Primary Contact:
Sue Cody
Email:
codys@uncw.edu
Phone:
910-962-7409
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AIM: sueann53

Background & Overviews

Encyclopedia of American Social History.
REF HN57 .E58 1993
Part XI in Volume 3 contains essays on family history, including sexual behavior.

Encyclopedia of Women and Gender : Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender .
REF HQ1115 .E52 2001

Men and Masculinities : A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia.
REF HQ1090.3 .M436 2004

Sexuality and the law : an encyclopedia of major legal cases.
REF KF9325 .A7 L46 1993

Women's Figures : An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America.
REF HQ1426 .F885 1999

Library Catalogs

Randall Library Catalog = Local holdings of library's books, videos, government documents, manuscript collections and journal holdings. (Note that the journal information in the catalog tells what issues we have but does not index individual articles.) Some web sites are also cataloged.

WorldCat = Cataloged holdings of over 9,000 libraries. WorldCat is the union catalog of books, web resources, and other material located worldwide cataloged by OCLC member libraries (approximately 26,000 libraries.) Books in the catalog are generally available via Interlibrary Loan, and many of the websites are freely available.

Subject Headings

Suggested Subject Headings:	Also Related:
Sex customs -- United States -- History Sex role -- Unites States -- History Sexology -- United States Sexual ethics -- United States -- History Social change -- United States -- History United States -- Social life and customs -- [time period] Women -- Legal status -- United States [classes of persons] -- Sexual behavior	Feminism Free love -- United States -- History Interracial marriage Masculinity Miscegenation Scandals -- United States -- History Sex instruction -- United States -- History

• The library catalog and WorldCat use Library of Congress Subject Headings. This list of authorized subject headings is available in the 5-volume set at the Reference Desk. However, you can start with keyword searches to gather some relevant titles, then look at their subject headings to discover the official terms to use.
  
• Libraries and database creators try to structure language in a way to make browsable lists.  Subject terms tend to be set up in a hierarchical manner.  To understand this better, try a Keyword search in the Randall Library Catalog for "Trials"  Then, do a Subject search on " Trials"  The hierarchical display of the subject search allows you to browse through results for various aspects and periods of history.
  
• Subject headings are not "natural language." For example, books on social history commonly use the subheading Social life and customs.
  
• Keep in mind that the most specific terms will be used as subject headings.
  
• Just because an item's subject heading does not include "History" as a subdivision does not mean it has no history in it. In particular, look at the publication date. It may be a source contemporary to the period.
  
• There are several commonly used subject subheadings that indicate an item is a primary source. Look for or search these subheadings:
  • correspondence*
  • diaries*
  • early works to 1800
  • interviews*
  • personal narratives
  • pictorial works
  • songs and music
  • sources
  • speeches, addresses, etc.*
  • treaties

Browsing

After finding some sources through searching the online catalog, be sure to browse the shelves near these times. The call numbers are devised to place materials on the same subject together on the shelf. In the catalog, the call number is presented as a link, so you can even browse the shelves when searching the catalog:

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You may also wish to browse the Reference Collection to see what special sources are available. A basic outline of the Library of Congress Classification Scheme is at http://library.uncw.edu/web/research/topic/callnumbers.html. For more detail, see the outline from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html

Scholarly Journal Databases & Indexes

Click here for a list of databases useful for historical research. Consider these factors as you choose from the list:

• The subject scope of the database. Since this is an American history class, you will definitely want to search America: History and Life, but unless your topic includes a comparison with other countries, you probably won't need Historical Abstracts.
• The number of journals indexed, and the level of indexing. While JSTOR indexes every word in the articles it includes, it only includes 48 history journals. America: History and Life indexes over 1,700 journals, but the search terms you enter must be included in the citation or abstract of the records. It is recommended you search both of these databases.
• The time period of publications indexed. If you are researching government policy on an issue, you may find references to primary sources in the Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS) Archive, which dates back to 1915.
• The audience for the publications in the database. America: History and Life, JSTOR and PAIS Archive will provide scholarly resources, while Lexis-Nexis Academic is primarily newspaper articles (Lexis-Nexis Academic Legal Research provides law review articles, statutes and court opinions.)
• Also consider databases in other disciplines relevant to your topic. For articles in religious studies, search the ATLA Religion Database.
• Don't forget to use some of the indexes we only have in print form as well, especially in your search for primary sources. Don't miss:
  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1907) INDEX AI3 .P7
  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1890-2001) INDEX AI3 .R48

Primary Sources

See the guide "Finding Primary Resources for Historical Research" for a more complete discussion of the library's resources. Be sure to consider the following searches and sources:

American Diaries : An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals.
REF CT214 .A7 1983

Databases

North American Women's Letters and Diaries.
Full text of women's letters and diaries from colonial times to 1950.

Microfilm

As you search the library catalog, you may come across manuscript collections that have been microfilmed. Guides to these collections are kept on top of the cabinets holding the film. For instance:

American Women's Diaries New England
Microfilm CT3260 .A434

American Women's Diaries Southern
Microfilm CT3260 .A435

American Women's Diaries Western Women
Microfilm CT3260 .A436

Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century: Papers and Diaries.
Microfilm HQ1438 .A13 S64 1991

Web Resources

The free web is becoming a rich resource for primary source material. In particular, try these resources:

American Memory Project The Library of Congress' digital collections are searchable across the entire collection or individually.

American Women's History: A Research Guide This guide from Middle Tennessee State University includes several subject pages of interest, e.g., advice literature, prostitution, sexuality, etc.

Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement An online archive from Duke University's Special Collections.

Early Modern Women Database  The University of Maryland Libraries Arts and Humanities Team maintains this site, which focuses on scholarly Internet resources useful to the study of women in Europe and the Americas from 1500-1800.  It lists both free and subscription-based services.  

Making of America  There are two collections in the Making of America project.  Cornell University's MoA collection includes 22 periodicals, 1815-1901, and 109 monographs.  It also provides full-text searchable access to Official Records of the War of the Rebellion (both Armies and Navies series).  MoA at the University of Michigan provides online access to approximately 8,500 books and 11 periodicals, 1831-1900.

Sexbiblio:  Bibliography of the History of Western Sexuality  A bibliography of over 23,000 titles about the history of sexuality in Europe, the U.S. and Canada from 1700-2004.  Also includes selected titles on sexual history of ancient and medieval times worldwide.  Sponsored by the Department of Economic and Social History, University of Vienna. 

Women Working, 1870-1930  The first collection released by the Harvard University Library Open Collections Program provides access to digital copies of Harvard's library and museum resources.  In addition to the roles of women, the collection provides insight into many aspects of social issues and labor history.

 

Last Update:January 16, 2007