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Subject Research Guides

History: Europe


Getting Started: Selected Reference Works

Begin your search with reference works to find background information, locate statistics and facts, and build a bibliography.

General Reference Works

Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000
Ref Folio HN373 .E63 2001
An outstanding source of historiographical essays and factual articles on European social history; most longer essays have excellent bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of the European Union
Ref JN30 .E52 1998
700 articles on "concepts, issues, developments, policies, events, negotiations, treaties, national interests, and personalities related to European integration."

European Political Facts 1848-1918
Ref JN10 .C66
European Political Facts of the Twentieth Century

Ref JN12 .C643 2001
Quick reference sources for information about European heads of state, elections, political parties, treaties, and colonies.

International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750-1993
Ref HA1107 .M5 1998
Population, labor force, agriculture, industry, trade, transportation, finance and education statistics for European countries.

British History

Dictionary of National Biography
Ref DA28 .D47-8
A classic source of biographical information for the U.K.

The Oxford Companion to British History
Ref DA34 .O93 1997
A useful one volume dictionary of British history. Browse the DA's for more reference works on Great Britain.

The Oxford Companion to English Literature
Ref PR19 .D73 1995
Contains short articles on authors, works, and literary movements and periods. Browse the PRs for more reference works on British literature

Eastern European History

Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe from the Congress of Vienna to the Fall of Communism
Ref DJK6 .E53 2000
Covers the history of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. For more reference works on Eastern Europe, browse the DKJ's and DK's

French History

Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution Ref DC147 .H57 1985
Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France Ref DC201 .H673 1985
Historical Dictionary of France from the 1815 Restoration to the Second Empire Ref DC 256 .H57 1987
Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire Ref DC276 .H57 1985
Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic Ref DC337 .H57 1986
Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics Ref DC401 .H57 1992
Comprehensive dictionaries covering the history of modern France. Browse the DC's for more reference works on France.

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French
Ref PQ41 .N48 1995
Contains short articles on authors, works, and literary movements and periods. Browse the PQs for more reference works on French and Francophone literature.

German History

Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie
Ref CT759 .D48 1995
A classic source of biographical information for Germany

Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture
Ref DD14 .M64 1998
Contains brief articles on prominent people, places, and events of German history; most articles conclude with a brief bibliography. Browse the DD's for more reference works on Germany.

The Oxford Companion to German Literature
Ref PT41 .G3 1997
Contain short articles on authors, works, and literary movements and periods. Browse the PT's for more reference works on German literature.

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Finding Books

Two kinds of books, monographs and essay collections, compose the majority of Gould library's collection. Monographs, extended analyses of a topic by one author, are abundant in the field of history. Essay collections bring together articles, often by different authors, on a given topic.

In Bridge, Gould Library's online catalog:

  • Begin with a keyword search .
    • Enter words that describe your topic (names, places, events, etc.).
    • When you find a book on your topic, examine its subject headings for relevance to your topic.
    • Click on a hyperlinked subject heading to perform subject heading search and retrieve related books.
  • Perform a subject heading search in Bridge only if you know a valid Library of Congress subject heading.
  • Search for "France -- History" or "Germany -- History" or "Great Britain -- History" to browse a list of relevant subject headings, such as:

France -- History -- 17th Century -- Historiography
France -- History -- 1848-1870
France -- History -- 20th Century -- Sources

  • Note that many Library of Congress subject headings relevant to European History do not begin with the name of a European country:

Peace of Westphalia (1648) -- Exhibitions
Feminism -- Europe -- History -- !9th Century
World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial Operations, British

Browsing the stacks can help you evaluate the library's collection in a given field of study. The following call number ranges contain works relevant to European history:

D's General History (Historical Method, World History)
DA's History of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)
DB's Austrian History
DC's French History
DD's German History
DE's Classical History
DF's Greek History
DG's Italian History
DH's History of the Low Countries
DJK's Eastern European History
DL's Scandinavian History
DP's Spanish History
DQ's Swiss History
DR's Balkan History

Search WorldCat, an online catalog for libraries throughout the world, to take your search beyond Northfield.

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Finding Articles

Periodical literature in the discipline of history presents cutting-edge research, provides reviews of historiographical trends, and hosts a forum for intellectual exchange among professional historians.

Once you have located an article citation in a database, index, or bibliography, perform a title search in BRIDGE using the exact title of the periodical. If Carleton and St. Olaf do not hold the journal, you may request the article through Interlibrary Loan.

Periodical Databases

Historical Abstracts (1954-present)
Provides citations for scholarly articles on world history from 1450 to the present.

MLA International Bibliography (1963-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with literature, folklore, and popular culture.

PAIS International (1972-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with current and historical political and social issues, such as foreign policy and elections.

Periodical Contents Index (1770-1990)
Indexes American and European academic journals.

Sociological Abstracts (1963-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with current and historical social issues, such as ethnic identity and demography.

Web of Science
Search either the Social Science Citation Index (1969-present) or the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) to locate journal articles that cite specific works.

Scholarly Journals to Browse

American Historical Review
Main Periodicals (1895-present); JSTOR (1895-1999); History Cooperative (1999-present)

Central European History
Main Periodicals (1968-present)

Contemporary European History
Main Periodicals (1992-present)

English Historical Review
Main Periodicals (1886-present); JSTOR (1886-1996); Infotrac (1993-present)

European History Quarterly
Main Periodicals (1984-present)

French Historical Studies
Main Periodicals (1958-present); JSTOR (1958-1999); Project Muse (1999-2002)

Gender and History
Main Periodicals (1989-present)

German Studies Review
Main Periodicals (1984-present)

The Historical Journal
Main Periodicals (1958-present); JSTOR (1958-1996)

History
Main Periodicals (1912-present); ProQuest (1997-2001)

Journal of Contemporary History
Main Periodicals (1972-present); JSTOR (1966-1998); ProQuest (1988-present)

Journal of Early Modern History
Main Periodicals (2000-present)

Journal of Family History
Main Periodicals (1976-present); Infotrac (Oct. 1992-present)

Journal of Modern History
Main Periodicals (1961-present); JSTOR (1929-1999); Electronic Edition (1997-present)

Past & Present
Main Periodicals (1954-present); JSTOR (1952-1996); Infotrac (Feb. 1993-present)

Popular periodical literature (newspapers & magazines) may be used as primary sources for historical research. Use the databases and indexes below to locate articles. If articles are not available full text, search BRIDGE for the magazine or newspaper title to find out if Carleton owns it in print or microform.

Historical Newspapers Online
Indexes the Times (1785-1905) and provides full text access to articles published from 1785-1870.

International Index to Periodicals (1907-1974)
Ref AI3 .R282
Indexes French, German, Italian, and English language periodicals.

Times Index
Ref AI21 .T34, AI21 .T36, AI21 .T37
Indexes the Times (London) from 1790 to the present.

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Web Sites and Primary Source Collections

The Web sites recommended below complement other research resources.

Avalon Project
Contains documents relating to law, economics, history, and diplomacy. Collection is browsable by topic and time period and searchable by keyword.

British History Online
Digital library containing printed primary sources for the study of medieval and modern history of Great Britain. Good source of images, maps, and local histories.

EuroDocs:Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe
Links to transcripts, translations, and facsimiles of primary source documents, arranged by country and period.

Guide to History on the Web
A searchable database of history Web sites created by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

H-Net
H-Net discussion networks allow you to read about current debates and discussions among of historians; be sure to choose a discussion network that matches your interests.

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This Research Guide By: