JOUR 474/774:Mining the National Archives

Instructor: Prof. Ira Chinoy
Web page maintained by Bob Garber, UM Libraries

The University of Maryland Libraries have many resources that will help with your research. If you need additional information, please contact Bob Garber or speak with a Reference Librarian at McKeldin Library's Service Plus Information Desk.

Because of licensing agreements, access to bibliographic databases and electronic journals is restricted to UM faculty, staff, and students. These may be accessed from off campus; consult Remote access for further information. For a complete list of electronic resources available to University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students, as well as information about the full range of library materials and services, consult the UM Libraries' home page.

Table of Contents

• Library Catalogs
• Multidisciplinary Databases
• Subject-specific Databases
• Electronic Journals
• Government Documents Databases
• NARA Databases
• Citing NARA documents

• UM Libraries' catalog
  Use the catalog to search for books and other reference resources on your topic available in the UM Library System. Use a "words anywhere" or "subject words" search.
  Example: national youth administration
  
  Use the Journals portion of the catalog to find out whether the Libraries subscribe to a particular journal. Type in the journal title (not the article title) under "Title beginning with" in the pull-down menu.
  Example: Journal of American History
  
  
• The Archives Library Information Center at Archives II is a research library containing reference works on American history and other topics of interest to NARA researchers. Click on "Search our online Catalog." Note that many of the items found in ALIC can also be found at the University of Maryland Libraries.
  
  
• WorldCat
  Catalog of books, serial publications, media, visual materials, musical scores, and archival materials in libraries worldwide.
  

Many of the citations you will see in the Libraries databases have a yellow "Find It" button. Find It provides links from a citation in a database to the full text of that article, where available, and to other helpful resources and services. It's a quick way to find out whether the Libraries have the online full text of an article. Click on the Find It button to see a menu of options for accessing the full text of an article. For more information about Find It see Find It Frequently Asked Questions.

• Academic Search Premier
  Articles from scholarly and popular journals in a wide range of subject areas. Some full text is available.
  
  
• Lexis-Nexis Academic
  Full-text access to US and international newspapers, journals, wire services, and news transcripts including the Washington Post and the New York Times.
  
  
• New York Times Historical contains the full text of NYT articles from 1851-2005. After 2005, use Lexis-Nexis Academic.
  
  
• Washington Post Historical contains the full text of Post articles from 1877 to 1992. After 1992, use Lexis-Nexis Academic.
  
  
• JSTOR is a searchable file of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years. New indexing makes searching JSTOR easier; for best results use the Advanced Search screen and search for keywords within the abstracts instead of in full text.
  
  

To find a database specific to your topic, go to Research Port and use the "Find Databases by Subject Category" section to browse subjects.

• Digital Dissertations
  Citations, abstracts (1980 - present) and full text of all disserations(1997 - present) for more than 1.6 million U.S. and international masters theses and doctoral dissertations.
  
  
• America: History & Life
  The standard index to articles, books, and dissertations on U.S. and Canadian history published since 1964.
  
  
• Historical Abstracts
  Information on articles, books, and dissertations about non-U.S. and Canadian history.
  
  
• Digital National Security Archives
  Comprehensive collection of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Nearly 40,000 declassified documents - totaling more than 250,000 pages - are included in the database. DNSA is comprised of 20 collections, each focused on a single topic: Afghanistan, Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises, China, El Salvador, Iran and Iran-Contra, Iraqgate, Japan, Nicaragua, Phillipines, Presidential Directives on National Security, South Africa, Soviet Union, U.S. Espionage and Intelligence, U.S. Military Uses of Space, and U.S. Nuclear History and Non-proliferation Policy
  
  
• Ethnic Newswatch provides indexing and full text for small papers not covered by Lexis-Nexis.
  
  
• CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) contains the full text of articles, working papers, and analysis of foreign affairs topics.
  
  
• Air University Library Index to Military Periodicals is the only source that indexes magazines and journals published by the military. An excellent source of information on Defense Department agencies and military topics (including military history).
  

• Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969
  Access to the indexes for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set Index, published and unpublished Congressional Hearings, Congressional Committee Prints, and Senate Executive Documents and Reports.
  
  
• Lexis-Nexis Congressional
  Bill text and tracking; CIS index, abstracts & legislative histories; Congressional Record; public laws; U.S. Code; Federal Register (1980 - present) and Code of Federal Regulations (current).
  
  
• GPO Access Databases
  Full-text of Congressional Bills, Congressional Record, Federal Register, GAO Reports, Laws, Supreme Court Decisions, U.S. Government Manual, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and many others.
  
  
• FRUS: Foreign Relations of the United States is the official compilation of material from various government agencies about foreign relations topics. Volumes are organized by topic (e.g. Cuban Missile Crisis). Sometimes it is easier to use the paper copies which are located in the McKeldin Government Documents Department (fourth floor) in their reference section (ask at the desk).
  
  
• U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory
  Comprehensive list of Federal agencies websites, arranged alphabetically, hierarchically, and by branch of government.
  
  

• ARC: Archival Research Catalog "the online catalog of NARA's nationwide holdings in the Washington, DC area, Regional Archives and Presidential Libraries."
  
  
• AAD: Access to Archival Databases "online access to records in a small selection of historic databases preserved permanently in NARA."
  

Refer to Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States for proper citation form.

return to top