Covering more than 500 years of the African-American experience, African-American History offers a fresh way to explore the full spectrum of African-American history and culture. Users can start their investigation of a topic with a video or slideshow overview, use the key content called out on the home page to find an entryway into the database, or dig deep into an era through the Topic Centers. Read about key figures and events, examine famous speeches and other primary sources, and get context from the in-depth timelines.
American Government provides a complete, multifaceted examination of the foundations of our government and political system that supports any curriculum or research project focused on the government of the United States.
Spans more than 500 years of political, military, social, and cultural history covering the American experience. One of Infobase Learning's History databases to assist educators and students in their research needs. Fully revised, cross-searchable, and seamlessly integrated for complete history coverage.
Appreciating American history requires students to understand the implicit yet underlining role of defining moments and movements in the evolution of the America they know. By putting past events in context with contemporary realities, American History encourages students to think critically about America’s history in relation to its future.
American History surveys American history from the colonial era and American Revolution through to the nation’s rise to eminence as a global superpower, analyzing American political conflict, economic development, and changing culture and thought as they tell one continuous and continuing story of America’s history.
American Indian History Online offers fast access to more than 15,000 years of culture and history, covering more than 600 Native American groups, through tablet/mobile-friendly videos and slideshows, images, biographies of key people, event and topic entries, primary sources, maps and graphs, and timelines. With a completely redesigned, user-friendly interface, this award-winning database allows for an interactive, multifaceted look at the indigenous peoples of the Americas. An important new feature is full cross-searchability across all the Infobase history databases for an even more comprehensive view of history.
More than 650,000 biographical entries covering international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Offers authoritative reference content alongside, videos, audio selections, images, primary sources, and magazine and journal articles from hundreds of major periodicals and newspapers. Continuously updated.
ProQuest Civil War Era is the resource American history scholars have been waiting for—comprehensive primary source materials that were previously unavailable digitally, cover a vast range of topics including the formative economic factors and other forces that led to the abolitionist movement, the 600,000 casualties, and the emancipation of nearly 4 million slaves.
ProQuest Civil War Era was developed in conjunction with librarians and expert Civil War scholars to meet valuable research needs as no other resource can. It combines continuous runs of regional newspapers, as well as pamphlets covering a wide range of topics. It's a deep set of primary sources, with documents that encompass the buildup to and evolution of the war that shaped the nation's identity, all in original article and page image. ProQuest Civil War Era focuses on the entire era, from Manifest Destiny through the end of the Civil War—enabling researchers to investigate not just the battles, but also the rising tensions that led the country to war.
European Views of the Americas is a searchable bibliographic index to books, manuscripts, broadsides and other materials printed in Europe relating to the Americas, 1493-1750. Among the topics covered by are the slave trade, piracy, French in American, British colonies, commerce, exploration, Dutch in America and the Jesuits. Other subjects include botany, shipping, natural history, mines, minerals, law, navigation and named areas like Chile, Hispaniola, Jamaica, New York, Peru and other individual countries, islands, cities, colonies and regions. The original bibliography was co-developed by John Alden and Dennis Landis, Curator of European Books at The John Carter Brown Library.
This interface is designed specifically for high school students according to their needs and search abilities. This interface is graphically rich and provides access to age-appropriate materials. Includes topic overviews that provide students with a starting point for research and 60,000 top videos from the Associated Press.
Military & Government Collection is a database of full-text journals and periodicals pertaining to all branches of the military and government. It is designed to offer current news to military members, analysts, policy makers, students and researchers.
Modern World History offers a comprehensive look at world history from the mid-15th century to the present. Thousands of subject entries, biographies, images, videos and slideshows, maps and graphs, primary sources, and timelines combine to provide a detailed and comparative view of the people, places, events, and ideas that have defined modern world history. Focused Topic Centers pull forward interesting entries, search terms, documents, and maps handpicked by our editors to help users find a starting point for their research, as well as videos and slideshow overviews to offer a visual introduction to key eras and regions. All the Infobase history databases in a collection are fully cross-searchable.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers provide fully searchable cover-to-cover access to historical newspaper content. Historical newspaper content is among the most sought-after primary source material in research. Options include the New York Times with Index (1851 - 2014); the New York Amsterdam News (1922 - 1993); the Washington Post (1877 - 2001), the Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1994); and more.
Where to Browse: Notable Dewey Numbers
Monograph Madness
Struggling to find a particular book? Want something that isn't in our library's collection? Don't panic! Your librarians have plenty of ways to procure the materials you require. Let us know what you're after and we'll handle the rest!
Topic |
Search Terms & Keywords |
Database Subject Headings |
Search-Enhancing Idioms |
---|---|---|---|
African Americans in the Civil War |
Enslaved people, Underground Railroad, Black soldiers, 54th Massachusetts Regiment, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, contraband of war, free black communities, African American spies | Slavery, African Americans--History--1861-1865, Military history--United States--Civil War, African Americans--Biography | "Runaway slaves," "Contraband of war," "Black regiments," "African Americans in the Confederacy" |
Women in the Civil War |
Nurses, Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix, women's aid societies, domestic life during the war, women's clothing, women teachers, women factory workers, filthy lucre (coined by Mary Livermore to describe wartime profiteering) | Women and war, Nursing--History--19th century, United States--Social life and customs--1861-1865, Clothing and dress--United States--1860-1869 | "Women's sphere," "Soldier's aid societies," "Behind the lines," "Women's experiences in the Confederacy" |
Native Americans in the Civil War |
Cherokee Nation, Creek Nation, Seminole Nation, Navajo Code Talkers, Ely S. Parker, reservation system and the Civil War, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), allies and enemies (tribes on both sides) | Indigenous peoples--North America--History--1861-1865, Military history--United States--Civil War, Cherokee Nation--History, Creek Nation--History | "Native American tribes," "Civil War code talkers," "Forced relocation" |
Key Battles: Gettysburg |
Gettysburg Address, Pennsylvania, Pickett's Charge, civilian experiences | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Battles--Gettysburg | "Turning point of the Civil War," "Gettysburg battlefield photographs" |
Key Battles: Antietam |
Sharpsburg, Maryland, bloodiest day, strategic importance | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Battles--Antietam | "Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation," "Cornfield at Antietam" |
Key Battles: Vicksburg |
Mississippi River, siege warfare, Ulysses S. Grant | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Battles--Vicksburg | "Grant's Vicksburg Campaign," "Impact of Vicksburg on the Confederacy" |
Key Battles: Sherman’s March to the Sea (total war) |
Georgia, civilian destruction, military strategy | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns and strategies | "Sherman's March and total war," "Civilian experiences during Sherman's March" |
Lincoln’s Leadership |
Second Inaugural Address, Gettysburg Address, wartime decisions, leadership style | Presidents--United States--Civil War, 1861-1865 | "Lincoln's wartime leadership," "Anti-war dissent and Lincoln" |
Emancipation Proclamation |
January 1, 1863, slaves as contraband, impact on the war | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Emancipation Proclamation | "Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation," "Emancipation Proclamation and African American soldiers" |
Military Strategies |
Grand strategy, attrition warfare, mobility vs. fortifications | United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns and strategies | "Union vs. Confederate military strategies," "Technological impact on Civil War strategies" |
Technology in the Civil War |
Railroads, telegraphs, ironclad warships, rifles vs. smoothbore muskets | Military technology--United States--History--19th century, United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 | "Impact of railroads on the Civil War," "Civil War weaponry" |
Foreign Relations during the Civil War |
Britain, France, Confederate diplomacy, potential intervention | United States--Foreign relations--1861-1865, Confederate States of America--Foreign relations | "Cotton diplomacy and the Civil War," "Britain' |
General Search Tips: Boolean Basics
Constructing a good search is boring—well, the transitive verb form of “boring,” as in “boring a tunnel through the hillside.” Constructing a good search is also mining—extracting items of interest from a mass of material that, while potentially valuable, isn’t exactly what you need at the moment. Constructing a good search is boring and mining both bundled into a series of active operations. Faced with a heap of information, your job is to dig your way through and arrive on the other side, culling gems, jewels, ores, and fragments from the tunnel walls along the way. Boolean operators—AND, OR, and NOT—will help you as you go. (Just be sure to type them in all-caps to ensure they function properly!)
AND: Sometimes you’re looking for silver; sometimes you’re looking for gold. Sometimes you want both, and AND is here to make it happen (for example: silver AND gold). That said, silver and gold aren’t typically found in the same vein. When you busy yourself searching for El Dorado, you may ignore a city of silver just around the corner...
OR: Sometimes, you’ll have to include a fork in your tunnel, and that’s okay since OR lets you have it both ways (for example: left OR right). You don’t necessarily need to dig each route to completion—pursue one or the other, but just far enough to find (or realize that you aren’t finding) what you’re looking for. If you follow too many forks, you just might find yourself trapped in a labyrinth, so OR with caution!
NOT: Sometimes you’re only sure what you don’t want, and that’s where NOT comes in handy (for example: poetry NOT Shakespeare). That said, sometimes—perhaps more often than we’d like to admit—we’re sure we don’t want something until we do want it. Though it’s useful to know where not to dig, excluded areas very well may contain the slightest hint, the tiniest sliver, of whatever we’re clawing toward. NOT at your own peril!