

Dictionary of American Biography (REF E176 D554 v. 1-10)
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928-58

Dictionary of American History (REF E174 D52 v. 1-10
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003

Documents of American History (REF E173 D59 v. 1-2
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1988 –

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (REF E185 E54 v. 1-5)
New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996

Encyclopedia of American Political History (REF E183 E5 v. 1-3)
New York: Scribner, 1984-

Encyclopedia of the American Civil War (REF E468 H47 v. 1-5)
Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2000

Encyclopedia of the Great Depression (REF E806 E63 v. 1-2)
New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004

Encyclopedia of the American Colonies (REF E45 E53 v. 1-3)
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993

Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century
 (REF E740.7 E53 v. 1-5)
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996

Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (REF E184 A1 G15 v. 1-2)
Detroit: Gale Group, 1999

Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes (REF E77 G15 v. 1-4)
Detroit: Gale, 1998

National Geographic Historical Atlas of the United States (REF G1201 S1 F5)
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2004

Oxford Companion to United States History (REF E174 O94)
Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001

Readers’ Guide to American History (REF E178.1 R43)
London; Chicago; Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997

American History Websites

American Historical Association
www.historians.org

American Studies Information Community (University of Virginia)
http://infocomm.lib.virginia.edu/toolkit/SPT/SPT--Home.php

Library of Congress
www.loc.gov

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (beta 1900-1910)
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
(New York Public Library)
www.nypl.org/research/sc