American History and American Studies: Finding Articles

Start out with

  • America: History and Life with Full Text
    Type of Resource: Index, with accessible full text for selected items
    Coverage: items published 1955 onwards; updated monthly
    Covers writings about the history and culture of United States and Canada from prehistory through the recent past. Provides brief summaries of journal articles and book articles, as well as listings for book reviews, media reviews, and dissertations. Also provides links to full text for many journal articles.

    ► If your research extends beyond the United States and Canada, you may want to search America History and Life simultaneously with Historical Abstracts, which is international in scope. To do this, select the "Choose Databases" link to the right of America History and Life in your Search Screen.

    Then select Historical Abstracts from the "Choose Databases" menu that appears; and then select "OK."
     
  • Historical Abstracts with Full Text
    Coverage: items published 1954 onwards
    Covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada), as represented in more than 2,000 journals published throughout the world. Provides listings for journal articles, book articles, books, and dissertations, along with full text for many articles.

    ►If your research is interdisciplinary in nature, you may wish to start out directly with EBSCOhost Research Databases, which includes both America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts, along with a wide range of databases in the humanities. law, social sciences, and other areas. For a fuller description of EBSCOHOST Research Databases, see box below.

Search across Many Databases at Once

Other Key Sources for Articles Relevant to American History, Culture, or Current Events

  • Access world news  Icon    (Newsbank) New: as of July 2021
    A comprehensive resource that includes a variety of news publications worldwide. These sources include major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles as well as newswires, blogs, web-only content, videos, journals, magazines, transcripts and more. This database combines news articles from more than 12,000 sources and over 200 countries. Much of the material in non-English languages has been translated into English, but a significant amount of material is presented in the original language. Updated daily.
     
  • ABI Inform Global
    "Includes in-depth coverage from thousands of publications, most of them in full-text. With ABI/INFORM Global, users can find out about business conditions, management techniques, business trends, management practice and theory, corporate strategy and tactics, and competitive landscape."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in ProQuest.
     
  • Alt-Press Watch
    "Showcases unique, independent voices from many respected and cited grassroots newspapers, magazines, and journals. The database features over 670,000 articles from around 200 publications, offering a wide range of unfettered, critical coverage of the news."  Most of the items here are presented in full text.
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in ProQuest.
     

  • American Indian newspapers (Adam Matthew)
    American Indian Newspapers presents the publications of a range of communities, with an extensive list of periodicals produced in the United States and British Columbia, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, from 1828 to 2016.

  • ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
    "Combines the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of major religion and theology journals. . . Coverage in this database begins in 1949 although indexing for some journal titles extends back into the nineteenth century. In ATLASerials, full text is provided for more than 380,000 electronic articles and book reviews from more than 220 journals selected by leading religion scholars in the United States."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Black Life in America : the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media, 1976 to present (Newsbank)
    This database is a subset of Access world news. It's contents have been derived by running an algorithm designed to identify articles related to Black life in America from that more general database.
  • Black Studies Center
    "A fully cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. It combines essential resources for research and teaching in Black Studies, including The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and the Chicago Defender historical newspaper from 1912-1975."
     
  • Book Review Digest Plus
    "Brings together book reviews on a wide range of topics from thousands of sources."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Chicano Database
    "Includes over 67,000 records from more than 2,400 journals and other resources including newspapers, books and book chapters. The database provides extensive depth with coverage dating back to the 1960s and selective indexing dating back to the early 1900s. Chicano Database also includes The Spanish Speaking Mental Health Database covering psychological, sociological and educational literature." Subject coverage includes "art, bilingual education, education, labor, literature, mental health, law, poetry, politics and sociology."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Education Research Complete
    "Offers the world's largest and most complete collection of full text education journals. . . . Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Education Research Complete also covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,300 journals, as well as full text for nearly 1,400 journals. This database also includes full text for nearly 550 books and monographs, and full text for numerous education-related conference papers."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Ethnic NewsWatch (ProQuest)
    A current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The complete collection also includes the module Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989. 
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in ProQuest.
     
  • Factiva (Dow Jones)
    "Factiva offers you a premier collection of the world’s top media outlets, web media, trade and consumer publications and more. We give you immediate access to thousands of sources in 28 languages from nearly 200 countries, 35 years’ worth of articles, analyst reports and tweets."
     
  •  Gender Studies Database
    "Gender Studies Database combines Women’s Studies International and Men’s Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. GSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Several thousand links to freely available and indexed full-text articles and documents on the Internet are available. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. Several hundred links provide access to carefully selected and important websites. This database includes more than 921,000 records with coverage spanning from 1972 and earlier to the present."
     ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • HAPI online  (Hispanic American Periodicals Index)
    "The Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) provides complete bibliographic citations to the contents of scholarly journals published around the world on Latin America and the Caribbean since 1970. Our coverage includes everything from political, economic, and social issues to the arts and humanities." Also includes selective coverage of Latino issues in the United States.
     
  • Humanities Full Text
    "Includes many of the most important academic journals in the humanities with the full text of articles from over 300 periodicals dating back to 1995, and high-quality indexing for almost 700 journals . . . dating as far back as 1984. The database provides coverage of feature articles, interviews, bibliographies, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, poetry and book reviews, as well as reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, radio and television programs, plays, operas, and more. Topics covered include classical studies, literary & social criticism, philosophy, religion & theology, literature, art, dance, film, folklore, music, performing arts, area studies, communications, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, archaeology, and much more."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     

  • International bibliography of periodical literature : IBZ  (De Gruyter)
    The bibliography IBZ has been the leading international and interdisciplinary reference work documenting academic periodical literature in the humanities, social sciences and related fields for over a hundred years. The spectrum of subjects covered is unrivalled: in no other database are academic journals from so many fields covered. Also includes books and book chapters.

  • Index to legal periodicals & books  
    "Provides complete coverage of the most important English language legal information, with international coverage of scholarly articles, symposia, jurisdictional surveys, court decisions, legislation, books, book reviews and more. The Index of Legal Periodicals includes indexing of over 1,025 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, institutes, statutes, bar association publications, university publications, and government publications. With nearly 300 law reviews, it provides international coverage including periodicals from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand."
     ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  •  JSTOR
    "JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations." Journals in JSTOR are covered back to their first issues. Recency of coverage varies by title. Some titles are covered up through latest issue; others only up through five years ago, etc.
     

  • LGBT life with full text
    "...contains all of the content available in LGBT Life as well as full text for more than 120 of the most important and historically significant LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers, as well as more than 150 full-text monographs/books. ..."
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.

  • LGBT magazine archive  (ProQuest)
    A searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years. Coverage is from the first issue of each publication, with the earliest content dating from 1957 and the default termination point for each title is 2015 (or the journal ceased date). Each issue is scanned from cover to cover in full color.

  • Nexis Uni
    An interdisciplinary, full-text database of over 18,000 sources including newspapers, journals, wire services, newsletters, company reports and SEC filings, case law, government documents, transcripts of broadcasts, and selected reference works.

  • PAIS International & PAIS Archive
    The "PAIS International" database contains references to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more.  It includes publications from over 120 countries throughout the world. The "PAIS Archive" database (which is searched simultaneously with "PAIS International")  comprises a retrospective conversion of the "PAIS Annual Cumulated Bulletin," volumes 1-62, published 1915-1976. The "PAIS Archive" database contains references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, and analytics. Since its establishment in 1914, PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) has chronicled public and social policy issues in the public debate through highly selective coverage of a wide variety of sources.
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in ProQuest.
     
  • Project Muse
    "Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social science content for the scholarly community.  Since 1995 the MUSE journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. MUSE is the trusted source of complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies, with over 120 publishers currently participating. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE, launched in January 2012, offer top quality book-length scholarship, fully integrated with MUSE's scholarly journal content."

  • Race Relations Abstracts
    "Includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to race relations, including ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration studies, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. Records are selected from many of the top titles within the discipline, including Race, Ethnicity & Education and Ethnic & Racial Studies."--About the database.
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Readers Guide Full Text
    Coverage:  items published 1983 to the present Brief summaries of articles from popular and general-interest periodicals.
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Social Sciences Full Text
    Provides listings of, or access to, articles from a wide range of social sciences journals. Subjects covered include: “Addiction Studies, Anthropology, Global Studies, Community Health & Medical Care, Corrections, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Family Studies, Gender Studies, Geography, Gerontology, International Relations, Law, Minority Studies, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, Psychiatry, Psychology, Public Welfare, Social Work, Sociology, Urban Studies.”
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in EBSCOhost research databases.
     
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
    Type of Resource: Index, with full-text access for selected articles
    Coverage: items published 1975 to the present
    Provides access to citations and abstracts of journal articles appearing political science journals.
    ►May also be searched simultaneously with many other databases in ProQuest.
     

General Search Tools

  • Google scholar   
    "Provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations." When you Use the link above to connect to Google Scholar, you will also have direct access to articles in online journals to which Columbia subscribes.
     
  • CLIO : Articles Search
    Searches a large database of mostly full-text journals, encyclopedia and newspaper articles; this database also includes e-books and government documents. Newspaper articles are excluded from the initial search results. To include them, click the 'x' next to "Not Content Type: Newspaper Articles" above the search results.
     
  • Last Updated: Mar 10, 2025 11:10 AM
  • URL: https://guides.library.columbia.edu/american
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