Databases

• Academic Search Complete (approximately 1880s to date). Provides abstracts of articles (summaries), and full-text articles from more than 10,000 books, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and reference works on a wide variety of topics.
• America:  History and Life (1964 to date). Covers United States and Canadian history from earliest times to the present. Includes abstracts of articles (summaries), and full-text articles.
• American Periodicals Series Online (1741 to 1900). Provides digitized images of more than 1,000 American magazines, journals, and newspapers.
• Arts and Humanities Search (1980 to date). Indexes more than 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
• The CQ Researcher Online (1923 to date). A full-text resource that provides "original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news."
• Ethnic NewsWatch (1960 to date). Supplies full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press.
• Facts on File World News Digest (1940 to date). A record of the "essential facts of the news" as reported in major newspapers and magazines. Includes links to Issues and Controversies (1995 to date) and Issues and Controversies in American History.
• FirstSearch databases. Provides access to dozens of indexes and databases in a variety of disciplines.
• HarpWeek: The Civil War Era and Reconstruction (1857-1877). Provides full-text access to 21 years of Harper's Weekly, a leading 19th-century illustrated newspaper.
• Historical Abstracts (1954 to date). Covers all aspects of history (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Includes abstracts of articles (summaries), and full-text articles.
• Humanities Abstracts (1983 to date). Indexes a broad range of some 500 magazines and journal publications.
• Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984. Indexes nearly 1,200 periodicals in the social sciences and humanities.
• Iter -- Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (1900s to date). A bibliography of some 250,000 articles and reviews from more than 400 journals pertaining to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (400-1700).
• JSTOR (archived publications from the 1800s to the last 1-5 years).  A full-text collection of scholarly journals in a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.  UMW has the Arts and Sciences Collections I, II, and III, as well as the Ecology, Botany, and Business Collections. 
• Periodicals Index Online (formerly PCI) (1665 to 1995). Provides author, title, and keyword access to the table-of-contents pages of more than 2,700 worldwide periodicals.
• Social Sciences Abstracts (1971 to date). Interdisciplinary database covering more than 400 English-language social science journals.

Databases in related disciplines

• Biography and Genealogy Master Index (coverage varies by publication). An index to millions of biographical sketches in hundreds of reference books and other sources.
• GenderWatch (1970 to date). A full-text collection of journals, magazines, special reports, conference proceedings, and other works devoted to women's and gender issues.
• Humanities International Complete (coverage varies; approximately 1985 to date). Provides the full text of hundreds of magazines, journals, books, and other published sources from around the world.
• LexisNexis Academic (coverage varies; mostly 1990s to date). Contains full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, legal and business sources, reference books, and other works.
• Literature Resource Center (LRC) (coverage varies by publication)
  Provides access to critical analyses of and biographical information on living and deceased authors from around the world. See TipSheet on using this database.
• MasterFile Premier (coverage varies by publication). Furnishes full-text coverage of thousands of reference books, biographies, and primary source documents. Also contains an image collection.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers (coverage varies). Provides full-text and full-image articles for the New York Times (1851 to within the last several years) and the Washington Post (1877 to 1991). Users can search the newspapers separately or together.

For a complete listing of databases provided by UMW Libraries, please see Databases A-Z.

selected reference books in simpson library

• Directories and Guides
• General Histories and Chronologies
• The World
• Europe
• Africa
• Middle East and Asia
• United States
• United States Foreign Relations
• Central and South America
• Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism
• War and Military History
• Women
• Historians
• Primary Sources

Directories and Guides

• The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature REFB D 13 .A48x 1995
• Harvard Guide to American History REFB E 175.8 .F77 1974
• The History Highway: A 21st Century Guide to Internet Resources REFB D 16.255 .C65 H58 2006
• Index to America: Life and Customs (for 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries) REFB E 178 .I73x
• Reference Sources in History REFB D 20 .F72 2004

General Histories and Chronologies

• American Chronicle REFB E 169.1 .G664 1999
• American Decades REFB E 169.12 .A42
• American Eras REFB E 162 .A5144 - E 168 .A5118
• Chronology of World History REFB D 11 .M39 1999
• Day by Day REFB D 11 .D391 / .D396
• Great Events REFB D 421 .G627 2002
• Great Events from History: North American Series REFB E 45 .G74 1997
• This Fabulous Century REFB E 161 .T55
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World REFB D 205 .O94 2008
• The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events REFB D 11 .G78 2005

The World

• Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History REFB D 23 .B45 2005
• Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World REFB D 860 .M56 2002
• Encyclopedia of the Interwar Years: From 1919 to 1939 REFB D 727 .G745 2000
• The Greenwood Dictionary of World History REFB D 9 .B88 2006
• World Monarchies and Dynasties REFB D 21 .W929 2004

Europe

• Ancient Europe, 8000 B.C. - A.D. 1000 REFB D 62 .A52 2004
• Austria-Hungary and the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present REFB DB 33 .R66 2003
• The Crusades: An Encyclopedia REFB D 155 .C78 2006
• Dictionary of the Middle Ages REFB D 114 .D5 1982
• Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece REFB DF 16 .E52 2006
• Encyclopedia of European Peoples REFB D 1056 .W35 2006
• Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture REFB DA 912 .E53 2004
• Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages REFB D 114 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire REFB DG 270 .B86 2002
• Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era REFB DA 550 .E527 2004
• Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 REFB JV 22 .E535 2007
• Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World REFB D 209 .E97 2004
• Europe, 1789 to 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire REFB D 299 .E735 2006
• Europe since 1945: An Encyclopedia REFB D 1058 .E8754 2001
• France: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present REFB DC 35 .R64 2004
• Great Britain: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present REFB DA 30 .T66 2003
• Italy:  A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present REFB DG 461 .S27 2004
• Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia REFB DD 157 .M43 2001
• Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia REFB DG 443 .M43 2004
• Reader's Guide to British History REFB DA 34 .R43 2003
• Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia REFB HQ 1147 .E85 W66 2006

Africa

• An African Biographical Dictionary REFB DT 18 .B76 2006
• Encyclopedia of African History REFB DT 20 .E53 2005
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt REFB DT 58 .O94 2001

Middle East and Asia

• Encyclopedia of Modern Asia REFB DS 4 .E53 2002
• Encyclopedia of Russian History REFB DK 14 .E53 2004
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World REFB DS 35.53 .O95 1995
• Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa REFB DS 43 .E53 2004
• Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia REFB DS 36.85 .M434 2006
• Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present REFB DK 36 .B59 2004
• Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor REFB DS 524 .S68 2004

United States

• American Heritage 50-Year Cumulative Index REFB E 171 .A44a Index
• American Presidents:  Year by Year REFB E 176.1 .N44 2004
• Atlas of American History REFB E 179.5 .N37 2007
• Beacham's Encyclopedia of Social Change: America in the Twentieth Century REFB PN 59.2 .B43 2001
• Civil War America, 1850 to 1875 REFB E 468 .S45 2006
• Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History REFB E 162 .C68 2006
• Complete American Presidents Sourcebook REFB E 176.1 .M387 2001
• Conspiracy Theories in American History REFB E 179 .C66 2003
• Dictionary of American History REFB E 174 .D52 2003
• Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History REFB E 169.1 .E624 2001
• Encyclopedia of American Folklife REFB GR 105 .E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of American History REFB E 174 .E53 2003
• Encyclopedia of American Social Movements REFB HN 57 .E594
• Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West REFB HB 1965 .E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of Rural America: The Land and People REFB E 169.12 .E5 1997
• Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History REFB E 468 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of the Great Plains REFB F 591 .E4856 2004
• Encyclopedia of the New American Nation REFB E 301 .E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era REFB E 668 .E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of United States National Security REFB UA 23 .E57124 2006
• Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 REFB JV 22 .E535 2007
• The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II REFB D 570 .H54 2000
• Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History REFB E 169.12 .P654 2006
• Slavery in the United States REFB E 441 .S635 2007
• Social Issues in America: An Encyclopedia REFB HN 57 .S624 2006

United States Foreign Relations

• American Foreign Relations since 1600: A Guide to the Literature REFB E 183.7 .G84x 2003
• Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations REFB E 183.7 .B745 2003
• Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy REFB E 183.7 .H28 2004

Central and South America

• Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico REFB F 1210 .E632 2001
• Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 REFB JV 22 .E535 2007
• Historical Dictionary of U.S.-Latin American Relations REFB F 1418 .F457 2005
• Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History REFB 1234 .C67 2004
• A Reference Guide to Latin American History REFB F 1410 .R395 2000

Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism

• The African American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience REFB E 185 .S797 2003
• American Indian Culture REFB E 98 .S7 A44 2004
• American Indian History REFB E 77 .A496 2003
• American Indian Religious Traditions REFB E 98 .R3 C755 2005
• The Asian American Encyclopedia REFB E 184 .O6 A827 1995
• Black Women in America REFB E 185.86 .B542 2005
• Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, and Society in the United States REFB E 184 .S75 E587 2005
• Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History REFB E 185 .E54 2006
• Encyclopedia of African American History REFB E 185 .E545 2006
• Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes REFB E 76.2 .W35 2006
• Encyclopedia of Japanese American History REFB 184 .J3 E53 2001
• Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics REFB E 184 .A1 E574 2000
• Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America REFB E 184 .A1 G14 2000
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights REFB E 185.61 .E54 2003
• The Hispanic American Almanac REFB E 184 .S75 H557 2003
• The Italian American Experience REFB E 184 .I8 I673 2000
• The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia REFB E 184 .M5 M4535 2003
• Multiculturalism in the United States: A Comparative Guide to Acculturation and Ethnicity REFB E 184 .A1 M85 2005
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States REFB E 184 .S75 O97 2005
• Race and Ethnic Diversity: Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Whites REFB E 184 .A1 R78 2000
• United States History:  A Multicultural, Interdisciplinary Guide to Information Sources REFB E 178 .B57 2003

War and Military History

• African Americans at War: An Encyclopedia REFB U 52 .S88 2004
• The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization REFB D 114 .N66 2006
• Americans at War:  Society, Culture, and the Homefront REFB E 181 .A453 2005
• Besieged: An Encyclopedia of Great Sieges from Ancient Times to the Present REFB D 25.5 .D32 2001
• Civil War America, 1850 to 1875 REFB E 468 .S45 2006
• The Crusades: An Encyclopedia REFB D 155 .C78 2006
• Encyclopedia of American Military History REFB E 181 .E63 2003
• Encyclopedia of Battles in North America, 1517 to 1916 REFB E 46.5 .P87 2000
• Encyclopedia of Conflicts since World War II REFB D 843 .C568 2007
• The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars REFB DC 220 .E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests from Ancient Times to the Present REFB D 25 .A2 D38 1996
• Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare REFB E 81 .E98 2005
• Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War and Internment REFB UB 800 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of Religion and War REFB BL 80.3 .E53 2004
• Encyclopedia of the American Armed Forces REFB UA 23 .A875 2005
• Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History REFB E 468 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of the American Revolution REFB E 208 .B68 2006
• The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War REFB E 208 .E64 2006
• Encyclopedia of the Korean War: A Political, Social, and Military History REFB DS 918 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of the Persian Gulf War REFB UF 500 .G8 1995
• Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars REFB E 715 .K27 2001
• Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War REFB DS 557.7 .E53 1998
• Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses REFB DA 250 250 .W34 2001
• Encyclopedia of United States National Security REFB UA 23 .E57124 2006
• Encyclopedia of War and American Society REFB E 181 .E634 2006
• Encyclopedia of Warrior Peoples and Fighting Groups REFB D 25.9 .D38 1998
• Encyclopedia of Wars REFB D 25 .A2 P49 2004
• The Encyclopedia of World War I REFB D 510 .E53 2005
• The Encyclopedia of World War II REFB D 740 .E516 2005
• Encyclopedia of Youth and War: Young People As Participants and Victims REFB HQ 784 .W3 S54 2000
• The Greenwood Library of American War Reporting REFB D 25 .G84 2005
• Harbottle's Dictionary of Battles REFB D 25 .A2 H2 1981
• The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II REFB D 570 .H54 2000
• International Encyclopedia of Military History REFB D 25 .A2 I58 2006
• Magill's Guide to Military History REFB D 25 .A2 M34 2001
• Naval Warfare: An International Encyclopedia REFB V 23 .N32 2002
• Official Military Historical Offices and Sources REFB D 25.5 .O34 2000
• Reader's Guide to Military History REFB D 25 .R42 2001
• Reference Guide to United States Military History, 1815-1865 REFB E 181 .R34 1991
• Revolutionary Movements in World History REFB D 295 .R49 2006
• The Victorians at War, 1815-1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History REFB DA 68 .R38 2004
• War and American Popular Culture REFB E 181 .W26 1989
• Weapons and Warfare REFB UF 500 .W48 2002
• Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present REFB U 24 .W69 2006

Women

• Black Women in America REFB E 185.86 .B542 2005
• Encyclopedia of Women in American History REFB HQ 1410 .E53 2001
• Encyclopedia of Women in the American West REFB HQ 1438 .W45 E53 2003
• Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers REFB HQ 1236 .R29 2001
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide REFB HQ 1154 .G74 2003
• A History of Women in the United States REFB HQ 1410 .H58 2004
• Index to Women of the World, From Ancient to Modern Times REFB HQ 1123 .I7x 1970 ; see also its Supplement REFB HQ 1123 .I72x 1988
• Subject Guide to Women of the World REFB HQ 1123 .I73x 1996
• Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia REFB HQ 1147 .E85 W66 2006
• Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present REFB U 24 .W69 2006
• Women in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia REFB HQ 1143 .W643 2004
• Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia REFB HQ 1115 .W6 1999
• Women Rulers Throughout the Ages REFB D 107 .J32 1999
• The Women's Movement Today: An Encyclopedia of Third-Wave Feminism REFB HQ 1115 .W644 2006

Historians

• The Blackwell Dictionary of Historians REFB D 14 .B58 1988
• Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing REFB D 14 .E58 1999x
• Great Historians of the Modern Age: An International Dictionary REFB D 14 .G75 1991

Primary Sources

• American Decades: Primary Sources REFB E 169.12 .A471977
• American Diaries REFB CT 214 .A7x 1983
• Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History, 1838-1974 REFB D 1 .C18
• Dictionary of Historic Documents REFB D 9 .D525 2003
• Documents of American History REFB E 173 .C66 1973c
• Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents REFB E 173 .E54 2004
• Historic Documents REFB E 839.5 .H57
• The History Highway: A 21st Century Guide to Internet Resources REFB D 16.255 .C65 H58 2006

Websites

• Virtual Libraries
• Directories and Guides
• Primary Sources

Virtual libraries

Virtual libraries contain annotated collections of high-quality Internet resources that librarians or other information specialists have carefully selected. Users can usually browse by subject or search.

• Librarians' Internet Index. See especially the History category under Arts and Humanities. The subdivisions on the left help you to browse the hundreds of history resources. In addition, you can use the drop-down menu to narrow and focus your search.
• The Internet Public Library. See especially the History category under Arts and Humanities. "History" is comprised of:
  • Historical Documents and Sources
  • History by Era
  • History by Region
  • History by Topic
• The Internet Public Library: Pathfinders: History and War, which includes:
  • African-Americans in the Armed Forces
  • U.S. Civil War History
  • Colonial America
  • Holocaust Denial
  • Medieval European History (500-1500)
  • General Military History
  • Student Movements in the Sixties
  • World War One History
  • World War Two History
  • War in the Former Yugoslavia, 1991-99

Directories and Guides

• American Memory from the Library of Congress. This marvelous resource features collections of digitized primary sources and cultural documents.
• Best of History Web Sites. Annotated links to more than 1,000 history websites.
• Digital History. Includes a U.S. history textbook, annotated documents and other primary sources, essays, oral histories, maps, timelines, and reference resources of annotated websites, chronologies, and glossaries.
• History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. “Serves as a gateway to web resources and offers unique teaching materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence.”
• Maritime History on the Internet. A guide to researching maritime history.
• University of Mary Washington History Department Resources. An excellent directory of sources for history students, with sections on methodology, book reviews, choosing a paper topic, plagiarism, historiography, primary sources, research, bibliographies, and much more.
• Women in World History. An online resource center that helps student and teachers "locate, analyze, and learn from primary sources dealing with women and gender in world history.”

Primary Sources

• Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. A collection of online texts that is well organized by history period and geographic region.
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Full and excerpted texts of documents that address “governmental, legal, religious, and economic concerns,” as well as “women's and gender history, Islamic and Byzantine history, Jewish history, and social history.”
• Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Presents a "diversity of source material in modern European, American, and Latin American history, as well as a significant amount of material pertinent to world cultures and global studies.” Other Internet History "Sourcebooks" focus on African History, East Asian History, Indian History, Islamic History, Jewish History, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History, Women's History, Global History, and History of Science.
• Librarians' Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: History: Primary Sources. An annotated listing of websites compiled by librarians at the Librarians' Internet Index.
• MasterFile Premier (coverage varies). Furnishes full-text coverage of thousands of reference books, biographies, and primary source documents. Also contains an image collection.
• Primary Sources on the Web. Includes sections on defining, finding, and evaluating primary sources, as well as a information on citing websites.
• Repositories of Primary Sources. "A listing of over 5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar."
• University of Mary Washington History Department Resources, Primary Sources. Part of the multi-section website maintained by the UMW History Department. A link at the right directs users to "online primary sources by region."
• A topical subject heading with the subdivision "sources" will pick up primary sources on that subject. Using a keyword search, combine your topic with "sources." For first-person accounts, try "personal narratives." With people's names you can use "diaries" and "correspondence." For an excellent, entertaining article on subdivisions and how researchers can "finesse their keyword searches," see "Amazing, Magic Searches!" (by Becky Kornegay, Heidi Buchanan, and Hiddy Morgan), published in the November 1, 2005, issue of Library Journal.