Kay Collins
Interim History Research Librarian and
U.S. Government Information Librarian
Langson Library
(949) 824-7290
kcollins@uci.edu
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Table of Contents

Finding Books
Finding Journal Articles
Selected Primary Resources
UCI Libarary Subject Guides
Special Collections Around  Southern California
General Hints for Searching
 

Finding Books

• ANTPAC --to locate books at UCI
• Melvyl -- to locate books at all the UC Libraries.  Expands your search.  Use "Request" button to have a book send to you at UCI. 
  
• WorldCat -- to identify books which may not be in the UC system.  Use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form on ANTPAC to request copies on ILL.
• RLG Union Catalog -- catalog of libraries and their books; many are specialized and have different holdings from the other 3.  Use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form on ANTPAC to request copies on ILL.
• Center for Research Libraries -- Unique resources available for loan.  Various languages.  Some primary resources as well as secondary.
  

Finding Journal Articles

    General:

• America History and Life -- dedicated to history articles for U.S. and Canada.  Only  database devoted to history which also provides limiting the search to the time period being researched.  Can also limit a search to  book reviews.  Try for articles about L.A.
  
• Historical Abstracts -- dedicatd to history articles for the rest of the world, other than the U.S. and Canada.  Better for articles about Shanghai.  From the top drop down menu you can search both America History and Life and Historical Abstracts at once. 
  
• JSTOR -- search full-text of articles.  Do not look here for recent years.  There is usually a 3-5 year moving wall that does not include current titles
• Project Muse -- search full-text articles.  Includes current issues.
• Web of Science -- locate scholarly articles on broad range of subject areas. Use the UCeLinks button to help locate articles cited
• Readers' Guide Retrospective -- Index to major  and popular journals for most of the 20th Century. 
  
• The Nation Digital Archive, 1865 forward --  The Nation has long been a major publisher of outstanding articles on politics, economics and social issues in the U.S.
• Periodical Archives Online and Periodicals Index Online -- Cover articles in the humanities and social sciences back as far as 1770.  Various languages.  The archive includes full-text articles but is not as complete in its indexing and the Index.  UCeLinks helps locate articles not directly linked within the Index database. 
  
• Humanities Index -- Very complete index to the humanities, including some unusual publications.  Begins with publications 1984, including some history.
• CQ Researcher Plus Archives -- Great place to begin locating full-text background information on important topic of the time.  Best for subjects with a national bent.  Outstanding analyses of topics. 
  

    Subject Specific Databases:

• Sociological Abstracts -- social aspects of your topic.  Not devoted to history but will include historical information
• PAIS International and/or PAIS Archive -- especially good for public affairs, including politics, economics, some social coverage.  The Archive best for the very early years.  Note, covers more than United States.
• Cross search several related  databases at a time.  When you get to either the PAIS or Sociological  Abstracts search screen,  next to the "Change" is a drop box.  Use that to select the "Subject Area" , Social Sciences.  Then do a keyword search. 
  
• Urban Studies and Planning -- look for articles of an historical nature. 
  
• Ethnic NewsWatch  -- publications of all sorts, from 1960 to present.   Ethnic and minority publications.  Make sure to select the right database Select more databases box; there are 3 with varying time periods.
• Proquest Reference Asia --  (Sometimes called Proquest Asian Business and Reference).  Includes both Los Angeles and Shanghai article citations and a lot of full text articles.

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Selected Primary Resources online and off

   

• Historical New York Times --
  
• Historical Los Angeles Times --
  
• Historical Wall Street Journal --
  
• Search these individually or all together.  Must make sure  each box has a check in it by clicking on "Select more databases" , scrolling to the bottom and selecting the titles wanted.  Can also select dates of coverage.
• Historical Newspapers on microfilm can be found in Langson Library, Second Floor, Current Periodicals room.  There are many Orange County papers and selected national newspapers like the Atlanta Constitution and the Washington Post.   This requires the user to browse the paper, page by page and day by day.  If you get a good date from using one of the Historical papers listed above, it can help pin point a range of dates. 
  
• If you wish to make copies of pages, one option is to take the film down to the first floor once you have identified your pages.  There you can download to a memory stick or burn a CD from a blank that you bring. 
  
• More current issues of New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. 
  
• To search all of each of these papers, click on " Select more databases", then  select the paper of database you want to search.  These 3 are under Proquest Newspapers.
• Newspapers for the last 5 to 10 years can be searched via Access World News and LexisNexis Academic (newspaper section).  Be sure to use their Help and Tips sections as searching full text is unique and different than each other and other databases.
• Cities Around the World -- photographs from cities around the world, including L.A. and Shanghai.  From the collection of the American Geographical Society Library.  From street scenes to work places, a picture might help.
  
• LexisNexis Congressional -- Can limit search by date range and type of  Congressional Publication.  Use ANTPAC and Melvyl to locate copies.  Covers topics from sidewalks to urban sprawl.  Click on Political News to search the Washington Post back to 1977.
• Archive of Americana -- Composed of several resources about early U.S., from early books of fiction to newspapers and gaovernment documents.  Be sure to check the dates of the resource.  Can search them all at once or each set separately.
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
  The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers are vital to the historical record of Britain, its former Colonies and the wider world. They are among the richest and most detailed primary sources for the history of the 19th Century.
• Empire Online
  "This database is being published in five sections between 2003 and 2007 offering approximately 60,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. The sections cover Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969 (2003); Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire (2003/4); The Visible Empire (2004/5); Religion and Empire (2005/6); and Race, Class and Colonialism, c1783-1969 (2006/7)." Texts in English principally, also French, Portuguese, Spanish, German.  Can search by topic or place or name. Limit to time period needed.
  
• Calisphere -- University of California gateway to primary resources.  Though aimed at teachers, can help with many other users as well.
• Best of History Web Sites -- Can select type or time of history and web sites of primary history sites are ranked and linked.
• Tutorial for finding primary resources --  Best part gives examples of how to locate primary resources in books.  E.g., memoirs, autobiographies, letters, interviews, diaries, etc.
• 19th Century Masterfile -- Indexes 19th Century Literature, including books, newspapers, periodicals and government publications.  Most do not have full-text links.  Use the index to locate the titles.  Can limit search by date. 
  
• Nineteenth Century microfiche collection of various literature.  The paper indexes are in order by author.  To gain subject access to the fiche, there is a CD-ROM in the Langson Library Multimedia Resources Center.  (Microfiche M 218).
  

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UCI Library Subject Guides

Created by subject librarians to help locate information sources by general subject, some of these may be of help with specialized topics.  Remember, many of the online resources may include publications that go back as far as you like.  Just look for material that they cite that might cover your time period.  Many resources will include some historical information. 

These Subject Guides are all linked  off of the Library Home Page.  Some you may want to consider:

•  History
• U. S. Government History
• Planning, Policy and Design
• Women's/Gender/Feminist Studies
• African American Studies
• Sociology

Special Collections around Southern California

 

• UCI Libraries Special Collections -- Specializes in Orange County and California collections but also have much more, including Los Angeles.  Books are cataloged in ANTPAC.  But also have special collections of papers, UCI Archives, etc.  Can help identify collections where a visit might prove fruitful.
  
• Online Archive of California -- Look here for indexes and user guides to historical special collections in various libraries throughout California.  Some is available online, others require visiting the institution.
• County Archives -- Most counties have a governmental archive.  These are usually official government archives. 
  
• University government documents and also Special Collections.  Some of the university archives also collect for a specific county, e.g., UCI collects for Orange County in the Government Information Section; UCLA collects for Los Angeles, etc.
• Major public libraries may also have archives of publications.  For instance, Anaheim Public has an Orange County Archive and Los Angeles Public Library has some great resources.  They have a Regional History page
  
• USC has a strong LA collection.  Check out their Archival Research Center.  They have an LA page .
• Southern California Library for Social Science Research is strong in labor and social justice history in LA.
• County History Societies -- most counties have a history society and they can be very helpful in locating county history resources
• Special Subject Archives -- For instance Chinatown has an archive.  Some major organizations might have an archive.  You might need to check for a web page or call them for information.

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General Hints for Searching

• Descriptive terms to describe some topics have changed over time.  Search on all that might apply.  Not all the databases have a controlled  vocabulary and are searching full-text resources so selected terms can be important.  e.g., Negro -> Blacks -> African Americans; or, Chinese, Chinaman, coolie, etc.  Not always what we currently use or politically correct.
  
• Advanced search screens often provide added ways to either expand or limit a search
  
• Some of the indexes that include your time period may not be online.  You may need to consult paper indexes.  I can help guide you depending upon your topic.
• Begin your research early.  You will probably be requesting resources via ILL and that takes time.