Senior Seminar in History - History and Memory

Online Catalog

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

If you are working from a bibliography, using the “Advanced Search", 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 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 locate primary sources, use subheadings such as Sources, Correspondence, Diaries, Personal narratives, etc. 

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.

To search for books and other materials in libraries worldwide, use WorldCat  --  available under “find articles on your topic" on the Milner Library Web Site.


Databases and Article 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 or a related subject;  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.

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 in world history.

3.  Social Sciences Abstracts.
Covers journals in political science, sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, etc.

4.  Humanities Abstracts.
Covers archaeology, folklore, history, literature, philosophy, religion, etc.

5.  JSTOR.
Full text database of articles from journals in the humanities and social sciences.  Covers earlier years of selected journals, but not the most recent years.

6.  Project Muse.
Provides full text access to scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. Most current years are covered;  some journals include 5-10 years of earlier issues.

7.  Academic Search Premier.
Partial full text coverage.  Indexes over 8,000 journals covering the social   sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, and education.

8.  Readers' Guide Abstracts and Readers' Guide Retrospective  (1890 – present).
Covers articles from general and popular periodicals.

9.  American Periodical Series Online, 1741-1900.
American popular and professional periodicals, over 1,000 titles in all, covering a wide range of subjects. Provides citations and full text.

10.  HarpWeek, 1857-1912.
Full text of Harper's Weekly, a major resource for 19th and early 20^th Century America.

11.  Historic Documents, 1972-2007.
The online full text database of major documents for each year from 1972 to the present including about 100 documents per year. The documents include presidential speeches, international agreements, Supreme Court decisions, U.S. governmental reports, etc.

12.  Black Thought and Culture.
Full text database with interviews, articles, speeches, etc. on African Americans.

                       
Locating Journals
The Find It link is available for each record 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 specific journal is available online through Milner Library, click on the E-Journals link in the left hand column on the library website.   A “Find E-Journal” page will appear.  Type in the name of your journal and click on Go.

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 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. 
Historical New York Times (Online)  (1851-2005)

2.  Chicago Tribune.  1849 - present.
Chicago Tribune Online.  1985 – present.
Historical Chicago Tribune Online.  1849 – 1985.  

3.  Chicago Defender.  1921 – present.

4.  Christian Science Monitor.  1956 – present.
To search the Christian Science Monitor archive online go to: 
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/advancedsearch.html;
Citations for articles & first paragraph of articles are available.

5.  Washington Post.  1972 – present.
To search the Washington Post archive online go to:  http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/search.html;
Citations for articles & first paragraph of articles are available.

6.  Academic Universe – News section
Full text database includes coverage of U.S. newspapers, wire services, and transcripts of radio and TV news broadcasts.

7.  Newspaper Source.
Database containing indexing for many national, state and local papers; includes the full text of some, but not all newspaper articles.

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.

RefWorks
RefWorks is an online service that can assist students in creating reference lists and formatting citations for the bibliographies of research papers. 

Vanette Schwartz,  Social Sciences Librarian
Office:  Milner Library 416
Phone:  309-438-3486;  E-mail: vmschwa@ilstu.edu