LibGuides: U.S. History: Reference and Bibliographies

Reference and Biography

Reference materials, like an encyclopedia or biography, are great tools and useful for:

choosing a topic
quick self-education
perspective on a topic
variant spellings, vocabulary, terminology
bibliography

Below is a list of databases focused on providing reference information related to U.S. History:

American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Provides biographical information for over 19,000 people from all eras who have influenced and shaped American history and culture. Ranges in time from the earliest recorded European explorations to the very recent past. Includes the content from all 24 volumes of The American National Biography set as well as over 900 fully integrated articles from The Oxford Companion to United States History.
Updated quarterly. Provides biographical information for over 19,000 people from all eras who have influenced and shaped American history and culture. Ranges in time from the earliest recorded European explorations to the very recent past. Includes the content from all 24 volumes of The American National Biography set as well as over 900 fully integrated articles from The Oxford Companion to United States History. The learning experience is enhanced with entries on historic events, social movements, ideologies, and iconic sites in the United States. Wide range of search options.
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Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. Includes the Cambridge World History of Violence, History of the American Civil War, World History of Slavery, History of the Second World War, History of Capitalism, History of Religions in America, History of Law in America, History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, History of American Foreign Relations, among many others.
Updated regularly. Provides instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. All the available volumes are grouped into broad topics for quick and easy browsing (see the list below), or the entire series can be searched using the basic or advanced search features. Specific histories consist of either one volume or a numered series and cover all major regions of the world (i.e. Cambridge History of Africa, Cambridge History of Latin America).

Dictionary of American History
Classic ten volume encyclopedia. Available online and in print.
Oxford Companion to United States History
Available online and in print.

Topical Reference

Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
These bibliographies provide an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, expert recs and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
These Bibliographies provide an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, expert recommendations and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
UT Austin has access to the all bibliographies in all subject areas.
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's reference works and over 6,000 biographies.
Updated regularly. A comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with sophisticated technology permitting precise search and browse capabilities. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's authoritative reference works, approximately 100 primary sources with specially written commentaries, over 1,000 images, over 100 maps, over 200 charts and tables, timelines to guide researchers through the history of African Americans and over 6,000 biographies.
Some of the titles included in this access are:
- African American Artists before the Twentieth Century
- African American National Biography
- Africana
- Black Women in America, Second Edition
- Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
1855 - 1875. More than 1,000 biographies enhance the use of the database.
Updated regularly (until completed). Includes approximately 100,000 pages of published memoirs, letters and diaries from individuals plus 4,000 pages of previously unpublished materials. Drawn from more than 1,000 sources, the collection provides in-depth coverage of all aspects of the war. More than 1,000 biographies will enhance the use of the database.
Asian American Drama This link opens in a new window
1891 - present. Documents the Asian American experience as dramatized in works by writers from the 18th century to the present. Brings together biographies, a performance database, production details, and associated visual resources.
Documents the Asian American experience as dramatized in works by writers from the 18th century to the present. Brings together biographies, a performance database, production details, and associated visual resources, including photos, playbills, and manuscript images. Brings together more than 250 plays, beginning with the works of Sadakichi Hartmann in the late nineteenth century and progresses to the writings of contemporary playwrights, such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Elizabeth Wong, and Jeannie Barroga. Along with many works by writers of Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Chinese descent, includes plays by writers of Hawaiian, Indian, Thai, Korean, Persian, and Malaysian ancestry.
Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) This link opens in a new window
Documents words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another across the United States.
Documents words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another across the United States. DARE is based on face-to-face interviews carried out in all 50 states between 1965 and 1970, and on a comprehensive collection of written materials including diaries, letters, novels, histories, biographies, newspapers, and more, from the colonial period to the present day.
The entries in DARE include regional pronunciations, variant forms, some etymologies, and regional and social distributions of the words and phrases.
Selected maps show where words were found in the 1,002 communities investigated during the fieldwork.
Some entries include audio recordings of the original DARE field interviews.
For a written or oral word to be included in DARE it must be a regional or folk term. Words from a standard dictionary are not included.
The DARE database can help with research along the lines of the well-cited “Pop vs Soda” debate.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
1677 - present. A collection of biographical material of American Indians and Canadian First Peoples in their own words and through the words of others.
A collection of biographical material of American Indians and Canadian First Peoples in their own words and through the words of others. Includes biographies, autobiographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, oral histories, reference works, manuscripts, photographs and audio files.Sources include rare books and biographies from more than 100 Indian publications, such as The Arrow, the Cherokee Phoenix, and the Chickasaw Intelligencer. The collection includes 2,000 oral histories presented in audio and transcript form and at least 20,000 photographs from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Edward Curtis, and many rare collections.
Texas Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Includes 80+ full text journals and books about Texas history, ethnic & cultural diversity, gender studies, literature, public health, business, garden, sports & leisure. Contains biographies portraying famous historical and contemporary Texans.
Updated weekly. Includes more than 80 full text journals and books about Texas history, ethnic & cultural diversity, gender studies, literature, public health, business as well as home & garden and sports & leisure. The database contains biographies portraying famous historical and contemporary Texans. Also available in the Texas Reference Center is the Spanish-language newspaper El Sol de Texas with Texas and national news coverage.