History Resources

Here you can find sections for various European countries and regions. 

• DA: Great Britain
  • DA 40-89: Political, Military, Naval, Air Force
  • DA 20-690: England
  • DA 700-745: Wales
  • DA 750-890: Scotland
  • DA 900-995: Ireland
• DAW: Central Europe
• DB: Austria, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Czechoslovakia
• DC: France, Andorra, Monaco
• DD: Germany
  • DD 228-257: World Wars
• DE: Greco-Roman World
• DF: Greece 
  • DF 10-289: Ancient Greece
  • DF 501-649: Medieval Greece, Byzantine Empire
  • DF 701-951: Modern Greece
• DG: Italy Malta
  • DG 11-365: Ancient Italy (Rome to 476)
• DH: Low Countries/Benelux countries 
• DJ: Netherlands
• DJK: Eastern Europe
• DK: Russia, Soviet Union, Former Soviet Republics, Poland
• DL: Northern Europe, Scandinavia
• DP: Spain & Portugal
• DQ: Switzerland 
• DR: Balkan Peninsula 

Here are some useful subsections for researching Canada.

• E 58-99: Indigenous Peoples of North America
• FC 12-95: General History of Canada
• FC 95-98: Canadian Culture and Identity
• FC 104-106: Canadian Ethnicities 
• FC 132-145: French Canadians 
• FC 149-223: The Making of Canada
• FC 226-231: Canadian Military History 
• FC 242-251: Foreign Affairs
• FC 305-370: New France
• FC 521-655: Notable People 
• FC 2005-3850: Provinces and Cities
  • FC 2005-2646.4: Atlantic Canada
  • FC 2761-2950.5: Quebec
  • FC 3061-3100: Ontario/'Upper Canada' 
  • FC 3217-3700: The Prairies 
  • FC 3803-3850: British Columbia 

Here are some useful subsections for researching the United States of America.

• E 58-99: Indigenous Peoples of North America
• E 159-176: American Culture 
• E 178-180: Early America
• E 181-183: American Foreign Affairs
  • E 183.8 .C2: US Canada Relations
  • E 183.8 .C5: US China Relations 
  • E 183.8 .C9: US Cuba Relations
  • E 183.8 .F8-G7: US France, UK & Germany Relations
  • E 183.8 .R9-S65: US Russia/Soviet Union Relations
• E 184: American Ethnicities 
• E 185: African American History
• E 188-297: Making of America/American Revolution
• E 302.6-332.2: Founding Fathers
• E 441-451: Slavery in America 
• E 456-457: Abraham Lincoln
• E 458-645: American Civil War
• E 743-744: Cold War
• E 756-901.1: Notable People
• F 7-908: States and Cities 

Note: I thought having a little miscellaneous section like this might be useful considering how broad and multi-disciplined history can be. Feel free to edit it, remove anything from it, or remove it entirely. Done by Elijah on July 24, 2024.

The study of History encompasses a wide range of topics, including economics, politics, art, and much more. This means there are parts of the Library away from the main History section that are often beneficial to History students. Here are a few places you can find content related to History.

• CB-CT: Auxiliary Sciences of History (Archaeology, Genealogy, etc.) 
• HB-HC: Economic Theory and History
• HN: Social History
• HX-JZ: Political Theory and History
• K-KZ: Law
• LA: History of Education
• N: Art History  
• U-UH: Military Studies

Most of our Religious History books are located throughout the A-BX side of the Library. Simply searching the topic you are interested in, such as Christianity, followed by History will usually allow you to find what you are looking for. Don't hesitate to ask a member of staff if you require further assistance with locating resources!

Here are some databases to search if you're looking for primary sources for a History paper.  

• JSTOR (full text): JSTOR gives you access to many historical documents and primary sources. It also has a large amount of secondary sources on all humanities topics. JSTOR contains a plethora of articles, books, and various other kinds of media.
• Gale: GALE is a useful primary source database. It grants access to sources from specific periods and regions, as well as an array of newspapers (E.g. The Economist, The Independent, The Times, Daily Mail, etc.) Follow the link for a comprehensive list of GALE databases that are accessible by Ambrose students. Most of these databases are also linked in the History section of our Journal Databases by Subject web page.
• Translated Texts for Historians E-Library: The translated E-Library from Liverpool University Press is an excellent resource housing long-form content, such as books and journals. These texts have all been translated into English. There is an embargo period on newly added content, meaning we do not gain access immediately. Add search guides

Here are some databases to search if you are looking for Reference sources for a History paper:

• Gale In Context: World History: Not only is GALE useful for locating primary sources, but its 'World History in Context' page contains numerous overviews of historical topics from around the world. This link will take you to a page suggesting topics, but you can also perform a search or look at the full list of topics to find what you are looking for.
• Humanities International Complete (some full text, EBSCO): Humanities International Complete's goal is to collect Open Access journals about the Humanities from all over the world, and to index them and make them easily searchable. It also contains mostly academic articles. It will yield broader search results than the Canadian Literary Centre because it is international rather than Canadian and focused on all Humanities, not just literature.
• MLA International Bibliography (some full text, EBSCO): MLA International Biography is international and has content from all of the Humanities disciplines. However, it has fewer full-text sources because its goal is to include as many citations as possible, not necessarily to provide full-text access. If your topic is obscure and you're having a hard time finding sources, you may want to search here for titles of articles and then look for them elsewhere.
  • Through Ambrose, you have access to the SAIL Consortium (Ambrose belongs to a local consortium of academic libraries (SAIL) that includes the University of Calgary, St. Mary’s University, and Bow Valley College. Ambrose students and employees may use their ID cards to borrow from SAIL libraries. Please contact the libraries directly for more information about borrowing privileges.) You can also fill out a request form for any source you're looking for through Ambrose's InterLibrary Loan Service. 

• eBook Academic Collection (EBSCO): If you're looking specifically for eBooks, you can check out the eBook Academic Collection. This collection contains full-text eBooks on many different subjects. On their home page, you can select the category Literature & Criticism to get you started on your research.

• Oxford English Dictionary: Through Ambrose, you have access to the complete online Oxford English Dictionary. Like any other dictionary, the OED will give you current definitions of words so that you can ensure you are using them properly. Beyond that, the OED will also give you the history of the word from the 11th century to the present. It traces the origin, meaning, and (formal and informal) historical use of each word. If you need to discuss a definition in a paper, you can cite the OED because it is a more trustworthy source than just looking up a word on Google. You can also look for definitions in encyclopedias on your topic, both through our catalogue and in our Reference section (ex. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada). 

Gale Primary Source Databases:

• American Fiction 1774-1920: Prose fiction written by Americans from the political beginnings of the United States through World War I. 
• Archives of Human Sexuality & Gender: Presents important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. 
  • LGBTQ History & Culture since 1940, Part I
• Associated Press Collections Online: The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting, founded in 1846. 
  • U.S. Cities Bureaus Collection
  • European Bureaus Collection
  • News Features & Internal Communications
  • Washington, D.C. Bureau Collection
  • The Middle East Bureaus Collection
• Brazilian & Portuguese History & Culture: Oliveira Lima's (1867-1928) collection of books, manuscripts, works of art, and other materials for the study of Brazil, Portugal, and the Ibero-American world. 
• British Literary Manuscripts Online: Presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, and drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works. The manuscripts range from medieval texts to the works of Oscar Wilde.
• British Library Newspapers: Delivers a wide range of local and regional voices to reflect the social, political, and cultural events of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Provides an alternative viewpoint to the London-centric national press over a period of more than 200 years.
• Burney Collection of 17th/18th Century Newspapers: Reverend Charles Burney's (1757-1817) collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century English news media. Helps chart the development of the newspaper as we now know it, beginning with irregularly published transcriptions of Parliamentary debates and proclamations to coffee house newsbooks, finally arriving at newspaper in its current form.
• Chatham House Online Archive: Contains the publications and archives of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the world-leading independent international affairs policy institute founded in 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference.
• China-From Empire to Republic: Collection of 17 English-language periodicals published in or about China during a period of over 130 years, extending from 1817 until the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
  • Missionary, Sinology, and Literary Periodicals, 1817-1949
• Crime Punishment and Popular Culture 1790-1920: Gathers the raw data about crime, its solutions, and the popular response in the nineteenth century.
• Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004:  Includes more than one hundred years of this major UK national newspaper.
• Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library (1475-1900): Digital library of early printed books in Arabic script. Exemplifies the long exchange of ideas and learning between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world.
  • Religion and Law
  • Sciences, History, and Geography
  • Periodicals, Literature, Grammar, Language, Catalogs, and General Works
• Economist Historical Archive: First published in 1843, The Economist provides a unique, unbiased analysis of major world events, facilitates the comparison of economic trends across continents and centuries, and offer an ideal historical resource for cutting-edge ideas in an easily digestible form.
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online: Books, pamphlets, and broadsides in all subjects printed between 1701 and 1800.
• Financial Times Historical Archives 1888-2010: The Financial Times has chronicled the critical financial and economic events that shaped the world, from the late nineteenth and entire twentieth centuries to today.
• Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003: This publication presented a vivid picture of British and world events, including news of war, disaster, ceremonies, the arts, and science. 
• Independent Digital Archive 1986-2016: The Independent is a major British daily national newspaper, launched in 1986 as an antidote to its often overtly political rivals. The paper presents alternative perspectives on the news of the day.
• Indigenous Peoples of North America: This collection covers the history of American Indian tribes and supporting organizations with unprecedented depth and breadth.
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Offers content from the 15th to the 20th century, providing information about the indigenous peoples of the region, the Conquest (la Conquista), colonial rule, religion, struggles for independence, and political, economic, and social progress.
• Liberty Magazine Historical Archive 1924-1950: This magazine charted the moods, attitudes, lifestyles, fads, and fortunes of middle America through three of its most significant decades. 
• Listener Historical Archive 1929-1991: The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1929. It is one of the few means of accessing the content of many early broadcasts and it also previewed major literary and musical shows and regularly reviewed new books.
• Making of the Modern World: Covers the history of Western trade, encompassing the coal, iron, and steel industries, the railway industry, the cotton industry, banking and finance, and the emergence of the modern corporation, as well as the rise of the modern labor movement, the evolving status of slavery, the condition and making of the working class, colonization, the Atlantic world, Latin American/Caribbean studies, social history, gender, and the economic theories that championed and challenged capitalism in the nineteenth century.
• Nineteenth Century Collections Online: This archive contains the collections below. Click on the title link to search the whole archive or click a collection link to search within a specific collection. 
  • Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
  • British Politics and Society
  • British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
  • Children's Literature and Childhood
  • Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
  • European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection
  • Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
  • Photography: The World through the Lens
  • Religion, Reform, and Society
  • Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925, Part I
  • Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925, Part II
  • Women: Transnational Networks
• 19th Century North American Newspapers: Provides an as-it-happened window on events, culture, and daily life in nineteenth-century America, written by those who experienced it and recorded it in newspaper pages from coast to coast.
• 19th Century U.K. Periodicals: Covers the events, lives, values, and themes that shaped nineteenth century U.K. 
  • Part I: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure
  • Part II: Empire
• Picture Post Historical Archive 1938-1957: The Picture Post's innovative use of photojournalism became the window on the world for ordinary people, bringing the major social and political issues of the day into popular consciousness.
• Punch Historical Archive 1841-1992: Punch was a satirical magazine that played a central role in the formation of British identity and how the rest of the world saw the British nation from its early years as a campaigner for social justice to its transformation into national icon.
• Sabin Americana: Offers content from the 15th to the 20th century on life in the western hemisphere. This collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions, and momentous events of the time through sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, and literature.
• Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive: This collection is devoted to the study and understanding of the history of slavery in America and the rest of the world from the 17th century to the late 19th century. 
  • The Age of Emancipation
  • Debates over Slavery and Abolition
  • The Institution of Slavery
  • Slave Trade in the Atlantic World
• Smithsonian Collections Online: This archive is comprised of digitized primary source materials from deep within the museums, libraries, and archives of the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex.
  • Air & Space and Smithsonian Magazine Archive
  • Air & Space and Smithsonian Magazine Frontlist
  • Evolution of Flight, 1784-1991
  • Trade Literature and the Merchandizing of Industry
  • World's Fairs and Expositions: Visions of Tomorrow
• State Papers Online 1509-1782: The British State Papers cover a wide range of documents, subjects, and importance, concerning internal English/British affairs and administration of the country, and foreign affairs, marriage alliances, treaties and wars.
  • Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part 1: State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Registers of the Privy Council
  • Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part 2: State Papers Foreign, Low Countries and Germany
  • Part I: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Domestic
  • Part II: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
  • Part III: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic
  • Part IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
• Sunday Times Digital Archive 1822-2006: The Sunday Times was founded to uphold the freedom of the press against those "emperors, kings, and their ministers" who would stifle it. It has consistently provided thoughtful analysis and commentary on the week's news and society at large.
• Telegraph Historical Archive 1855-2000: The Telegraph has published widely on foreign affairs and foreign cultures. It has strived to be at the forefront of journalistic innovation in the UK and has historical significance for the development of newspapers over the centuries. 
• Times Digital Archive 1785-2008: The Times is one of the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication and is a highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage.
• Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive 1902-2009: The Times Literary Supplement has served for over 100 years as a leading forum for fine writing, literary discoveries, and insightful debate.