Library Home » Find Information » Subject Guides

General History

Databases & Article Searching

ACLS Humanities E-Book Project (UTSA subscription)
Produced by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Provides full-text access to over 1,000 major works in American, European, and Middle Eastern history, as well as the history of technology. Books are published by university presses, societies that constitute ACLS, and commercial, scholarly publishing houses. Works selected for inclusion are deemed to have lasting value to research in the discipline and are frequently cited by historians. Nearly 350 new titles will be added every year, almost 100 of which are previously unpublished. Note: Previously entitled ACLS History E-Book Project. Full Text

America: History and Life (UTSA subscription)
This database indexes and abstracts articles on American and Canadian history published from 1964 onward. See Historical Abstracts for other area history. Citations only

American Periodicals Series Online (APS) 1740-1900 (UTSA subscription)
Full-image access to 700 periodicals published in America between 1741 and 1805. The completed database will include coverage of over 1,000 periodicals published between 1741 and 1900. The indexed titles include general interest magazines as well as professional and scholarly journals of interest to those researching history, politics, the arts and sciences, folklore, and Americana. Full Image

BlackPast.org
Free Website: http://blackpast.org/
This is a Black online encyclopedia covering people, places, places, institutions, events. groups and organizations. Full Text

Gerritsen Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs: (formerly Women's History Online, 1543-1945)
Online access to nearly 4,500 books and 265 journals that trace the evolution of feminism and women's rights in the United States, Britain, Canada, continental Europe, and New Zealand, among other geographic areas. Full image

Historical Abstracts (UTSA subscription)
This database indexes and abstracts articles on world history from the Renaissance onward excluding the United States and Canada published from 1954 onward. From 1954 to 1963 it contain article published on American and Canadian history. See America: History and Life for American and Canadian history. Citations only

Historical Newspapers (UTSA subscription)
Provides access to the full-text/full-image backfiles of four major U.S. newspapers covering national and international events and issues: New York Times (1851-2003), Washington Post (1877-1990), Wall Street Journal (1889-1989), and Christian Science Monitor (1908-1993). Coverage begins with the first issue of each title. To access the most recent issues, see National Newspapers. Full Image

History Resource Center: Modern World (UTSA subscription)
Provides research resources for the study of world history, 1900 to the present. Includes full-text information from a large collection of reference works and primary source documents, as well as articles from more than 100 history related periodicals. Contains photographs, illustrations, and historical maps. Updated weekly. Full Text

History Resource Center: U.S. (UTSA subscription)
Designed as an 'entry point' to begin researching the vast topic of U.S. history. Includes full text information from a large collection of primary source documents, articles from more than 60 history related magazines and newspapers, and reference works. Contains photographs, illustrations, and historical maps. Updated weekly. Full Text

Internet History Sourcebook Project
Free Website: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/
The sourcebooks are excellent sources of primary texts. These sourcebooks are also portals to other useful sites (despite some dead links). The site has history sourcebooks for:

• African
• Ancient
• Byzantine
• East Asian
• Global
• Indian (Asian)
• Islamic
• Jewish
• Lesbian & Gay
• Medieval
• Modern
• Science
• Women

JSTOR (UTSA subscription)
Full image access to a comprehensive archive to many scholarly journals. At least 12 subject areas are represented, primarily in the social sciences, with new subjects and titles added regularly. Full image

Periodicals Archive Online (UTSA subscription)
A major online periodical index that provides citations to nearly 14 million articles in the humanities and social sciences. Full Image

Web of Science (UTSA subscription)
Philadelphia, Pa.: Institute for Scientific Information.
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than 8,400 journals from 1989 to the present in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Print equivalents published by The Institute for Scientific Information are Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, and Social Sciences Citation Index.  Citations only

Back to top

Primary Resources

Also see the UTSA Primary Resources Subject Guide

Avalon Project
Free Website: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
This database of primary documents has items from 400 B.C. to the present. The greatest emphasis is on legal documents. However there are numerous documents in the area of in history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government. Full Text

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present
Free Website: http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp
This is an excellent source of biographical information on former and current members of Congress. Better yet, it contains excellent bibliographies of primary resources relating to the members of Congress.

Center for Research Libraries (UTSA subscription)
Includes approximately 500,000 bibliographic records for monographs (books), newspapers, serials, archival materials in microform and microform sets. All materials are available through interlibrary loan for UTSA faculty, staff and students.

Congressional Universe (LexisNexis Congressional) (UTSA Subscription)
This contains indexing to all Congressional hearings and the full text of the Congressional Serial Set. UTSA has all congressional hearings on microfiche. All material indexed in this database are primary sources. Congress has held hearing at one time or another on such a broad range of topics that Congressional Universe is useful source for primary material on almost any topic. Full Text

CQ Historic Documents Series Online (UTSA Subscription) (part of CQ Electronic Library)
This database contains many hard to find primary documents dealing with then contemporary events. The period covered is from 1972 onward. Full Text

Digital National Security Archive (UTSA Subscription)
Provides an exhaustive collection of primary documents relating to U.S. foreign and military policy initiatives since 1945, culled from holdings of the National Security Archive obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Full Text

Documenting the American South
Free Website: http://docsouth.unc.edu/
This database has a large number of primary documents from Southern history covering a broad array of topics. Full Text

Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers (FRUS)
U.S. Department of State
Free Website (University of Wisconsin): http://libtext-dev.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/ (incomplete run from 1861-1960)
Free Website (U.S. Dept. of State) : http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS1155 (1945-1969)
Location: JPL Stacks JX233 .A3 (some volumes on microfiche S1 .1:) Check UCAT for exact years.
The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. This federal government publication has various State Department materials, all of which are primary sources. Content covers from 1861 to 1976. It is in hard copy as a set of volumes that can be checked out and as two online databases. New volumes are added regularly.

Heritage Quest (via ProQuest) (UTSA subscription)
Provides a collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Includes full-image documents and indexes from the U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1930, as well as full-text documents from more than 25,000 works of local and family histories.

Historical Text Archive
Free Website: http://historicaltextarchive.com/
"The HTA publishes high quality articles, books, essays, documents, historical photos, and links, screened for content, for a broad range of historical subjects."

Milestone Documents In American History: Exploring The Primary Sources That Shaped America
Location: JPL Reference E173 .M55 2008 (4 volumes)
133 iconic primary documents from the Revolutionary era to the twenty-first century with analysis and commentary.

Back to top

Historical Maps

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, Historical Map Web Site
Free Website: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/hist_sites.html
This site out of the University of Texas at Austin is an excellent portal to a variety of high quality cartographical web sites. The links are very reliable.

Links to Historical Maps on Other Sites…and other less related sites that may be of interest
Free Website: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus
This oddly named site is a highly idiosyncratic portal. The links are not as reliable as the above U.T. Austin site. However, it has links to an extensive number of sites and has a good subject list with links that are on no other portal site. The webmaster even rates the sites. Beware of MIA's. It's the webmaster's way of noting problematic link.

Back to top

Historical Census Data

Historical Census Browser
Free Website: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus
This site allows the creation of detailed data sets down to the county level. Tables Can be created that display a number of data elements for a number of selected counties or states. The coverage is for the decimal censuses from 1790 onward.

Back to top

Major Primary Resource Collections

Over the last two years, the UTSA Library has spent more than $1 million on the acquisition of research collections on microfilm and microfiche. The Library now has two new Canon 800 microfilm reader/printers, which scan microfilm/fiche into an electronic file, which you can then save to a diskette and print on a laser printer. This new equipment will make your research much easier.

Below is a list of major primary source collections in the John Peace Library. Check UCAT for the location and format (print, microfilm or microfiche). If you need help accessing these collections, please contact the Subject Bibliographer or the John Peace Library Reference Desk at 458-4573.

The collections include:

American History--

• Abraham Lincoln Papers
• Adams Family Correspondence
• Adams Papers
• American Civil Liberties Union Archives, Civil Rights 1943-1979
• American Culture Series (1493-1875) (microfiche)
• American Women's Diaries (East, South, West) (microfilm)
• Archives of the Works Progress Administration
• Bexar Archives (English and Spanish) (microfilm)
• Civil Rights During the Eisenhower Administration
• Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969. Complete collection
• Civil Rights During the Kennedy Administration. Complete collection
• COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program of the FBI)
• Complete Records of the Mission of General George C. Marshall to China w/guide
• Congressional Hearings Complete
• Congressional Record
• Correspondence of James K. Polk - JPL Stacks E337.8 .P63 (10 volumes)
• de la Peña Diaries (English and Spanish)
• Documentary History of First Federal Congresses
• Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution
• Documentary History of the Supreme Court
• Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency - JPL Folio E806 .D614 (20 volumes)
• Documentary History of the Truman Administration
• Documentary Series: Old Spanish Missions
• Early Southern Program General Education Board (Texas)
• FBI Assassination File on Martin Luther King, Jr.
• FBI File on Alger Hiss/ Whittaker Chambers
• FBI File on Eleanor Roosevelt
• FBI File on Jonestown
• FBI File on Joseph McCarthy
• FBI File on Owen Lattimore w/guide
• FBI File on the Atlanta Child Murders
• FBI File on the House Committee on Un-American Activities
• FBI File on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee w/guide
• FBI File on Thurgood Marshall
• FBI Files Manual of Administrative Operations and Procedures/ Manual of Investigative Operations
• FBI Files Manuals of instruction, investigative procedures, and guidelines 1927-1978
• FBI Files on: America First Committee
  • Charles Lindbergh
  • Huey Long
  • John L. Lewis
  • Joseph Kennedy
  • Roy Cohn
  • Sacco/Vanzetti
• FBI Files on the American Indian Movement and Wounded Knee
• FBI Files on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
• FBI Files on Osage Indian Murders
• FBI Files on Robert F. Kennedy
• FBI Files on Waco/Branch Davidian Compound
• FBI Files Posse Comitatus
• FBI Investigation File on Watergate
• FBI Security File on Robert Oppenheimer
• Freedom a Documentary History of Emancipation
• History of Women: The History of Science, Health, and Women
• History of Women: The Social and Cultural Construction of Girls
• Horace Greeley Papers
• James Buchanan and Harriet (Lane) Buchanan Papers
• John Jay - JPL E302 .J42 1975 (2 volumes)
• LBJ National Security Files
• Life of Herbert Hoover - JPL Stacks E802 .N37 1983 (3 volumes)
• Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service, supplements 2002-2003
• Marcus Garvey & the Universal Negro Improvement Assoc. - JPL Stacks E185.97 .G3M36 1983 (8 volumes)
• Nixon Administration Papers
• Non-populations Census, Federal Only, All States
• Official and Confidential File of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
• Papers of Alexander Stephens
• Papers of Andrew Jackson
• Papers of Benjamin Franklin
• Papers of Frederick Douglass
• Papers of General Nathanael Greene
• Papers of George Catlett Marshall
• Papers of George Washington
• Papers of James Madison
• Papers of James Monroe
• Papers of Jefferson Davis
• Papers of John Marshall
• Papers of Joseph Henry
• Papers of Simon Cameron
• Records of the Confederate States of America (microfiche)
• Papers of W.E.B. duBois
• Pennsylvania Archives
• Records of Ante Bellum Southern Plantations (Texas)
• Regimental Histories of the American Civil War, complete collection
• Samuel Gompers Papers
• Slavery and Anti Slavery Pamphlets
• Slavery and Anti Slavery Collection
• Slavery Miscellaneous Manuscripts
• State Census, complete collection
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1959-1972)
• Students for a Democratic Society Papers (1958-1970)
• Texas Federal Census
• Thaddeus Stevens Papers
• Ulysses S. Grant Papers
• U.S. Census--Decennial (complete)
• U.S. Executive Branch Documents (1789-1932)
• United States Statutes at Large
• Utopian Literature (pre-1900)
• Western Americana: frontier history of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1550-1900

Latin America--

• British Document on Foreign Affairs Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print Latin American, Parts I-V
• CIA Research Reports. Latin America, 1946-1976
• General Census of the Population of Mexico: 1895, 1900, 1910, 1921, 1930, and 1940
• Latin American Pamphlets from the Yale University Library, 1600-1900: Mexico; 6,060 pamphlets
• Mexico: Internal Affairs, 1940-1944. Part I: Political, Governmental, and National Defense Affairs
• Mexico: Internal Affairs, 1940-1944. Part II: Social, Economic, and Industrial Affairs Confidential U.S. State Dept. Central Files
• Mexico: Internal Affairs, 1945-1949. Part I: Political, Government, and National Defense Affairs
• Mexico: Internal Affairs, 1945-1949. Part II: Social, Economic, and Industrial Affairs
• OSS / State Department Intelligence and Research Reports. Part XIV. Latin America: 1941-1961
• U.S. political relations with Guatemala, 1945-1959
• Princeton University Libraries Latin American Microfilm Collection: Mexico and supplements
• Records of the U.S. Department of State Decimal Files Relating to Political Relations between the U.S. and Latin American
• United States and Castro's Cuba, 1950 - 1970
• U.S. Department of State Decimal Files Relating to Political Relations of Latin American and Caribbean States, 1930-1944
• U.S. Military Intelligence Reports: Mexico, 1919-1941

Europe--

• British Parliamentary Papers (UTSA and other local libraries)
• Benjamin Disraeli Letters
• Foundations of Modern Europe
• Hitler's Speeches and Proclamations
• Spanish Civil War Collection

Africa--

• Africa, CIA Research Reports(1946-1976)
• OSS/State Dept. Intelligence & Res. Rpts. Africa 1941-1961

Asia--

• Britain in India
• Cantonese Union Church Bulletin
• Chinese Recorder
• Chinese Repository
• Department of State Central Files Relating to the Far East, 1945-1949 Confidential U.S.
• Department of State Central Files Relating to the Far East, 1950-1954
• Department of State Central Files Relating to the Far East, 1955-1959
• Dispatches from United States Consuls:
  • Canton (1790-1906)
  • Foochow (1849-1906)
  • Hangchow (1904-1906)
  • Macao (1849-1869
  • Shanghai (1847-1906)
  • Swatow (1850-1881)
  • Tientsin (1863-1906)
• Documents of Contemporary China (1949-1975, PRC)
• India Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs (1945-1954)
• OSS/State Department Intelligence and Research Reports
  • China and India (1941-1961)
• Papers of Sir Frederick Maze (1899-1943)
• Political Pamphlets from the Indian Subcontinent
• Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations between the United States with China, 1910-1929
• Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955 w/guide
• Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1910-1929 w/guide
• Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1930-1949 w/guide
• Shanghai Municipal Police Files (1894-1945)

8/19/09