The subject headings used in the catalog are standardized Library of Congress terms, which may be “subdivided” (made more specific) by geographic area, chronological period, genre, or sub-topic.

A good way to identify subject headings for a topic is to do a keyword search in the online catalog using terms you think describe the topic and try to identify a few relevant books. Look at the full record for those books to see what subject headings were used, then do another search on those headings.

Here are some examples of subject headings relating to history and film:

• Historical films —History and criticism.
• Historical films —United States —History and criticism.
• Historical films —Soviet Union —History and criticism.
• Motion Pictures and History.
• Motion Pictures in Historiography.
• Motion Pictures —Philosophy.
• United States —In motion pictures.
• Moving pictures —United States.
• Cold War in motion pictures..
• Kramer, Stanley.
• Bertolucci, Bernardo —Criticism and interpretation.
• Motion picture producers and directors --Political activity --United States.
• Communism and motion pictures --United States.
• Malcolm X (Motion picture: 1992).
• Motion pictures --Political aspects --United States.
• Patton (Motion picture).
• Sex role in motion pictures.
• Cold War --Social aspects --United States.

You can identify a great many sources by simply doing keyword searching in the online catalog, but if you are doing original research, you will want to conduct a systematic, comprehensive search of our holdings by also searching with subject headings. The online catalog is full of idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies, so a multi-faceted approach to identifying material on a particular topic is always a good idea.