Starting Points: Guide to U.S. History

  Reference Books   l   Additional Material   l   Web Sites
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Reference – 1^st Floor  

Album of American History - R 973 A

Seven volume, heavily illustrated survey from the Colonial period to 1982.                                              

                                                           
The American Heritage Encyclopedia of American History -R 973.03 Ame

Reflects social, cultural, and ethnic histories of this country. One volume.   

Chronicle of America – Year by Year, Day by Day Experience First Hand - R 973 Chr

A chronological history in a newspaper-like format of the country from prehistory through 1997. Major events boxed and highlighted for each year. Many illustrations.                       
                                                           
Great Events from History – American Series - R 973 Mag

Short essays with summaries on 1000 events from the pre-Indian to the moon landing.                  

The Uniting States - R 973 Uni

In-depth stories of how each of the 50 states came to statehood.                     

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures - R 973.03 (w/variations)

The histories of the eight regions of the US: Pacific, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Great Plains, Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic, New England.                                                        

Dictionary of American History - R 973.03 Dic

Alphabetical entries in 10 volumes. Hundreds of maps throughout.                                                                                  
 

The Oxford Companion to United States History -R 973.03 Oxf 

An alphabetical one volume history from Jamestown to te Genome Project.            
 

The Annals of America - R 973.08 A

Detailed essays covering 1493 to 1986 in 27 volumes including Conspectus and  index. Many illustrations.       

Finding Additional Material

Dewey Decimal browsing numbers: 973
In addition to reference books, you may want to search for other books and materials (videos, audiobooks, etc.) on your topic. The best way to find good sources of information is to do a subject search in our Library catalog. You can access the Library catalog from the Library or from your home computer by going to our Web page (www.wppl.org), then to Search Our Catalog.  A good subject heading for this topic is United States History.

eBooks
Visit EBSCOhost to search the collection of thousands of eBooks the Library has to offer. Library card required. Contact a reference librarian for additional details.

Articles
The following sources can be used to find magazine articles dealing with your topic:

·            The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature - Adult Reference  R 050 R
       Search for articles on a subject within any given year.

       EBSCOhost and Infotrac Onefile - Access from the Library or at home using your library card
       number at www.wppl.org.  Search for full-text articles in these online databases using your choice of keywords. You can limit
       the search to a certain year or even a certain magazine.

Web Sites

AmDocs - Documents for the Study of American History: Historical documents from Columbus to the present.        

American Memory: The Library of Congress’ more than 9 million digital items from over 100 historical collections.    
      
History Matters: This multidimensional, multi-linked site is designed for high school and college history teachers, but there is much here for the history student as well.                      
      
The History Net: About.com’s categorized, multi-linked site.       
      
Internet Public Library’s US History: IPL’s extensive links to US history sites.                          
      
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Pre-European to the present North American maps with links to historical United States city and state maps.                                     
      
LibrarySpot’s Speeches: Original recordings of historic speeches given over the last century.   
      
Multnomah Co. Library’s American History Page: Over 100 links organized by chronology and topic.     
      
Yahoo’s American History Sites: Over 7,000 links subdivided into broad logical categories.                               
      

 

**The Library also offers a collection of travel-related sites on its website.  Go to (www.wppl.org), then to Reference Resources, then Good Web Sites, then click on History.**

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