The United States in the Twentieth Century to 1945

Reference Sources

Dictionary of American History.
Reference  E 174 .D52 2003  Floor 2

Encyclopedia of American History.
Reference  E 174.5 .E52 1996  Floor 2

Encyclopedia of the U.S. in the Twentieth Century.
Reference  E 740.7 .E53 1996  Floor 2

Historical Dictionary from the Great War to the Great Depression.
Reference  E 740.7 .W96 2003 Floor 2

Encyclopedia of the Great Depression.
Reference  E 806 .E63 2004 Floor 2

Franklin D. Roosevelt:  His Life and Times, an encyclopedic view.
Reference  E 807 .F69 1985  Floor 2

American Settlement Houses and Progressive Social Reform:  an encyclopedia.
HV 4194 .B37 1999  Floor 4

Encyclopedia of World War I.
Reference  D 510 .E53 2005  Floor 2


Online Catalog
To search for books, click on “find books and other materials “on the Milner Library Web Site.  The Online Catalog offers the “Advanced Search” as well as the “Quick Search” (with any word, title and subject searching).

If you are working from a bibliography, use the “Advanced Search” and type in the author’s last name and the title of the book to see if Milner Library has the book you need.  The “Quick Search -- Author” may also be useful for finding any books written by a specific person.

For searching by subject, use “Advanced Search -- Subject Words” or the “Quick Search -- Subject”.  If you find very few or no books using the subject searches, try the “Advanced Search – Any Words” or the “Quick Search -- Any Word Anywhere” search.

To find books on a particular person, look under the name of the person using the “Quick Search -- Subject” or the “Advanced Search -- Subject Words”.
            
To locate primary sources, look for subject divisions such as Sources, Correspondence, Diaries, Personal narratives, Oral history, etc.

The following are some examples of subjects related to twentieth century U.S. history that you may want to try searching for in the Online Catalog.:
               
Labor movement--United States
Trade unions--United States
Industries--United States
Emigration and immigration
Progressivism
Political corruption--United States
World War, 1914-1918
Depressions  1929
New Deal
World War, 1939-1945
African Americans--History
Women--United States--History
Women--Suffrage--United States

United States--History--(time period)
United States--Economic conditions--(time period)
United States--Foreign relations--(time period)
United States--Politics and government--(time period)
United States--Social conditions--(time period)

The My Account link in the Online Catalog shows items checked out, request information, fines and fees, and offers online renewal of books.

For materials not available in Milner Library, use the I-Share link to search other libraries.  Use the Request function to have books sent to Milner from other libraries.


Databases and Periodical Indexes
To locate journal articles on your topic, first use an online database.  Milner Library has several databases that provide access to articles in scholarly journals.  To search any of the online databases, click on "find articles on your topic" on the Milner Library Web Site.

Under "Databases by subject", click on the down arrow to view the list of subject areas.
Scroll down the list until you find History;  click on the subject to view a list of databases.

Under "Databases by title", click on the down arrow to view the list of databases and indexes.  Scroll through the list to find the database you need; click on the title to enter the database and begin searching.  The sources listed below are good places to begin your research.

To search multiple databases at the same time, try the “Search It” option.

The sources listed below are good places to begin your search.

1.  America History and Life.  
The major index to journal articles on United States and Canadian history.

2.  Historical Abstracts.  
The major index to journal articles on world history.

3.JSTOR.
Full text of backfiles of journals in the fields of history, political science, economics, etc.
Does not include latest years of journals.

4.  Project Muse.
Full text of recent years for over 300 journals in the humanities and social sciences.

5.  Social Sciences Abstracts.
Indexes journal articles from history, sociology, political science, economics, etc.

6.  Readers' Guide Abstracts and Readers’ Guide Retrospective. 
Available online from 1890 - present.  Indexes popular, mass market periodicals.

Locating Journals
The Find It link is available in most databases.  Click on this link for full text access and to search for a journal in the Online Catalog.

If you have a complete citation for an article, click on “find a known article”. 
Type in the journal title, year, volume and starting page;  then click on Find It.

To determine if a journal is available in full text,  click on the E-Journals link in the left hand column of the Milner Library website.  When the Find E-Journal screen appears; type in the title of the journal you need and click on Go.

Primary Sources

Newspapers
Newspapers may be a very useful source for historical material.  Milner Library subscribes to several newspapers from the local area, the state of Illinois, the United States and various other countries.  Some newspapers are available online and others are kept for many years on microfilm.  The microfilm for most newspapers is located on Floor 2 in the northeast corner.  Microfilm of newspapers may also be borrowed from other libraries through InterLibrary Loan.
            The following are examples of newspapers held in Milner Library.

1.  New York Times.  1851 - present.
New York Times archive online search at http://www.nyt.com;  citations & first paragraph of articles with links available to the full text of articles from 1851-1922.

2.  New York Evening Post.  1821 - 1939.

3.  New York Tribune.  1841 - 1924.

4.  Chicago Tribune.  1845 - present.
            Chicago Tribune Online.  1985 – present.
            Historical Chicago Tribune (online).  1849-1985.

5.  Chicago Defender.  1921 – present.

6.  Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington)  --  1853 - present.

7.  Illinois State Journal (Springfield)  --  1836 - 1974.

8.  St. Louis Post Dispatch.  1874-1980.

9.  HarpWeek  --  Full text of Harper's Weekly for the years 1857-1912.

Examples of Additional  Primary Sources

Official History of the First World War.
Microfilm  D 521 .O33  Floor 4     Index:  Reference D 521 .O33 Index Floor 2

Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States.
Doc.  S 1.1:  861-964   4th floor - Documents stacks

Presidential Papers  (microfilm and printed indexes)  Floor 2 – Northeast corner.
               
Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association papers.
E 185.97 .G3 M36 1983  Floor 3

Emma Goldman Papers.  Microfilm  HX 843.7 .G65 E43 1990  Floor 4
Guide:  Reference HX 843.7 .G65 E43 1995 Guide   Floor 2



InterLibrary Loan
In addition to the Request function in the Online Catalog, Milner Library also offers InterLibrary Loan services through the ILLIAD system.  A link to InterLibrary Loan is available on the Milner Library web site.  Login in to the ILLIAD system with your ULID and password.  New users will need to establish an account within ILLIAD.
ILLIAD allows for article and book requesting, as well as reviewing past requests and accessing articles received electronically.  Request materials on InterLibrary Loan early! 


Vanette Schwartz,   Office:  Milner Library 416
Phone: 438-3486;   E-mail: vmschwa@ilstu.edu