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Secondary Sources

Encyclopedia of American social history (1993).
BARNARD REFERENCE HN57 .E58 1993
Provides overview articles on a wide variety of topics. Each essay ends with a bibliography of secondary sources. Excellent starting place for any research topic concerning the United States.

Bibliographies and Indexes
The following titles provide citations to books or scholarly articles. Use the bibliographies to find one or two good overviews about your topic or the time period you're interested in. Use the periodical index to track down information about very specific topics and to help find primary resources.

America : History and Life
A major periodical index to scholarly journals for all aspects of American history. Useful for finding articles about topics, but it can also lead to primary material. Check the Documentation Field (available by viewing the full citation) to see if the article has footnotes, is based on primary material, etc.

The American Historical Association's guide to historical literature (1995)
BARNARD REFERENCE  Z6201 .A55 1995

Reader's guide to American history (1997)
BARNARD REFERENCE  E178.1 .R43 1997g

 Primary Sources

Essay and general literature index.
BARNARD REFERENCE AI3 .E752
LIBRARY HAS: 1900/1933-1994
Use to find essays published in anthologies. Try CLIO first to find which library owns the anthology; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the card catalog at Butler Library.

International index; a guide to periodicals literature in the social sciences and humanities.
BARNARD REFERENCE Index Stack
(1907/15-Apr. 1964/Mar. 1965)
Use the CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials.

The New York times index.
BUTLER REFERENCE R070 N481
(1851 [?] - present)
BARNARD REFERENCE Index Table
(1933 - present)

Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.
BARNARD REFERENCE Index Table
(1890 - 1899)
Use the CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials.

*PCI Periodicals Contents Index
An international, interdisciplinary index especially useful for finding articles published in the 18th, 19th,
and early 20th centuries.
Use the CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials.

Poole's index to periodical literature.
BARNARD REFERENCE Index Table
(1802-1881)
Use the CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials.

Readers' guide to periodical literature.
BARNARD REFERENCE Index Table
(1900 - 1997)
Use the CLIO first to find which library owns the periodical; if the title does not appear in CLIO, check the Union List of Serials.

Union list of serials in libraries of the United States and Canada
BARNARD REFERENCE Z6945 .U45 1965
This multi-volume set is arranged alphabetically by main entry (usually the title of the publication) and indicates what periodicals major libraries subscribed to pre-1965. The code for Columbia is NNC; the code for the New York Public Research Libraries is NN. If ULS indicates the Columbia Libraries had a subscription to a periodical title, you must still check the Serials Catalog at Butler to find out the call number and whether Columbia has the volume you need. Using ULS will give you a good idea of what's available at Columbia before trying to use the Serials Catalog.

Other:

When doing a subject search in CLIO or the card catalog look for the subdivision "sources".

For example:

s=women--united states--social conditions--sources

s=united states--history--1865 1921--sources

Looking for books published during a specific span of years:
REMEMBER that CLIO does not list everything owned by the Columbia University Libraries. Use the card catalogs in Butler by finding an appropriate subject heading (use the Library of Congress Subject Headings books located in the Butler Reference Dept); once you've found a useful subject heading look through the card catalog for items published in the years you are interested in.

* This service is a subscription service for Barnard/Columbia students and faculty.

Updated April 06, 2001