American History 

Welcome to the ACC Library's research guide on American history.

Search for books with ACC Library's online catalog, using the search box to the upper right. Subject headings like these work well to find books in the ACC Library:

Adirondack Mountains Region (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs
Legislation - United StatesPresidents -- United States
United States -- History
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States - Race relations
United States - Politics and government
New York State -- History
Indians of North America
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1939-1945

Search tips:

- The Library of Congress chooses these subject headings. It doesn't use the common terms for wars such as "World War I" or "World War II", for instance, but uses formal subject headings instead, such as "World War, 1914-1918" and "World War, 1939-1945" .

- To find books using subjects that can have variant endings, use truncation, or wildcard endings. This technique looks for any ending of a word after a symbol, usually an asterisk. Not sure if a book is listed by the terms "history" or historical"? Type in "histor*" to retrieve books listing either: America* and histor* and war

- You may also search for names (Roosevelt) and other specific topics. Consult a reference librarian if you are not finding what you need.

- To find videos, select Advanced Search and limit your search by collection to Media-Videotape or Media-DVD.

- Circulating books, on the upper level of the library, may be checked out for a month.

The Early Americas Digital Archive is a collection of electronic texts written in or about America from 1492 to 1820, from the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities.

Making of America is a digital library of primary sources in American history from the antebellum period through reconstruction, from the University of Michigan.

NetLibrary is a small collection of about 5000 full-text, electronic books. You may view the chapters of the books online. Books range from classic novels to recent books on technology and include reference books. ACC students, faculty and staff may search this from off-campus.

Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of free electronic books on the Internet. This collection contains more than 15,000 eBooks. Most are older literary works that are in the public domain in the United States. All may be freely downloaded, read and redistributed for non-commercial use.

Need more? See this page: Finding Books.

To get an overview of your subject, you may want to browse through reference books such as these in the boxes below. In the Library of Congress call number system, books on American history have "E" and "F" call numbers.

Before writing your paper, look at Writing history: A guide for students by William Kelleher Storey (Ref. D 16 .S864 2004).  A copy is kept at the Reference Desk. It offers information on:

• history topic selection,
• starting your research,
• writing about history,
• evaluating sources,
• building an argument,
• using footnotes and much more.

Historical Atlas of the United States: with original maps
Reference G 1201 .S1 H4 2007

Forts of the United States: an historical dictionary, 16th through 19th centuries
Reference UG 410 .H36 2006

Multiracial America: a resource guide on the history and literature of interracial issues
Reference Z 1361.E4 M86 2005

Historical dictionary of Revolutionary America
Reference E 209 .M356 2005

The value of a dollar: prices and incomes in the United States, 1860-2004
Reference HB 235.U6 V35 2004

Terrorism: a guide to events and documents
Reference HV 6431 .K698 2004

Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources    
Reference HV 6431 .T465 2006

Historical dictionary of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Reference E 468 .R53 2004

Encyclopedia of American religion and politics
Reference BL 2525 .D58 2003

Encyclopedia of American military history
Reference E 181 .E63 2003 (3 vols.)

The presidents: a reference history
Reference E 176.1 .P918 2002

Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era    
Reference E 661.E53 2005

The seventies in America    
Reference E 169.12 .S447 2006 (3 vols.)

Encyclopedia of the American Revolution    
Reference E 208 .E63 2006 (3 vols.)

Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America    
Reference BX 9323 .P85 2006

Immigration: from the founding of Virginia to the closing of Ellis Island
Reference JV 6450 .W43 2002

Slavery in America: from colonial times to the Civil War    
Reference E 441 .S36 2000

The U.S. Supreme Court
Reference KF 8742.A35 F53 2007 (3 vols.)