LibGuides: History: American History

Introduction to American History

The University of Cambridge possesses one of the largest assemblies of scholars in American history outside of the U.S. with expertise that covers the entire span of American history, and from social, cultural, and borderlands history to the history of politics, political thought, and foreign relations.

Complimenting this, Cambridge University Libraries boasts a large and varied collection of both physical and digital resources to help you in your studies. This not only includes books but online databases, newspapers, microfilm, journals, music and film repositories, and much more. Here in the Seeley, texts on American History can be found across the library, though are mostly concentrated within the 'E' and 'F' classmarks in the Main Library, and in the '30' classmark on the Mezzanine. We also hold the library collections for the Centre for Latin American Studies (CLAS), Land Economy, and Social and Political Sciences (SPS) which itself includes material focusing on POLIS and Sociology courses, and all together hold a range of texts on American politics, literature, society and more.

You also have access to the University Library (UL), where the classmark range 500-698 covers Geography and History and is then organised by region, all Faculty Department Libraries (FDLs), and your own College Library, so explore these for useful books and resources as well.

As with any library, searching on iDiscover for the text, journal or database that you require is a good starting point, and if you have any questions then please reach out to a member of staff who would be happy to assist.

Seeley Library American History and Society Collection

America for Americans : a history of xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee. Book Cover

The making of Asian America : a history by Erika Lee. Front cover

America in the world : a history in documents since 1898 / edited by Jeffrey A. Engel, Mark Atwood Lawrence, and Andrew Preston. Front cover

Maroon nation : a history of revolutionary Haiti / Johnhenry (Hank) Gonzalez. Front cover

The rise and fall of the neoliberal order : America and the world in the free market era by Gary Gerstle. Front cover

Audio-Visual Material

U.S. Department of Defence News

Unredacted Archive

Journals

American History Magazine for general audiences, featuring articles on American cultural, social , political, and military history
American Nineteenth Century History A peer-reviewed, transatlantic journal devoted to the history of the United States during the long nineteenth century. It covers themes and topics relating to America in this period: slavery, race, and ethnicity, the Civil War and Reconstruction, military history, American nationalism, urban history, immigration and ethnicity, western history, the history of women, gender studies, African Americans and Native Americans, cultural studies and more.
The Journal of African American History Provides information on African American life and history, including the unique facets of African American history, including the first major scholarly analysis of the hip hop movement.
The Journal of American History Formerly the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, The Journal of American History remains the leading scholarly publication and journal of record in the field of American history and is well known as the major resource for the study, investigation, and teaching of America's heritage.
Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association This journal provides a dynamic intellectual space for the communication and dissemination of excellent scholarship related to Indigenous Studies.
Modern American History Modern American History (MAH) is an open access journal showcasing top-quality, emerging research on the history of the United States since the 1890s. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles, review essays, forums, and other special features.

Audio-Visual Material

African American Music Reference
The database offers the first comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression up to 1970.
American Film Institute (AFI)
The AFI Catalog is the premier, authoritative resource of American film information, and covers the history of American cinema comprehensively from 1893 to 1993 with full or short records for films from 1994 to 2015. Every film produced on American soil or by American production companies is indexed from the birth of cinema to the present day.
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Coverage: 1893 - current
Artstor
Artstor provides a complete image resource in a wide array of subjects, with the breadth and depth to add context to research in nearly any discipline.
C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle
Current and past speeches made to Congress in a searchable database.
Cambridge Digital Library
Cambridge Digital Libraries is a home for the discovery of digitised material and research outputs from the University of Cambridge and beyond. A specific collection that may be of interest is the 'Royal Commonwealth Society' which contains a North American collection, but explore widely.
John Johnson Collection: An Archive of Printed Ephemera
A unique collection of printed ephemera, this ProQuest digitized version is a selection from the full collection, drawn from five subject areas: crimes, murders, and executions; advertising; booktrade; nineteenth-century entertainment; and popular prints. While the collection mainly focuses on Britain, there are still hundreds of items associated with American history, politics and culture.
Microfilm
The Seeley Library holds hundreds of microfilms relating to U.S. political history, with reels predominantly dedicated to despatches from American ministers, consuls and legations to other countries. If you can't find the microfilm you need on the link attached, then speak to a member of staff and we'll be happy to assist in the search. Microfilm readers are available at the UL, African Studies Library, and the Squire.
Moving Image Archive
A part of the Internet Archive, the 'Moving Image Archive' houses mainly American content. It hosts thousands of digital movies uploaded by Archive users ranging from classic films and cartoons to instructional films and newsreels.

Databases

American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window A standard source for U.S. historical biography, including over 17,400 biographies. ANB Online is considered a successor to the Dictionary of American Biography (20 volumes + 10 supplements; 1926-1995). The online version also includes new articles on persons omitted from the printed version or deceased since 1995.
Sabin Americana : History of the Americas, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new window Covering more than 400 years and more than 65,000 volumes in North, Central, and South America and the West Indies, this easy-to-use digital collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions, and momentous events of the time through sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature, and more.
Scopus This link opens in a new window A navigation tool covering the world's largest collection of abstracts, references and indexes of scientific, technical and medical (STM) literature as well as the research literature of the social sciences and humanities. Seamless links to full-text articles and other library resources make Scopus quick, easy and comprehensive.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online (USDDO) This link opens in a new window Offers access to more than 750,000 pages of government documents. Covering major policy issues from the period before the Second World War into the twenty first century, the archive serves as a convenient source for documents from government departments including Defense; State; Treasury; CIA; and the White House. USDDO supports the study of history, politics, international relations, and journalism, among other fields.
Native American Indians (1645-1819) This link opens in a new window Every Major Book Printed in North America about Native Peoples. More than 1,600 publications about the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers, featuring text exploration tools, author biographies, and suggested search paths for easy browsing and discovery.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This link opens in a new window Free Resource for Students, Educators and Patrons Chronicles the Struggles and Triumphs of Black Americans
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North American Women's Diaries and Letters This link opens in a new window This collection includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters.
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Oxford Bibliographies: American Literature This link opens in a new window

Newspapers

Early American Newspapers (America's Historical Newspapers))
America’s Historical Newspapers includes thousands of titles from all 50 states chronicling the evolution of American culture and society through eyewitness reporting, editorials, letters, advertisements, obituaries, and much more. The core of America’s Historical Newspapers is Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922—the most extensive resource of its kind for exploring the American past.
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Coverage 1690-1935
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
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Coverage: 1849 - 2014
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index
The Historical New York Times with Index (1851-1993) provides search capability using subject terms and topics for focused and targeted results in combination with searchable full text, full page, and article-level images from the Historical New York Times.
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Coverage: 1851 - 2020

Useful Links

ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) Humanities eBooks The American Council of Learned Societies Humanities Ebook Collection is a collection of over 5,700 scholarly books, from over 125 publishers.
The Cambridge University Afro-Americans Society (AFRAM) Dedicated to the celebration, empowerment, and advancement of people of African descent with historical roots in North and South America, AFRAM will promote knowledge sharing, community engagement, and professional development. Within an institution that historically excluded Black students from pursuing higher education, AFRAM envisions a flourishing community of Black scholars of North and South American heritage.
History Faculty - American History Cambridge possesses one of the largest and most vigorous assemblies of scholars in American history outside of the United States. The staff is strong across the entire span of American history, from the seventeenth century to the present, and from social, cultural, and borderlands history to the history of politics, political thought, and foreign relations.
Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Official Publications LibGuide Cambridge University Libraries have a vast amount of official publications in both print and online. This LibGuide is designed to be an introduction to the material that is held in print and the electronic resources that are available.
Vintage Aerial Vintage Aerial has over 18 million photos, taken in 41 states over the second half of the twentieth century. If you are looking for an aerial photograph of a rural area or small township as well as featured personal stories of what the land means to individuals, this is an excellent resource.

Official Publications

The American Presidency Project
Provides links to American Presidential platforms. This page provides transcripts as well as formatted PDF copies of the most recent platforms.
British Library Americas and Oceania Collections blog
This blog is written by the Americas and Oceania Collections curatorial team at the British Library, with guest contributions from students, academics, writers, and our colleagues at the Eccles Centre for American studies. It records some of the work done, as well as events and collections related to the Americas and Oceania.
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)
A comprehensive finding tool for federal publications which includes advanced searching, a browser tool and a way to track new titles. Records in this catalogue include subject headings and there are filters which enable finding federal depository libraries that hold resources. This catalogue will also provide a direct link to some digitised content.
Census Data
Census data includes a variety of information that can be used for social, political and economic research. Most countries present information about census returns individually, subdivided by different research areas
Federal Surveillance of African Americans;1920-1984
This archival collection provides over 88,000 images based on original microfilm of documented FBI files related to federal surveillance of Black radicals and their organizations.

Resources for My Subject

History: American History

Introduction to American History

Seeley Library American History and Society Collection

Audio-Visual Material

U.S. Department of Defence News

Unredacted Archive

Journals

Audio-Visual Material

Databases

Newspapers

Useful Links

Official Publications