The University of Rochester provides access to a wide array of databases including many focused on history. The databases listed below represent some of the most commonly used tools for history research and serve as a good starting point for almost any topic or research question. If you need help searching in any of these databases, remember you can always reach out to a librarian!
Researching a U.S.- or Canadian-based topic? Be sure to search in America: History and Life. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
Historical Abstracts is a key database for non-U.S. and non-Canadian historical research. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
JSTOR is a great starting place for most topics. Particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences, JSTOR provides access to a wide range of journals from history, area studies, anthropology, literature, film and media studies, and more. Watch this short tutorial for tips on getting the most out of your JSTOR search.
Video: Search Tips When Using JSTOR
This tutorial includes a series of three videos. While I recommend watching the full tutorial (total runtime: 5 minutes, 31 seconds), you can also select a specific segment from this list:
Setting your search options in JSTOR (runtime: 1 minute, 53 seconds)
Managing your results list in JSTOR (runtime: 2 minutes, 40 seconds)
Using JSTOR's topic terms (runtime: 58 seconds)
Subject areas include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, population studies, sociology, statistics. The University of Rochester Libraries currently subscribes to the following multidisciplinary JSTOR Collections: Arts and Sciences I through XV. JSTOR also packages their content in disciplinary collections; however, the only ones of these that we have licensed are the Biological Sciences segment and the first of the Business collections. For alumni access, see also Alumni Library Gateway.
Project Muse is a great resource for finding articles on your topic. Like JSTOR, it provides access to scholarly journal articles from a range of humanities and social science disciplines.
This database is a great multidisciplinary database with full-text articles from humanities-based disciplines such as art, film, music, literature, and religion. It also includes research from history, which some consider a humanistic social science.
This database is a great multidisciplinary database with full-text articles from social science-based disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and gender studies. It also includes research from history, which some consider a humanistic social science.
Abstracts included from 1994-current; full text for many articles from 1994-current.
This database includes access to both the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) (1975-present) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) (1900-present) an searches a total of 1.9 billion+ records. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
Containing over one million citations from important humanities and social sciences journals published from 1907 to 1984, this database is a value tool for discovering scholarly content on your topic. This is an abstract database, so if you don't see the full-text for an article, click the red "FindText@UR" button to see if UR provides full-text access through another database (we often do!).
Journals indexed cover these disciplines: addiction studies, anthropology, archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, community health & medical care, corrections, criminal justice, criminology, dance, economics, environmental studies, ethics, family studies, film, folklore, gender studies, geography, gerontology, history, international relations, journalism, law, linguistics, literary & social criticism literature, minority studies, music, performing arts, philosophy, planning & public administration, policy sciences, political science, psychiatry, psychology, public welfare, religion and theology, social work, sociology, urban studies
Over 1,000,000 images covering art, architecture,fashion and archeology. Software tools support teaching and research.
including: viewing and analyzing images through features such as zooming and panning, saving groups of images online for personal or shared uses, and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline.
The Gale Primary Sources cross-search interface provides access to millions of pages of content spanning many centuries and geographic regions. Users can explore a wide range of content including monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, maps, and more.
Search across all of our available Readex primary source collections, including African Newspapers, Latin American Newspapers, Archive of Americana, America's Historical Imprints, America's Historical Newspapers, and Caribbean Newspapers.
Full text - articles, ads, pictures - of New York Times (1851 - 2011) & other major papers. Click "More" link for their names.
Atlanta Constitution (1868 - 1984) Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003) Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988) Baltimore Sun (1837-1992) Boston Globe (1872 - 1985) Chicago Defender (1909-1975) Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1993) Christian Science Monitor (1908 - 2004) Globe and Mail (1844-2014) Irish Times (1859 - 2016) Louisville Courier (1830 - 2000) Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1993) Minneapolis Tribune (1867 - 2001) New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993) New York Times (1851 - 2013) U.S, Northeast Collection (1785 - 2010) Some issues for 1953, 1962-1963, 1965, 1978 were never published due to pressman's strikes. No Sunday issue was published until April 21, 1861. New York Tribune (1841-1962) Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002) South China Morning Post (1903-1998) Times of India (1838-2008) Wall Street Journal (1889 - 2000) Washington Post (1877 - 2000)
Full text/image for key 20th-century African-American newspapers from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh.
Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003) Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988) Chicago Defender (1909-1975) New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993) Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
This collection highlights changing perceptions of womanhood and ideas about the role of women throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including titles such as The Ladies' Companion, Godey's Lady's Book, Harper's Bazaar, and more!
Archives Direct is a suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew, the official archive of the United Kingdom. Containing diplomatic correspondence, letters, reports, surveys, material from newspapers, statistical analyses, published pamphlets, ephemera, military papers, profiles of prominent individuals, maps and many other types of document, it consists of the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the British state’s point of view.
History Databases
