American Women's History, to 1890

• The Columbia Guide to American Women in the Nineteenth Century. (Ref HQ 1418.C58 2000) includes a narrative overview, a dictionary of persons and topics, a brief chronology, and a select bibliography
• Handbook of American Women's H istory.  (Ref HQ 1410.H36 1990)
• ABC Clio Companion to Women's Progress in America.  (Ref HQ1410.F76 1994) - short entries on topics, events and people.
• Black Women in America: an historical encyclopedia. (Ref E 185.86.B542 1993)
• Encyclopedia of American Social History.  (Ref HN 57.E58 1993)
• Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States.  (Ref PS 147.O94 1995)
• Dictionary of American History.  (Ref E 174.D52 2003)

• Statistical Handbook on Women in America.  (Ref HQ 1420.T34 1991)
• The Women's Atlas of the United States.  (Ref G 1201.E1 G5 1995).
• Historical Statistics of the United States… (Ref.HA 202.B87 1976)

 Chronologies

• The Timetables of Women’s History.  (Ref HQ 1121.G74  1996)

 Biography

• American National Biography.  (Ref CT 213.A68 1999)
• Notable American Women  (Ref CT 3260.N573)
• American Reformers. (Ref CT 215.A67 1985)
• A Woman of the Century.  (Ref E 176.W691 1967)
• American Women Writers.  (Ref PS 147.A4)
• Notable Black American Women. (Ref E 185.96.N68 1992)
• Notable Hispanic American Women.  (Ref E 184.S75N68 1993)
• Native American Women: a biographical dictionary.  (Ref E 98.W8B38)
• Notable Women in the American Theatre.  (Ref PN 2285.N65 1989)
• Women Educators in the U.S.  (Ref LA 2311.W65 1994)
• Women in Music: an encyclopedia biobibliography.   (Crane Ref ML 105.H6 1993)
• Encyclopedia of Women and Sports.  (Ref GV 709.S44 1996)
• American Women of Science: a biographical dictionary.  (Ref Q 141.B25 1994)
• American Political Women.  (Ref HQ 1236.L3 1980)
• Women in Congress.   (Ref JK 1030.A2W65 1991)
• Women in Psychology.  (Ref BF 109.A1W65)
• Women of Mathematics.  (Ref QA 28.W66 1987)
• Women in North America: summaries of biographical articles in history journals. (Ref CT 3260.W664 1988)

• Women in U.S. History: a resource guide. (Ref HQ 1410.A1H37 2000) – annotated, mainly books
• Women in U.S. history; an annotated bibliography.  (Ref HQ 1410.A1 C65 1976)
• Women in American history: a bibliography.  (Ref HQ 1410 .H37 1979 v.2) - abstracts and annotations of over 3700 articles published between 1978 and 1984.
• America's white working-class women: a historical bibliog.  (Ref HQ1410.A1 K44 1981)
• American working class history.  (Ref HD 8066.A1 N54 1983)- see the chapter "Women (including Women Leaders)" p.119-133.
• Women and feminism in American history: a guide to information sources.  (Ref HQ1410.A1 T52 1981)
• Women and society: a critical review of the literature. 2 vols.  (Ref HQ1399 .R67 1975)
• The Female experience in 18th and 19th century America: a guide to the history of American women.  (Ref HQ1410 .C66 1985)
• The ABC-Clio companion to women in the workplace. (Ref HD 6095.S34 1993)
• The Immigrant woman in North America: an annotated bibliography of selected references.  (Ref HQ 1410.A1 C67 1985)
• Women in popular culture: a reference guide.  (Ref HQ1426.F685 1982)
• The American woman in colonial and revolutionary times, 1565-1800.  (Ref HQ 1416.A1C46)
• Native American women; a contextual bibliography.  (Ref E98.W8 G75 1983)

• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 - books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women’s reform activities.  Includes a chronological list, subject list, and is searchable. (SUNY Potsdam only – on the Women’s Studies subject page)
• American Women: a gateway to Library of Congress resources… includes the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s collection, and more. (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/)
• American Women’s History: a research guide. - a directory of online resources (http://frank.mtsu.edu/%7ekmiddlet/history/women.html)

 Autobiographies, Diaries, etc.

• Through a Woman's I: annotated bibliography of American women's autobiographical writings, 1946-1976.  (Ref CT 3260.A1A32 1983)
• The Published Diaries and Letters of American Women: an annotated bibliography.  (Ref CT 3260.A1G66 1987)
• Private Pages: diaries of American women.  (CT 3260.P75 1986)
• In library catalogs use the term "DIARIES" with personal names, classes of persons, or ethnic groups.  Examples:  PLATH, SYLVIA--DIARIES;  or AFRO-AMERICANS--DIARIES, or COMPOSERS--ENGLAND--DIARIES

Studies and reports of federal agencies and hearings of Congressional committees are often useful resources for historians.  A good bibliography and guide to these is: United States Government Documents on Women, 1800-1990. (Ref HQ 1410.A1H85 1993).  Many U.S. documents are in Crumb, either in paper or in microfiche.  Ask at the Reference Desk for help finding them.

This subject heading in library catalogs is generally used with events limited by time, such as wars, or conditions, such as a disease, that someone might have experienced and written about.  Examples:  HOLOCAUST, JEWISH (1939-1945)--PERSONAL NARRATIVES; or SLAVERY--UNITED STATES--PERSONAL NARRATIVES

This subject heading is used for collections of letters written by one or more persons.  Examples:  WOMEN ENVIRONMENTALISTS--CORRESPONDENCE; or WOMEN--SOUTHERN STATES--CORRESPONDENCE

Several good listings and guides to women speakers have been compiled:

• Index to American Women Speakers, 1828-1978.  (Ref PS 400.A1M36 1980)
• Women Public Speakers in the United States,  1800- 1925  (Ref HQ 1412.W67 1993).

Many of these have appeared.  You can see a list of many by searching BearCat using the subject heading "Women - United States - History - Sources".  Examples of what you'll find are:

• Root of Bitterness: documents of the social history of American women (HQ 1410.C68)
• Women's Rights in the U.S.: a documentary history  (HQ 1236.5.U6W68)
• History of Woman Suffrage (JK 1896.S8 1970)
• The Indian peoples of Eastern America :  a documentary history of the sexes  (E 78.E2 I52)
• Families and freedom :  a documentary history of African-American kinship in the Civil War era. (E 185.2.F27 1997)
• Our common affairs :  texts from women in the Old South. (HQ 1438.S63O973 1996)
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, correspondence, writings, speeches. (HQ 1412.S72)
• Women and the American labor movement: from colonial times to the eve of World War I. (HD 6079.2.U5F65 1979)
• Gay American history :  lesbians and gay men in the U.S.A. :A documentary (HQ 76.3.U5K37 1976)
• The American slave:a composite autobiography :supplement, ser. 1 (E 444.A45 suppl 1)
• Major problems in American women's history :  documents and essays (HQ 1410.M34 2003)

In library catalogs the subject term SOURCES is used to describe these collections.  For example: WOMEN'S RIGHTS--UNITED STATES--HISTORY--SOURCES

It is not uncommon to find small collections of primary source material published in history journals.  The following index terms can be used in America: History & Life  to search for these.  DIARIES ; INTERVIEWS ; LETTERS ; MEMOIRS ; PERSONAL NARRATIVES ; TRAVEL ACCOUNTS 

Many newspapers have been preserved on microfilm, and can be obtained through ILL.  Few newspapers have indexes to enable you to easily find articles on a topic. One very important paper that does in The New York Times.  The index (The New York Times Index) is in paper volumes at Ref AI 21.N45 . Also very useful is the Personal Name Index to the New York Times Index (Ref AI 21.N453).  See the library web page for newspapers for links to other resources such as Northern New York Historical Newspapers, and The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

We have a number of magazines in paper or microform from the 19^th and 20^th centuries which could be of interest in the study of women's history. A good guide to these resources is, Sources on the History of Women's Magazines, 1792-1960 (Ref PN 4879.Z82S6 1991). Examples of magazines in our collection: Cosmopolitan (AP2.C8), 1887-1914; The Woman's World (AP4.W78), 1888-1890; Godey’s Magazine (LAC 31750-31779) 1830-1860), General magazines can also be useful for their presentation of women.  Examples (with Crumb call numbers and holdings) are: Harper’s Weekly (AP 2 .H32), 1861- (many gaps); also 1851-1905 at LAC 31600-31740); Harper’s Magazine (AP 2 .H3), 1850- date.  We also have a database of early periodicals (1700-1930) that can be searched for magazines available in paper, microfilm or online. The link to this is on our "Finding Articles" page. Many of these magazines are indexed in Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (Ref AI 3.R48) 1980- date; or in Poole's Index to Periodical Literature  (Ref AI 3.P7), 1802-1907.

Some other magazines which carried writing about the condition of women:

 Articles in Historical Journals 

Scholarly writings of historians and other social scientists often appear in professional journals.  The articles on a topic may be identified by using bibliographies such as those listed above, or by using INDEXES which list the contents of selected journals.  Some of the most relevant journals are:

INDEXES which are especially good for history include:

•  JSTOR (on the library web site)
• Arts & Humanities Search  (on the library web site).
• America: History and Life (Ref E 171.A1 A48)  1954-1998.
• Writings on American History  (Ref E 171.A1 L331)  1902-1990.
• Women Studies Abstracts  (Ref HQ 1180.A1 W6), 1972- date.
• Expanded Academic ASAP (InfoTrac)  (on the library web site)
• ProQuest Research Library (on the library web site)
• Viva: from the International Institute of Social History (on the library web site)

Use BearCat, the library catalog, to find books, pamphlets, etc. in the main library collection. Search by Author for books by a particular author. A Title search looks for word(s) found anywhere in the book titles (and contents notes, if included on the record.) A Subject Heading search displays records for library resources having the subject heading term(s) you enter.

When searching the library catalog by subject it is essential to determine what subject headings are used for your subject. The four large red volumes called Library of Congress Subject Headings are the authority. Some particularly useful headings for this course will be:

and more general headings such as: U.S.-- HISTORY 

and related headings such as