J400: Revolutionary Lives

Welcome to the Library web page for J400, Revolutionary Lives. Here you'll find a selection of the rich resources available for the study of the American Revolutionary period. Don't forget that you can contact the history librarian, Celestina Savonius-Wroth, for further assistance with your research.

 

Primary sources

Books/pamphlets/broadsides

Early English Books Online: digital archive of facsimiles of nearly every book printed in Britain and its colonies, or in English anywhere in the world, between 1475-1700

Eighteenth Century Collections Online: digital archive of facsimiles and searchable full text of nearly every book printed in Britain and Ireland, or in English anywhere in the world, in the 18th century

See the ESTC - English Short Title Catalog for titles and editions not included in EEBO and ECCO

 

Early American Imprints: digital archive of facsimiles and searchable full text of books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in the North American colonies/ early United States, 1639-1800

 

American Broadsides and Ephemera: digital archive of early American pamphlets, etc

Gallica: digitized collections from the Bibliotheque Nationale of France

Collections on special topics
Early Encounters in North America: searchable text of first-hand accounts of encounters between Europeans and Native Americans, 15th-19th century 

Empire Online: digital collection of documents and texts relating to (mostly British) empire, 15th-20th century

 

North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Searchable full text of letters and diaries of hundreds of North American women, from the 16th century to 1950

 

Women and Social Movements: searchable full text of primary sources documenting women's involvement in social movements in North America, 1600 to the present

 

Transatlantic Slave Trade Database: data about nearly 18th-century 35,000 slave-ship voyages

Journals/Newspapers

Times Digital Archive (The Times, London): digital archive of page images and searchable full text of the Times, 1788--

British Newspapers 1600-1900: digitized collection of British newspapers, including some important 18th-century titles

 

Eighteenth Century Journals: digitized collection of British journals

 

Early American Newspapers: digital archive of page images and searchable full text of a large collection of newspapers published in the North American colonies / early United States, 1690-1876

 

Pennsylvania Gazette: searchable full text of the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1800

American Periodicals Series Online: digitized collection of American newspapers and magazines, including some 18th-century titles.

 

African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century: digital archive of 19th-century African-American newspapers

Websites

Dohistory.org (case study: Martha Ballard)

 

Eighteenth-Century Resources (collection of links)

Other

Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Publications, 1978. Location: Wells (Main) Library Microforms NE55.L7 A37 1984

English Poetry Database: Searchable full text of English-language works of British, Irish, Scottish and Welsh poets, from the Anglo-Saxon period through the end of the Nineteenth century.

Secondary sources

Scholarly Journals

Historical Abstracts: Index to journals, chapters and theses about world history, 1450 to present. Consult America: History & Life for coverage of North America

JSTOR: digital archive of scholarly journals, including 60 core journals in history

 

Encyclopedias and Reference Works

Biography and Genealogy Master Index: online index to thousands of biographical sources

 

Finkelman, Paul, ed., Encyclopedia of the new American nation: the emergence of the United States, 1754-1829. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons/Thomson Gale, 2006. (IUB Wells Library, Reference Room E301 .E53 2006)

 

Greene, Jack P. and J. R. Pole (eds). A Companion to the American Revolution. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. (available online through Blackwell Reference Online)

 

Grossberg, Michael and Christopher Tomlins, ed.s, The Cambridge history of law in America . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. (IUB Law Library, KF352 .C36 2007)

 

Hewitt, Nancy A. A Companion to American Women's History. Blackwell Publishing, 2005. (available online through Blackwell Reference Online)

 

Lippy, Charles H.and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of the American religious experience: studies of traditions and movements. New York: Scribner, c1988. (IUB Wells Library, Reference Room BL2525 .E53 1988; also available in IUB Law Library) 

 

Book Reviews

Search America: History & Life and Academic Search (EBSCO) for reviews of recent books. Use the Advanced Search and select "Book review" as the Document type.

 

JSTOR is also a good source for book reviews, especially for books that were published at least 4 years ago, and were important books in their field. You'll find reviews in the key journals, by specialists in the field.

 

If you can't a review in any of these sources, it's worth trying Book Review Index Online and Book Review Digest Retrospective.
 

Last updated September 7 by Celestina Savonius-Wroth