Research Guides: History: Articles & Databases

History Databases

These databases specialize in history resources. You can search for your topic in these databases to retrieve journal or magazine articles, primary documents, images and more.

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Series 1-5: 1684-1912 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
EBSCO partners with American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals and primary sources published between 1684 and 1912.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides a full text archive of articles from scholarly journals in many disciplines (Art, Business, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences and more), as well as access to a large images colleciton (formerly known as ArtSTOR)
America: History & Life with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This database contains literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
U.S. History in Context: United States This link opens in a new window
Provides access to historical (primary) documents, reference articles, and full-text journals on U.S. history.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Articles from the ethnic, minority and native press.
Biography In Context (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Biographical reference, magazine, and journal articles.
European Views of Americas: 1493 to 1750 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750.
World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Covers 20th century history, including reference sources, full-text articles, maps, images, and primary source documents.
Salem Press Online This link opens in a new window
Ebooks (encyclopedias) covering topics from history, medicine, psychology, biology, mathematics and technology, and business. Search or browse.

Articles - What Type?

Types of Articles Used for History Research

What Type of Article?

Article is a generic term for a piece of writing that is published. College and university class assignments frequently require you to use outside sources. Outside sources are ones you find on your own, not the ones your whole class is reading together. If faculty and instructors are specific about the kinds of articles required, be sure to ask. The other tabs will give you more help on deciding what type of article will help for your history research.

Scholarly articles

Writer's expertise comes from a higher education background in the subject
Audience for article is other scholars in the same discipline (subject area)
Uses specialized terminology from the discipline
Assumes you already know the basics of the subject
Original or new knowledge or theory

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides a full text archive of articles from scholarly journals in many disciplines (Art, Business, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences and more), as well as access to a large images colleciton (formerly known as ArtSTOR)
America: History & Life with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This database contains literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) This link opens in a new window
DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ contains more than 10000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities.
Gale OneFile: World History This link opens in a new window
This database merges Gale's authoritative reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Research Library's 3500 full text periodicals - scholarly, trade and popular – cover subjects from business and political science to literature and psychology.
World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Covers 20th century history, including reference sources, full-text articles, maps, images, and primary source documents.

Magazine articles

Writer is usually a reporter or journalist; an expert writer not expert in subject
Written for a wide audience, no special knowledge or terminology is necessary
Publication deadlines allow for a little more in-depth writing, but may not have time to develop really complex ideas
Faculty frequently use magazine articles as readings for class.

Examples:

Databases

Tip: Use keyword search then use the magazine filter.

World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Covers 20th century history, including reference sources, full-text articles, maps, images, and primary source documents.
MasterFile Search Complete This link opens in a new window
MasterFILE™ Premier contains full text for nearly 1,700 periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more. This database also includes full text more than 500 reference books, over 107,000 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 592,000 photos, maps & flags.
Gale OneFile: U.S. History This link opens in a new window
This database contains scholarly journals and magazines that can be used by novice historians as well as advanced academic researchers.

Newpaper articles

Writer is usually a reporter or journalist; an expert writer not expert in subject
Written for a wide audience, no special knowledge or terminology is necessary
Reports on current events and issues, but fast deadlines don't allow for in-depth analysis.
Faculty frequently use newspaper articles as readings for class.

Examples:

Databases

Tip: Use keyword search then use the newspaper filter.

Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Provides full text articles from 800+ newspapers, as well as thousands of television and radio news transcripts. The database contains comprehensive full text for major newspapers such as The New York Times (from January 1985 to present), The Christian Science Monitor, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), The Times of London, The Toronto Star, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and others.
Newsbank: Access World News This link opens in a new window
This news collection includes international, national, and local news sources from around the globe. Includes access to regional and local papers. This collection also includes magazines, broadcast transcripts, and newswires and covers topics on a wide variety of areas.
Gale OneFile: News This link opens in a new window
Gale OneFile: News provides access to major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers as well as leading titles from around the world. News also includes thousands of images, radio, and TV broadcasts, and transcripts.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Series 1-5: 1684-1912 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
EBSCO partners with American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals and primary sources published between 1684 and 1912.

African American Experience This link opens in a new window
An online database collection on African American history and culture. Perfect for finding background information and primary sources on a broad range of topics.
Latino American Experience This link opens in a new window
The Latino American Experience is an online resource dedicated to the history and culture of Latinos in the United States. Perfect for background information, history, and primary sources for a broad range of topics.
Gale OneFile: Fine Arts This link opens in a new window
Gale OneFile: Fine Arts places millions of articles at the fingertips of serious students of drama, music, art history, and filmmaking.
European Views of Americas: 1493 to 1750 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750.

Supplementary Databases

These databases contain history resources among other subjects.

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This database offers an enormous collection of full-text journals, magazines, and news sources in many subject areas. Scholarly content covers a broad range of important areas of academic study, including anthropology, engineering, law, sciences and much more.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Research Library's 3500 full text periodicals - scholarly, trade and popular – cover subjects from business and political science to literature and psychology.
CountryWatch This link opens in a new window
Up-to-date news and information on the countries of the world. Demographic, political, economic, business, cultural and environmental information is included.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
In-depth reports on current social issues and problems from Congressional Quarterly.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
The Films on Demand collections provide unlimited, 24/7 access to more than 3,000 videos and 33,000 segments - all Closed Captioned. These videos cover topics in Humanities & Social Sciences, Business & Economics, Science & Mathematics and Health & Medicine to name a few. The video content can be linked with any course management system and used by faculty and students.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Provides full text articles from 800+ newspapers, as well as thousands of television and radio news transcripts. The database contains comprehensive full text for major newspapers such as The New York Times (from January 1985 to present), The Christian Science Monitor, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), The Times of London, The Toronto Star, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and others.