On This Page
This page lists the most important information in the guide. If you look at no other page on this guide, please at least review this one.
Find a Librarian to Help You
- Celestina Savonius-Wroth is the History Librarian.
Contact these librarians to schedule a consultation, or to ask questions about your library research. For more librarians, see the Get Research Help from an Expert page on this guide.
Find Books
To find books, begin with the Library Catalog:
- University of Illinois Library CatalogUse the Library Catalog to identify books, journals (but not journal articles), microform collections, and digital collections owned by the University of Illinois. The Library Catalog is the primary tool for exploring the collections of the University of Illinois Library, the second largest academic library collection in the United States. In the Library Catalog you can search for books by subject, and you identify the location within the Library of a particular book or journal. Books and journals are organized in the library by subject. Each item is assigned one or more subject headings and a unique call number. Subject headings are standardized terms from the Library of Congress. The call number is based on the Dewey Decimal Classification or Library of Congress Classification. Boolean operators must be capitalized if used: AND, OR, NOT. Interface automatically truncates some search terms unless Boolean operators are used within the same query line. You can also browse catalog records by call number, creating a "virtual shelf browsing" experience.
For more information on finding books, see the Books page on this guide.
Find Journal Articles
To find journal articles on any area of American history, begin with America: History and Life:
- America: History and LifeThe main article database for researching American history. Use to find journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on all periods of North American history. Includes some links to full text. Complements Historical Abstracts. Indexes publications from 1964-present.
For more information on finding journal articles, see the Periodicals page on this guide.
Find Audio-Visual Resources
- AdViewsThousands of television commercials from the firm D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B), ca. 1950s-1980s.
- Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International PropagandaNewsreels, feature films, and documentaries from 1917 through the Cold War. Films were produced in communist and socialist nations, such as the Soviet Union, Vietnam, China, Korea, Cuba, East Germany, and nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
- American History in VideoNewsreels (commercial and governmental), archival footage, public affairs footage, and documentary films. Includes global coverage of the 20th century, though from an American perspective. Videos were sourced from the Works Progress Administration, the Black Panther Party Library, the Library of Congress, United Newsreel, Universal Newsreel, Chronoscope, United States Information Agency, National Archives and Records Administration, and more.
- LGBT Studies in VideoDocumentaries, interviews, archival footage, and select feature films on LGBT history, gay culture, gay subcultures, civil rights, marriage equality, LGBT families, AIDS, transgender issues, religious perspectives on homosexuality, and global comparative experiences.
- Filmakers Library OnlineDocumentary videos organized into subject collections (e.g. "African American Studies," "Race and Culture," "Gender").
Below are collections not primarily of videos, but that include videos:
- African American Communities Newspapers, periodicals, oral histories, organizational records, personal papers, pamphlets, and ephemera that document the history of African American communities in Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, New York, North Carolina. Highlights of the collection include the Chicago Urban League records (1917-1985), the Town of Pullman records (1876-1919), the Lea Demarest Taylor papers on housing and race relations, 1893-1966, the Urban League of St. Louis records, and an extensive oral history collection. Collection is organized around five broad themes: Desegregation, Urban renewal and housing problems, Civil rights activities and protests, Race relations and community integration, and African American culture.
- Border and Migration Studies Online Documents drawn from 38 archival collections from around the world, mostly in the United States and United Kingdom. Covers migration and borderlands around the world, 1900 to the present, with emphasis on Mexico and the United States; EU; Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria; Congo; Germany; Argentina; Canada and the United States; and Turkey.
- Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies International in scope (with heavy emphasis on North America and Europe), the collection is organized around key events and themes, such as internment camps, prison labor, prison riots, juvenile detention, capital punishment, and the economics of mass incarceration. Brings together a variety of document types, such as government documents (including trial documents); institutional records; documentary videos; web content; memoirs, interviews, and personal narratives; pamphlets and ephemera; and literary works. Bulk of the primary sources were created between 1920 and 1950.
- Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest: Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 Emphasis on protest and social change. Archival material from the Browne Popular Culture Library (Bowling Green State University), the Bancroft Library (University of California, Berkeley), the British National Archives, the University of Sussex Library, and the Rock Source Archive.
- Human Rights Studies Online Human rights violations in the past century.
- Moving Image Archive (Internet Archive)Over 5 million films of varying length and genres. Includes the famous film from the famous Prelinger Archive in New York City.