Library Guides: History, United States and Canada: Background Information

Overview of History, United States and Canada

Here you will find resources and guides for North American history (including the US and Canada) from the colonial period to the present.

Other Related Guides

Archives and Archival Resources
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Government Information
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Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

For topical dictionaries and encyclopedias (on race and ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality) see Resources by Topic.

Canada

The Canadian Encyclopedia
The national Canadian encyclopedia, first published in 1985, this latest edition was released in 2013.

Canadian Oxford Dictionary by Katherine Barber (Editor)
The dictionary offers information on English as it is used worldwide and as it is used particularly in Canada.
Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples by Paul Robert Magocsi (Editor)
Call Number: 10th Floor Reading Room - F 1006 .E66 1999 [In-Library Use Only]

United States

Oxford Research Encyclopedias: American History
Peer-reviewed, and regularly updated, this online resource covers the entire history of America and the United States. NOTE: although most of the content is open, some essays are not accessible.

Immigration

American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change Change
This reference work traces the scope of U.S. immigration from the earliest settlements to the present, providing a multidisciplinary approach.

The Making of Modern Immigration by Patrick J. Hayes (Editor)
Call Number: Reference, Collection [1st Floor] - JV 6450 .M364 2012 [In-Library Use Only]

U.S. immigration and migration reference library This link opens in a new window
Chronicles immigration to the United States from 1820 to present day.

Literature

American History through Literature (1820- 1870) This link opens in a new window
American History through Literature (1870- 1920) This link opens in a new window

Politics and Society

Civil Rights Movement in America by Peter Levy (Editor)
Publication Date: 2015

Encyclopedia of U.S. political history This link opens in a new window

Encyclopedia of War and American Society
A multidisciplinary encyclopedia that examines the numerous ways war affects culture and society.

Oxford encyclopedia of American political and legal history This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive coverage of political and legal history in the United States covering the key events, historical actors, presidential elections, court cases, and larger political and legal trends throughout American history.

General (Canada & US)

Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health This link opens in a new window

The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II by James D. Ciment (Editor); Mary Hickey; Jason Kniser; Thaddeus Russell (Editor)
Publication Date: 2006

News and Popular Press

Popular press resources (like newspapers and magazines) listed here are non-scholarly sources that describe contemporary events and offer opinion. For historical news sources, see "Primary Sources--Historical Newspapers."

Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text information and perspectives from hundreds of U.S. and international news sources. Web-only content and images are available. Coverage varies with individual newspapers, but in general coverage is recent and / or current.
Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals from alternative and independent presses from 1970.

Alternative Press Index

This index points users to content in nearly 300 alternative, left, and radical newspapers, periodicals, and magazines from the 1980s to the present.

CQ researcher This link opens in a new window
Covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with summaries, pros and cons, bibliographies and more, with a United States focus. Includes news covered in print issues of: Editorial research reports (1924-1986), Congressional quarterly's editorial research reports (1987-1991) and CQ researcher (1991-).
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic, minority and native press in the U.S. from 1950
Gale in context. Global issues (formerly Global issues in context) This link opens in a new window
It spans continents and cultures to bring information to researchers across academic disciplines. Integrating news, global viewpoints, reference, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics in a single search.
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni offers print and online journals, television and radio broadcasts, newswires and blogs, as well as local, regional, national and international newspapers with deep archives.

National Security Archive
The National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents.

Newspaper source plus This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for more than 40 national (U.S.) and international newspapers, including USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, The Times (London), The Toronto Star, etc. Selected full text for more than 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers, including The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press, The Miami Herald, The New York Daily News, etc. Full text television and radio news transcripts are also provided.

UN News
The United Nations' news portal about its work.

World news connection This link opens in a new window
Provides English translations of news sources prepared by the U.S. government from around the world. Successor to the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS).

Bibliographies and Guides

Bibliographies collect publication information for books, articles, and other resources in a particular firld. For bibliographies and guides for particular subjects, see Resources by Topic

Canada

The Oxford Companion to Canadian History by Gerald Hallowell (Editor)
Drawing on the latest scholarship, the country's leading historians describe and analyse the significant events, issues, institutions, people, and places that have shaped Canadian life from earliest times to the late twentieth century.
The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics by John C. Courtney; David E. Smith
It provides a comprehensive overview of the transformation that has occurred in Canadian politics in the last half-century, examining the institutions and processes of Canadian government and politics at the local, provincial and federal levels.

United States

The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South by Sharon Monteith (Editor)
Call Number: General Collection - PS 261 .C336 2013

Cambridge companions complete collection This link opens in a new window
Offers full-text, cross-searchable access to Cambridge Companions, authoritative guides, written by leading experts, offering introductions to major topics and periods. Suggested search: "North American history."

Cambridge Histories--American History
Provides full text online access to the volumes on American History in the Cambridge Histories reference series. Covers political, economic and social history.
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States by Kermit L. Hall (Editor); James W. Ely; Joel B. Grossman
It includes entries on key cases and crucial areas of constitutional law, such as abortion, freedom of religion, school desegregation, freedom of speech, voting rights, military tribunals, and the rights of the accused.

Oxford companion to United States history This link opens in a new window
Written by some 900 historians and other scholars, this volume illuminates not only America's political, diplomatic, and military history, but also social, cultural, and intellectual trends; science, technology, and medicine; the arts; and religion.

Biography

See also the Resources by Topics pages.

Canada

Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Dictionary of Canadian biography by W. Stewart Wallace [William Stewart], 1884-1970.
Call Number: 10th Floor Reading Room - F 1005 .W195
Publication Date: 1945

United States

African American National Biography by Henry Louis Gates (Contribution by); Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Contribution by)
Call Number: 10th Floor Reading Room - E 185.96 .A4466 2013 [In-Library Use Only]

American national biography This link opens in a new window
A standard biographical resource for more than 17,000 notable people in American history.
Ancestry library edition This link opens in a new window
Searchable genealogical information on billions of names across thousands of census and related collections.
Black women in America, 2nd ed. This link opens in a new window
The updated edition of this landmark work.

Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library
Library in Fort Wayne that offers databases with biographical information about people in Indiana and the nation.

Latinas in the United States by Vicki Ruíz; Virginia Sánchez Korrol
An historical encyclopedia that covers the full range of Latina economic, political, and cultural life in the United States.

Notable American Women
Access the 1607-1950 volumes (published, 1971);
Access the Modern Period volume (published 1980):
Access the volume that completed the twentieth century (published 2004).

General (Canada & US)

Biography and genealogy master index This link opens in a new window
Indexes hundreds of biographical sources covering individuals, living and dead, from every field of activity worldwide.
Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Offers a comprehensive collection of full-text biographies, including the complete run of Biography Today and Biography, along with narrative biographies not available in other databases. Users can locate biographies through keyword searching or by browsing key categories, including occupation, nationality, publication, as well as genre categories including actors, artists, athletes, authors, current world leaders, explorers, and scientists.
Contemporary Hispanic Biography This link opens in a new window
Biographies of Latinos and Latinas in the international Hispanic community.

Dictionary of Political Biography
It covers all the major figures in world politics of the twentieth century.

The Encyclopedia of Native American Biography by Donald A. Grinde; Bruce E. Johansen; Donald A. Grinde Jr.
Call Number: 10th Floor Reading Room - E 89 .J69 1997 [In-Library Use Only]

Oxford dictionary of national biography This link opens in a new window
The classic, authoritative biographical source for British history.

Who's Who in the Twentieth Century
It provides biographies of men and women from different countries and cultures who have contributed to the thought as well as the action of the twentieth century.

Who's who on the web This link opens in a new window
Biographies of over a million people of note, world wide. All Marquis' Who's Who biographies published since 1985 are included. Usage info: Licensed for 1 simultaneous user.

World's Who's Who
It offers current biographical information on about 70,000 of the most influential men and women in all fields.

Data and Statistics

Canadian Government and Other Sources

Canada Year Book Historical Collection
This collection provides access to a wealth of historical data from the annual Canada Year Book, from 1867 through 1967, along with historical text, tables, charts and maps.
Canadian Opinion Research Archive
This archives, at Queen's University, makes available hundreds of commercial and independent surveys, collected by major Canadian firms, dating back to the 1970s.
Open Government
Search for open datasets and maps from Canadian government sources.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the national statistical office. The agency offers key information on Canada’s economy, society and environment.

United States Government Sources

Census Data This link opens in a new window
Data from the decennial Census and the American Community Survey about U.S. population, business, housing, economics, and more.

CensusScope
Created by the Social Science Data Analysis Network, this source makes US census data accessible.
Demographic Trends in the 20th Century
A US Census Bureau summary of the last 100 years.

Historical Statistics of the United States (ebook) This link opens in a new window
This Millennial Edition Online is an expanded and rev. ed. of the Bicentennial Edition of Historical Statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970, Washington : U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1975.

Statistical Abstract of the United States
A comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.

General (Canada, US, and other nations)

Ancestry library edition This link opens in a new window
Searchable genealogical information on billions of names across thousands of census and related collections.

Census Online
A directory of links to online census records.

CQ Press Political reference suite of online editions This link opens in a new window
Cross-searchable, full-text access to reference titles on government and politics. Includes: Congress and the Nation, Encyclopedia of Political Science, Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History, Guide to Congress, Guide to Political Campaigns in America, Guide to the Presidency, Guide to U.S. Elections, Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, Historic Documents Series, Political Handbook of the World, [CQ's] Politics in America, Supreme Court Yearbook, Vital Statistics on American Politics, and Washington Information Directory.
Encyclopedia of population This link opens in a new window
Provides expanded, up-to-date coverage of demographic topics both in the core field and in neighboring disciplines. Designed to encompass the large-scale changes in emphasis and research directions in population studies during the last 20 years, topics covered include: rapid demographic expansion in poor countries; low fertility rates and problems of old-age support; the environmental impact of a dense population; the press for expanded reproductive rights; and much more.
International Historical Statistics (ebook) This link opens in a new window
Collection of statistical data from around the world, covering a wide range of socio-economic topics. Covering the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

iSideWith.com
iSideWith.com was created with the goal of boosting voter engagement and education. Use the flag icon in the upper right to choose the country (and language) to examine; view current political information, from parties, to upcoming elections, to polling data on current issues.
Pew Research Center
They provide public opinion polling and demographic research about the US. Their particular initiatives include focus on religion and public life, US politics and policy, Hispanic trends, and journalism and media, among others.

Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
More than 12,000 national, state, local and special surveys, conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and 70 other countries from 1986 through the present. Usage info: Licensed for 4 simultaneous users.

World Bank Open Date
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. Its five institutions share a commitment to reducing poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development.

World Christian database This link opens in a new window
It includes detailed information on Christian denominations and on religions in around the world. The resource is based on the 2001 revisions of print versions of World Christian encyclopedia and the World Christian trends.