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Background and Overview

The encyclopedias the library has for the 1960s focus on U.S. history:

The ABC-CLIO Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America. Reference E169.O2 H3515 1997

America in the 20th Century. Volume 6 covers the 1950s; Volume 7 covers the 1960s. Reference E169.1 A471872 1995

American Decades. Volume 7 covers the 1960s. Reference E169.12 .A419

The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties. Reference ML105 .F35 1986

Historical Dictionary of the 1960s. NetLibrary EBook

The Sixties in America (3 volumes). Reference E841 .S55 1999

This Fabulous Century. Volume 7 covers the 1960s. Reference E161 .T55 v.7

Searching Catalogs for Books, Videos, etc.

Randall Library Online Catalog: (Click on Search Catalog)

For access to materials in Randall Library: includes sophisticated search capabilities like limiting by language and format or combining subject headings. Also allows users to send search results to their email addresses.

WorldCat : From the Library Home Page, choose the "Database& Article Searching" link, then choose the "WorldCat" link.

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.

Search Tips:

• Case does not matter. Punctuation marks are not needed.
• Keyword searches will likely retrieve something on your subject. This type of search looks in practically all parts of the catalog record, and is the only way to access the data in the Contents Notes field of records. However, if you are not using the terms catalogers use to identify a subject, keyword searches may actually retrieve fewer items than a subject search.
• Subject searches use a controlled vocabulary, bring more consistency to searches and organizing records by subtopics. Library of Congress Subject Headings are used in both the local catalog and in WorldCat. Some subject headings for the 1960s include:
  Nineteen sixties
  Social history -- 1945-
  Social history -- 1960-1970
  United States --History --1961-1969
  United States --History-- 1961-1963
  United States -- History-- 1963-1969
  United States -- Manners and customs -- 1945-1970
  United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989
  United States -- Politics and government -- 1961-1963
  United States -- Politics and government -- 1963-1969
  United States -- Social history -- 1960-1980
  World Politics -- 1955-1965
  World Politics -- 1965-1975
  The chronological subdivisions used for other countries and regions are based on significant events in a country's or region's history. You can browse those subdivisions by using the root headings [Country] -- History.
  Or try a heading for a specific event:
  Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989
  Czechoslovakia -- History -- Intervention, 1968
  Student movements
  Vietnam War, 1961-1975
• Primary Source Subheadings: There are several subject subheadings used to identify books or other resources that are compilations of primary source material. Look for:

correspondence* diaries* interviews* literary collections personal narratives pictorial works

posters songs and music sources speeches, addresses, etc.* treaties

*These subheadings are typically used under Subject Headings for individuals, e.g., Wilson, Woodrow or terms describing groups of people, e.g., Feminists.

• Search country names (or other geographic areas) as subjects. Under country names, you will often find chronological subheadings based on significant events in that country's history, e.g. United States -- History -- 1961-1963. For cultural history, you can also try subheadings such as Civilization, e.g., Europe -- Civilization -- 1945-, Social conditions, e.g. France--Social conditions--1945-1995.
• Identify key participants and publications associated with your topic:
  When looking at reference sources, pick out names of people, organizations, and governmental agencies that were participants, and any publications such as reports, newsletters, magazines, pamphlets, etc. that they produced in conjunction with the events or developments you are researching. Author searches for the key participants (individuals, organizations, agencies or other groups) will retrieve records for materials that were written or produced by them either at the time of the event or later will, in most cases, be primary sources.
  
  More on Subject Searching:
• Catalogers use the most precise subject heading to describe a publication. For instance, a book on France will have France in the subject heading, but not Europe. A book on Europe which contains substantial information on France will have the subject heading Europe, but may not have France as a subject heading.
• 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, i. e., a primary source.
• 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.
• 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://www.loc.gov/catdir.cosi.lcco.html

Journal Databases & Indexes

Use these specialized databases and journal indexes to search for articles in journals and magazines.

• America: History & Life Indexes and summarizes articles and reviews published since 1954 in over 2,000 history journals.
• Historical Abstracts Indexes and summarizes article and reviews about world history since 1450 published since 1954 in over 1, 700 journals.
• Humanities International Index Indexes journals and books in the humanities, published 1975-present.
• JSTOR Full-text searching of an archive of over 40 history and 25 political science journals. Typically excludes the latest 3-5 years of publication.
• PAIS Archive Public Affairs Information Service contains references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, and analytics. Indexes publications issued between 1915 and 1976.

FOR NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS PUBLISHED DURING THE PERIOD

• Christian Science Monitor Index INDEX AI21 .C462
• Index to Articles By and About Negroes. INDEX AI3 .O4
• International Index to Periodical Literature (1907-1965) INDEX AI3 .R5
• Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1890-2001) INDEX AI3. R48
• New York Times Archive Full image online access to the NYT from 1851-2001.
• The Times (London). The newspaper is available on microfilm. The Official Index to the Times is in INDEX AI21 .T46.

Primary Source Databases

Digital National Security Archive
DNSA is a full-image database of declassified documents on U. S. foreign relations and military policy since 1945.

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) is the official documentary collection of major foreign relations policy and diplomacy. The early volumes (incomplete, but covering 1861-1960) is available through the University of Wisconsin Digital Library Collection and the years 1945-1968 are archived through the U.S. State Department. The Nixon-Ford Administrations are being issued on a separate web site, also provided by the State Department.

A Selection of Useful Free Web Sites

American Cultural History, 1960-1969 Kingwood College Library (TX) has assembled web pages for each decade, with abundant links to related information.

American Experience This web site companion to the popular PBS series has several pages for events of the 1960s: Eyes on the Prize (civil rights), Vietnam: A Television History, Citizen King (Martin Luther King, Jr.), Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst, Return with Honor (American POWs in North Vietnam), Summer of Love, Two Days in October (Vietnam), Daughter from Danang (Amerasian adoption), Race to the Moon.

Berlin Wall Online History of the Berlin Wall from a West German perspective.

Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive Searchable oral history transcripts, manuscript finding aids, images, and bibliography.

Cold War International History Project Sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Cold War Museum A Smithsonian Affiliate museum.

Cuban Missile Crisis A timeline and audio files released by the JFK Library.

Cuban Missile Crisis Federation of American Scientists site with links to FRUS, photos, other transcripts.

Digital History: 1960s U.S. history, with readings, primary sources, teaching resources, and audio and image resources, and other related links.

Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia 1968 An online exhibit of materials from the University of Michigan Special Collections.

Last Update: August 27, 2007

Page maintained by Sue Cody codys@uncw.edu