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History: Library Databases
Finding Articles
Databases allow you to search for articles about your topic. They show you information about an article: the title, author, and name of the journal or magazine the article appeared in. This is called the citation. Some databases also contain an abstract, or summary, of the article.
Many databases also include the articles themselves (called the full text of the article). When that happens, you should see a link to an HTML or PDF document. If you do not see a link, click on
This will check the other library databases for the full text of the article.
U.S. History Databases
This list serves as a good starting point for historical research within the United States. It is not a comprehensive list of all available American history subject databases. Please use the "Historical Newspapers" and "United States History" tab for further resources.
- America: History and LifeThe premier database for research on the history of the United States and Canada.
- American PeriodicalsDigitized images from American magazines and journals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900.
- Archive of AmericanaEarly American newspapers from all 50 states published between 1690 and 1922 and books, pamphlets, broadsides and other imprints from 1639-1819
- ProQuest CongressionalComprehensive source for Congressional research and activity from 1789-present. Includes committee prints and hearings, legislative histories, the Congressional Record, the Serial Set, Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations, and CRS Reports.
General databases
- Academic Search UltimateIncludes coverage of history topics.
- JSTORHas full-text back files of key journals in history and other subjects
- Daily Life Through HistoryProvides a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary resource that supports history, social studies, English, and language students. It moves seamlessly from past to present, providing context for contemporary life and culture. The content is enhanced with new books, articles, images, maps, primary documents, and more on a regular cycle.
- Ethnic NewsWatchA collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press in America. Searchable in both English and Spanish, with titles in both languages.
- GenderWatchProvides authoritative historical and current perspectives on the evolution of gender roles as they affect both men and women.
- Cambridge Histories OnlineFull-text access to all of the Cambridge history volumes published since 1960
- ACLS Humanities E-Book Project This link opens in a new windowThe ACLS Humanities E-Book Project is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in the humanities, recommended and reviewed by scholars in the humanities.
- Gale Primary Sources (Artemis)Gale Artemis is a research platform that unites Gale's digital archives. Artemis allows researchers to uncover primary source documents in multiple collections including; Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Collections Online, The Financial Times Historical Archive, Sabin Americana, and The Times Digital Archive
- Periodicals Archive OnlineFull-text back files of 500 humanities and social sciences periodicals from 1802-2000.
- Pop Culture UniverseHistory of pop culture!
- Project MuseFull-text access to a selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals.
- Readers' Guide Abstracts and RetrospectiveCovers popular magazines from 1890 to present.
- MyHeritageFamily history resource including more than 6 billion historical records from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and other regions. Includes the full USA federal census (1790-1940); census of England and Wales (1841-1901); U.S. World War II Army Enlistment as well as records of Union and Confederate Civil War soldiers. Over 2 billion family trees.
World History Databases
This list serves as a good starting point for historical research outside of the United States. It is not a comprehensive list of all available history subject databases. Please use the tabs to narrow down resources by geographical location.
- Historical AbstractsThe number one database for research on WORLD HISTORY (everything except U.S. History)
- Oxford Scholarship OnlineComplete text of over 1,800 Oxford books including History titles.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new windowFollowing its digital launch in 1998, Early English Books Online now contains page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere between 1473 and 1700. Topical coverage varies widely and full-text searching is available in a minority of titles.
- Index IslamicusIndexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world.
- Last Updated: Apr 16, 2025 12:19 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/history
