Background information provides a general overview of a research topic, including important terms and concepts, relevant names of people or places, and dates of specific events.
Background info can help you locate keywords for searching databases and identify more specific areas of your topic that you may want to research further.
Below is a list of databases focused on providing reference information related to U.S. History:
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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.
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Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.
For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
Unlimited users.
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.
The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History
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Encyclopedia of American Social Movements
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Encyclopedia of US Labor and Working-Class History
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The Grove Dictionary of American Music
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Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia
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The Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America
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Queer Cinema in America: An Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Films, Characters, and Stories
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Surveillance in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and the Law
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Unlimited users.
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.
Unlimited users.
Offers everyday users the necessary tools and detailed how-to instructions covering a wide-range of legal issues. A majority of the full-text legal reference books are provided through Nolo, the nation’s oldest and most respected provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses. With the Legal Forms by U.S. State feature, users can search state-specific legal forms by top subject areas including adoption, bankruptcy, name changes and more.
Unlimited users.
This comprehensive database is the definitive index to the world's literature regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. LGBT Life contains indexing and abstracts for more than 250 LGBT-specific core periodicals as well as periodicals in Women’s and Gender Studies. It also contains more than 350 books and reference works.
LGBT Life provides comprehensive coverage of traditional academic, cultural, lifestyle and regional publications, including The Advocate, Lesbian News and Bay Windows. LGBT Life also provides indexing and abstracts for the full run of many historically significant titles such as ONE, The Ladder, Mattachine Review, Christopher Street and Body Politic. In addition, LGBT Life includes other source types such as monographs, reference books, newsletters, case studies and speeches. It also provides relevant bibliographic data from NISC's Sexual Diversity Studies.
Unlimited users.
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.
