These are often good starting points for learning about a topic, person, or time period, and for beginning the process of building a bibliography.

Examples of encyclopedias focused on particular regions or topics include A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, Encyclopedia of American Social Movements, and Africana, the Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience.  In addition, Cambridge University Press publishes multi-volume works on the history of different regions, such as the Cambridge History of China (of Japan, of Iran, etc.).

On some topics, writers, and historical figures, there are separately published bibliographies.  Examples include the Bibliographie annuelle de l'histoire de France, a comprehensive annual listing of works on French history, and, for a more detailed work,  Rosa Luxemburg and Emma Goldman: a Bibliography.

There are also a large number of reference works devoted to biographical information, such as the American National Biography and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Many of these works are in the reference area on the first floor of Canaday, and some are available online.    

There are also many bibliographies and research guides for specific subjects (such as African Studies or Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance). 

For twentieth century topics, contemporary articles in social science journals may also be helpful.  The most comprehensive indexes are:

U.S. Government Publications

Publications of the federal government have been indexed in the Monthly Catalogue of United States Government Publications and its predecessors since the 1890s.  Publications issued since 1976 can be found online through the GPO Monthly Catalog.  Most of the pre-1900 federal publications are now available online through two collections: American State Papers, 1789-1838, and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 (although actually complete only into the 1920s.  See listings under Primary Sources Online below). 

British Government Publications

The Tri-College libraries have long runs of the proceedings of Parliament.  In addition, the Irish University Press has recently published large collections of 19th century reports to Parliament, organized around specific topics (colonies, crime, etc).  Many of these collections are either at Bryn Mawr or one of the other Tri-college libraries.  For detailed directions on using British government publications, see the University of Pennsylvania Library's very good online research guide.

Archives (the records of organizations and governments) and manuscript collections (letters, diaries, and other unpublished papers of individuals) are found in a wide range of historical libraries and academic institutions, including the tri-college libraries. 

Information about the holdings of these institutions can sometimes, but not always, be found through library catalogues, through the institutions’ websites, and through online collections of guides and finding aids. 

Since the mid-nineteenth century, universities and historical organizations in the United States and Europe have sponsored the publication of extensive sets of historical documents relating to a wide range of subjects. 

Examples of just a few major sets include the papers of American Revolutionary War leaders; medieval records from the Public Record Office of Great Britain and (for Germany), the Monumenta Germaniae Historica; records of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution (Recueil des actes du Comité de salut public); and records relating to the abolition of American slavery (Freedom, a documentary history of emancipation, 1861-1867).

Vast quantities of primary sources are available in microform, including the historical files of most major newspapers, collections of documents from governments throughout the world, and the unedited papers and records of important individuals and organizations.  The Tri-College libraries have a few of these collections, and major research libraries, like the University of Pennsylvania, have many more.

       

Large numbers of historical books, pamphlets, newspapers and manuscripts are now available online, some through free sites and some only through subscriptions.  The contents of the free sites can often be found through Google searches, while the contents of the subscription sites can usually be found only by going directly to the site.  Listed below are the major historical collections to which Bryn Mawr or Haverford subscribe, as well as a few of the major free sites.

For a more complete list of online primary sources, see the Tri-College Libraries Subject Portal page for History-Primary Sources: http://trilogy.brynmawr.edu/guides/History___Primary_Sources/ .

Historical Newspapers

Historical Books and Manuscripts

Making of America
Digital collection of approximately 10,000 books and 150,000 magazine articles published in the United States in the 19^th century.  Half of the collection is available through the University of Michigan: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/, and half through Cornell University: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/index.html.