History - 2016 Guide: Reference

Materials which are referred to for brief or general information. Examples include:

• Background or overview synopses (encyclopedia)
• Definitions (dictionary)
• Synonyms (thesaurus)
• Statistics
• Biographical Details
• Maps (atlas)

Reference resources are organized in an order that aids searching (alphabetically, chronologically, etc).  Most include an index which points users to the appropriate section.  Tips for searching:

1. Decide on your search terms
2. Try searching with them
3. If not satisfied with the results, try searching a synonym or related idea

Things to watch out for:

• Is the computer searching only the title/header of the entries or the full-text of the information?  You will get more results, but more of them will be irrelabent if you are searching the full-text.
• Are you searching for a proper noun (name, place,...)?  Make sure that the spelling is correct and try variations if it originated in a foreign language.
• Searching for something by date?  This is trickier than it sounds.  If possible, search for an event name or topic rather than a date, e.g. civil rights movement or hippies or flower children rather than 1960s.

On this page you will find links to a number of general reference resources. For reference resources about sub-fields of history, use the "Topics" tab above.

Search relevant groups of eBooks:

Reference eBooks for US History

Reference eBooks for World History

Search using Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World:

United States:

In print in Crumb Library reference collection:

Historical Statistics of the United States : earliest times to the present 5 vols.
Call number: Ref HA 202 .H57 2006

Social change in America : the historical handbook
Call Number: Ref HA 214.S746 2006

U.S. Census Reports
Call Number: HA 201

Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census
Call Number: Ref HA 37.U55 E53 2000

New York State Censuses
Call Number: Spec. Coll. HA 542

New York State population, 1790-1980: a compilation of federal census data
Call Number: Ref HA 545.S58 1987

International:

In print in Crumb Library reference collection:

Statistical Yearbook (UNESCO)
Call Number: Ref AZ 361.U45[year]

Compendium of Social Statistics and Indicators (U.N.)
Call Number: Ref HA 12.5.A1U5 1988

Demographic Yearbook (U.N.)
Call Number: Ref HA 17.D45[year]

Social Indicators of Development (Worldbank)
Call Number: Ref HA 155.S63 1994

International historical statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-2000
Call Number: Ref HA 4675 .M552 2003

International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750-2000
Call Number: Ref HA 1107.M5 2003

International historical statistics : the Americas, 1750-2000
Call Number: Ref HA 175.M55 2003

State, Economy, and Society in Western Europe, 1815 -1975: a data handbook
Call Number: Ref HA 1107.F56 1983

The world economy : historical statistics
Call Number: Ref HF 1359 .M333 2003

• Writings on American history, 1962-1973: a subject bibliography of books and monographs. (Ref. E171.A1 L331) Works on New York history listed on pages 4545-4626.
• Handbook for Research in American history. (Ref. E178.A1 P78 1994)
• Harvard Guide to American history. (Ref. E156.A1 F77 1974) 2 Volumes, 1974
• Bibliographies in American History:1942-1978: a guide to materials for research (Ref. E156.A1 B39 1982)
• The AHA's Guide to Historical Literature. (Ref. D20.A1 A55 1995) - a massive work
• A Bibliography of American County histories (Ref E 180.A1 F54 1985)
• United States local histories in the Library of Congress. 5 Volumes, 1975 (Ref E 180.A1 U59 1975)
• The Bibliographer's manual of American history, containing an account of all state, territory, town and county histories relating to the United States of North America. 5 Volumes 1907-1910 (Ref E 180.A1 B852 1968)