Henry Buhl Library: U.S. History 2: 1870 to Present: General U.S. History

Encyclopedias & Books

Salem History Online This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the Great Lives & Great Events Encyclopedias, which provide overviews of important events and major figures throughout history. Feature examples: Industrial Revolution; Social Reform Movement; Great Depression: and the New Deal

America in the World, 1776 to the Present
Call Number: Ref E 174 .D52 2003 Suppl. v. 1-2
Explains America's role on the world scene; the impact of U.S. policies not only nationally, on the domestic agenda, but globally; and the reactions of the world's nations to America's rise, 1776 to the present.
Dictionary of American History
Call Number: Ref E 174 .D52 2003 v.1-10
A phenomenal introduction to topics and events throughout American history. Includes a collection of primary source documents in Volume 9.
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism
Examines the anthropological, sociological, historical, economic, and scientific theories of race and racism in the modem era. Delves into the historic origins of ideas of race and racism and explores their social and scientific consequences.
Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History
Call Number: Ref E 183 .E53 2009 v.1-7
Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History explores the events, policies, activities, institutions, groups, people, and movements that have created and shaped political life in the United States.
Ideas and Movements That Shaped America
Call Number: Ref HM 881 .I43 2015 v. 1-3
This book examines the ideas and movements that shaped our nation, presenting thorough, accessible entries with sources that improve readers' understanding of the American experience.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History
Includes topics ranging from the westward movement of settlers and farmers in the 18th and 19th centuries, the transformation of work over time, the women's suffrage movement, counterculture, leisure activities, to the issues of voting habits, population movements and racial divides.

Great Lives from History: American Women
Call Number: Ref HQ 1123 .A44 2016 v. 1-3
Great Lives from History: American Women covers prominent individuals from colonial times through the present, offering a fascinating perspective on important women from U.S. history.
Encyclopedia of Women in American History
Call Number: Ref HQ 1410 .E53 2001 v. 1-3
Each volume includes historical surveys and thematic essays on central issues and political changes affecting women's lives during the period. Includes profiles of notable American women from all walks of life and all fields of endeavor. Primary sources and original documents are included throughout.
Women in American History: a Social, political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection
Call Number: Ref HQ 1410 .W6468 2017 v. 1-4
This four-volume set documents the complexity and richness of women's contributions to American history and culture, empowering all students by demonstrating a more populist approach to the past.
Women's Rights in the United States by Tiffany K. Wayne (Editor)
Call Number: Ref HQ 1236.5 .U6 W677 2015 v. 1-4
A comprehensive encyclopedia tracing the history of the women's rights movement in the United States from the American Revolution to the present day.
American Women Speak: an Encyclopedia and Document Collection of Women's Oratory
Call Number: Ref PS 663 .W65 S56 2017 v. 1-2
Explores more than 150 American women activists from colonial times to the present, examining their backgrounds and the focus of their activism, and provides examples of their speeches.

Wars That Changed History: 50 of the World's Greatest Conflicts
Call Number: Ref D 25 .T83 2015
A thorough study of significant wars throughout history and their influence on world affairs, from ancient times into the 21st century.
Encyclopedia of War and American Society
Call Number: Ref E 181 .E634 2006 v.1-3
Covers topics surrounding wartime ranging from art, culture, and memory to education and religion, as well as coverage of key people and the wars themselves. Primary sources are available for each military conflict in Volume 3.
The Encyclopedia of War
Covers all aspects of war, including battles, cultures and society, key figures, strategy and tactics, and weapons across all continents and all periods of human history.

Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
Call Number: Ref E183.7 .E52 2002 v. 1-3
General category coverage includes concepts and doctrines, policymaking, commerce and science, human rights and arms control.
The Encyclopedia of Empire
Call Number: Ref JC 359 .E466 2016 v. 1-4
Coverage includes individual empires, people, events and ideas that shaped the imperial experience as well as comparative themes such as environment, slavery, law, and weaponry.

Great Lives from History: African Americans
Call Number: Ref E 185.96 .G736 2011 v. 1-5
Great Lives from History: African Americans covers more than 770 people from colonial times through the present, offering fascinating perspectives on black American history.
Great Lives from History: American Women
Call Number: Ref HQ 1123 .A44 2016 v. 1-3
Great Lives from History: American Women covers prominent individuals from colonial times through the present, offering a fascinating perspective on important women from U.S. history.

American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Contains over 19,000 biographies of significant, influential, or notorious figures from American history written by prominent scholars. The American National Biography (ANB) is the successor to The Dictionary of American Biography (DAB).
Biography Reference Bank This link opens in a new window
Offers a comprehensive collection of more than 461,000 full-text biographies. Includes biographies of Jane Addams, William Clark, Jefferson Davis, Meriwether Lewis, and George Washington.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
Contains 60,000+ biographies of important British historical figures from the Roman era to the present day, with 11,000+ portraits
Salem History Online This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the Great Lives & Great Events encyclopedias as well as the Decades in America series (1920's through the 2000's), and the Defining Documents series.

Search for these series

Very Short Introductions
Highlighted Titles in this Series:
American history; American presidency; the Great Depression & the New Deal; Progressivism; Reagan revolution; U.S. Congress
Historical Dictionaries of ...
Highlighted Titles in this Series:
the Kennedy-Johnson era; the New Deal; the Nixon-Ford era; the Reagan-Bush era; the Roosevelt-Truman era

Primary Sources

Defining documents in American History: The 1900's (1900-1909)
Call Number: E 756 .A19 2016
Defining Documents in American History: the 1900's offers an in-depth analysis of primary source documents from that decade.
Defining Documents in American History: The Emergence of Modern America
Call Number: E 661 .E447 2014
Defining Documents in American History: The Emergence of Modern America offers in-depth critical analysis of 60 primary source documents.
American Presidency Project
Call Number: Search HENRY by President as AUTHOR for call numbers
Search the papers of the presidents from George Washington through Joe Biden. Users can search by president, date, keyword, document type, and more.
The American Republic
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .A7535 2002
A collection of primary sources related to American history from 1610-1858. Documents include letters, speeches, selected Federalist Papers, and more.
The American Nation
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .A747 2008
The American Nation makes available, in one volume, many of the most crucial documents necessary for understanding the variety of policies and viewpoints driving American public life during an important, substantive part of American history. Covers the Civil War through our entrance into WWII.
Documents of American History
Call Number: Ref E 173 .C66 1963 and Ref E 173 .C66 1973b v.1-2
Includes a selection of primary documents related to American history. Coverage begins in 1492 and continues into the twentieth century. Highlighted documents include: documents from the First Continental Congress, accounts of the Battle of Lexington, and the Articles of Confederation.
Milestone Documents in American History
Includes important primary sources related to American history from 1763 to 2003.
Milestone Documents in American History, 2nd ed.
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .M62 2020 v. 1-4
Includes documents from African American history, women's history, immigration history, as well as 21st-century issues ranging from terrorism to campaign finance to LGBTQ rights. Vol. 1 1619-1831. -- v.2 1832-1898. -- v.3 1901-1956. -- v.4 1957-2019.
Milestone Documents of American Leaders
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .M62 2009 v.1-4
Milestone Documents of American Leaders features important full-text sources written by presidents, jurists, legislators and other influential people who helped shape the nation.

Defining Documents in American History: Civil Rights (1954-2015)
Call Number: JC 599 .U5 C58 2015
Defining Documents in American History: Civil Rights offers in-depth analysis of a broad range of historical documents and historic events that shaped civil rights struggles in American history.
Defining Documents in American History: Immigration & Immigrant Communities (1650-2016)
Call Number: JV 6450. I46 2017
A volume of primary documents including letters, speeches, and government documents.

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5 This link opens in a new window
Collection of over 7,500 early American periodical titles published from the seventeenth through the late nineteenth century.
Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to journal and magazine articles, books, government documents, speech transcripts, etc. relating to the military and government. Both primary and secondary sources are available here.

American Yawp
This documentary companion to an open-source textbook includes primary sources from America's settlement and founding into the 21st century (Vol. 1: 1492-1877; Vol. 2 1877-present). Provided by Stanford University Press under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed license.

Suggested search terms

Speeches, addresses, etc., American
United States -- History -- Sources
United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
United States -- Social conditions -- Sources

Simply, add "primary sources" to your search.

Visit the locate primary sources page for a refresher.

HENRY
The Library Catalog