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History Research Guide

Searching for Items in the Free Domain

Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the official research library for the United States Congress, the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, and the largest library in the world by number of items.

New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the public library system of New York and the second largest public library in the United States with over 53 million items. 

The American Alliance of Museums
The American Alliance of Museums is a non-profit organization that gathers and shares knowledge on issues of concern to the entire museum community.

The National Archives  
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government historical records.


Databases

JSTOR 
JSTOR is a peer-reviewed digital library of academic books, journals, and primary sources.

Smithsonian Learning Lab 
The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a digital collection with more than a million images, recordings, and texts.

Project MUSE 
Project MUSE is a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers. It is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books.

America: History and Life 
This is a bibliographic database that provides information focusing on the history of the United States and Canada.

EBSCOhost History Database
EBSCO's History Database provides full-text for leading history journals, with a broad scope of historical and social science literature.


Chicago Style Tips and Resources

Purdue OWL 
This Online Writing Lab from Purdue University is a free service that houses writing resources and instructional material, particularly for bibliographies.

University of Pittsburgh
This is a free service from the University of Pittsburgh that provides assistance for writing bibliographies, in a number of different styles.

Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style Online provides recommendations on editorial style and publishing practices for the digital age.

Webster University
This website is a comprehensive resource for Chicago Style citations, including in-text citations, endnotes, footnotes, and bibliography.


Historiography Tips

Trent University
This is a free service offered by Trent University that explains what a historiography is and how to write one. This site also contains sample historiographies.

University of Rhode Island University Libraries
This resource from URI includes step-by-step guide to writing a historiography as well as sample historiographies. 

History Compass (Historiographical Samples Database)
History Compass is an online journal that publishes historiographic essays.

Writing on History
Writing on History is an online historiography guide provided by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 


Other Online Resources

Google Scholar 
Google Scholar is a search engine that contains thousands of books and academic journals and articles.

PBS  
PBS Online contains hundreds of videos and movies of historical material.

History Net 
History Net contains daily features, photo galleries, and over 5,000 articles originally published in History Net's various magazines.

University of Oklahoma College of Law
This is a primary source collection that contains a chronology of United States Historical Documents.

Perseus Digital Library 
This digital library covers the history, literature, and culture of the ancient Greco-Roman world

The Getty Museum
The Getty Museum is one of the world's largest arts organizations, featuring work from all time periods and from all over the world.

African Voices
This permanent online exhibition from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History explores the diversity, dynamism, and global influence of Africa's people and cultures over time.

East Asian History Sourcebook
This sourcebook provided by Fordham University provides a comprehensive view of East Asian history and culture.