Yale University Library Research Guides: HIST 009, Yale Engages the World: A History of U.S. Power: Home

Reference sources

Reference works are a great place to start your research. These include bibliographies, scholarly encyclopedias, historical dictionaries, and other sources that provide overviews of topics and suggestions for further reading. Often they may be called "handbooks" or "companions," such as the Oxford Handbooks and Cambridge Companions.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History

A scholarly encyclopedia with informative articles, each one providing a discussion of the literature, including primary sources. Here are just a few examples of the articles you'll find:

"United States Strategy in the Asia Pacific"

"Progressivism and U.S. Power"

"American Opposition to South African Apartheid" (includes brief discussion of campus anti-apartheid protests at Berkeley, Dartmouth, and elsewhere)

Oxford Bibliographies

This is an extensive collection of annotated bibliographies that are keyword searchable and can also be browsed by subject area -- there are several articles (sometimes on the same topic across multiple disciplines) that may provide helpful starting points for your research, often listing both primary and secondary sources.

"History of Education in the United States"

"Historical Evolution of Higher Education in the United States"

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education

The Routledge Companion to Education

Wiley Online Library

Often a single chapter or two within one of the Wiley Companions provides a helpful starting point for research. Volumes include A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and A Companion to Post-1945 America.

Guides to Historical Research & Writing

The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition by Wayne C. Booth; Gregory G. Colomb; Joseph M. Williams; Joseph Bizup; William T. FitzGerald
ISBN: 9780226239569
Publication Date: 2016-10-19
Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing by Anthony Brundage
ISBN: 9781119262831
Publication Date: 2017-04-27

General Books on U.S. Higher Ed (secondary sources)

American Higher Education by Christopher J. Lucas
ISBN: 1403972893
Publication Date: 2006-04-02
(Publisher's description) Eminently readable and always lively, this timely historical account is sure to be an invaluable resource for assessing the present condition and future prospects of American colleges and universities.
A History of American Higher Education by John R. Thelin
ISBN: 0801878551
Publication Date: 2004-06-11
(Publisher's description) In A History of American Higher Education, Thelin offers a wide-ranging and engaging account of the origins and evolution of America's public and private colleges and universities, emphasizing the notion of saga--the proposition that institutions are heirs to numerous historical strands and numerous attempts to address such volatile topics as institutional cost and effectiveness, admissions and access, and the character of the curriculum.
For the Common Good by Charles Dorn
ISBN: 9780801452345
Publication Date: 2017-06-06
(Publisher description) From the community college to the elite research university--in states from California to Maine--Dorn engages a fundamental question confronted by higher education institutions ever since the nation's founding: Do colleges and universities contribute to the common good?
A Perfect Mess by David F. Labaree
ISBN: 9780226250588
Publication Date: 2017-04-21
(Publisher description) Detailing American higher education's unusual struggle for survival in a free market that never guaranteed its place in society -- a fact that seemed to doom it in its early days in the nineteenth century -- [Labaree] tells a lively story of the entrepreneurial spirit that drove American higher education to become the best.
Between Citizens and the State by Christopher P. Loss
ISBN: 9781400840052
Publication Date: 2011-11-07
(Publisher description) Using cutting-edge analysis, Christopher Loss recovers higher education's central importance to the larger social and political history of the United States in the twentieth century, and chronicles its transformation into a key mediating institution between citizens and the state.

More Books on the History of American Higher Education

Yale Specific Books (background & secondary)

The Guardians by Geoffrey M. Kabaservice; Geoffrey Kabaservice
ISBN: 0805067620
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
(Publisher description) How liberalism and one of the most dramatic eras in American history were shaped by an influential university president and his powerful circle of friends.
A Yale Book of Numbers: Historical Statistics of the College and University, 1701-1976

Yale books in the Cowles Reference Center, Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library

Librarian Contacts

Students may reach out to any of the following librarians for assistance with research projects for this course:

Joshua Cochran, Curator for American History and Diplomacy, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

James Kessenides, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, Sterling Memorial Library

Bill Landis, Teaching Librarian, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Scott Libson, Special Collections Librarian, Yale Divinity Library

Overview of Yale Library Search Tools

The main search tools for finding books, articles, databases, archival collections, and more at Yale (and beyond) can all be found on the "Find, Request, and Use" page of the library's website. Here are a few quick refreshers, but be sure to visit the page for a full overview:

Orbis (classic catalog)
Searches books, e-books, journals (but not individual articles), government documents, and other physical and digital items. It's the classic catalog of Yale Library *not* including items from the Law Library. Can be used to find both primary and secondary sources.
Morris (classic catalog of Law Library)
If your topic relates to legal history or potentially involves research in legal materials, be sure to include Morris in your search, or alternatively to use Books+ (which searches both Morris and Orbis).
Quicksearch
A combined search of the library's books, journals and journal articles, licensed databases, digitized archival collections, archival finding aids, and more. Searches Orbis as well as Morris, which is the Law Library catalog. A vast, Google-like search, but some library materials will still not be retrieved by it, and the advanced search refinements and options to use just one part of Quicksearch or another can be key to running efficient, manageable, and successful searches.
Articles+
Within Quicksearch, Articles+ can be a powerful tool for finding individual journal, newspaper, and magazine articles.
Books+
Within Quicksearch, Books+ will limit your search to the books (and reports and numerous other monographs, as opposed to journal articles) that are found across the Yale Libraries. Orbis + Morris (Law Library) collections are searched together.
Archives at Yale
The search portal for finding archival materials at Yale. Look for the Scope & Contents notes, inventories, and PDF Finding Aids to assess the relevance of materials to your research project.
Also see the Guide to Using Special Collections at Yale University for more information on finding, requesting, and using archival materials in the Yale Library.
Yale Library Digital Collections
Access to millions of digitized works and images from the Yale Library. This site is a living database, and new materials are added regularly.

HIST 009, Yale Engages the World: A History of U.S. Power: Home