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:
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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.
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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).
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QuicksearchA combined search of the library's books, journals and journal articles, licensed databases, digitized archival collections, 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.
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Articles+Within Quicksearch, Articles+ can be a powerful tool for finding individual journal, newspaper, and magazine articles.
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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.
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Archives at YaleThe 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 CollectionsAccess to millions of digitized works and images from the Yale Library. This site is a living database, and new materials are added regularly.
Guides to Historical Research & Writing
Maps
Resources from class meeting on September 28th
The following are the resources that were demonstrated or mentioned during the library research session on September 28th (some of them are also linked on other parts of this guide, e.g. ProQuest News and Newspapers under "Primary Source Databases," etc.):
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Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American HistoryExamples of articles include "The Study of Ecology in Latin America and the Caribbean."
Academic journal databases:
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America: History and LifeA narrower database than JSTOR and key database specifically for finding journal articles and book reviews in the major, peer-reviewed American history journals.
Historical newspaper databases:
Government documents:
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ProQuest Congressional PublicationsKey resource for finding Congressional documents, such as the Congressional Record, Hearings, House and Senate Documents and Reports (i.e., U.S. Congressional Serial Set), and more.
Finding archival materials at Yale and beyond:
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Archives at YaleDatabase of finding aids to Yale archival collections.
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Archive GridArchive Grid contains records for finding aids from over 1000 archival institutions. Start here when you are seeking to discover if there are any relevant archival collections for your research beyond Yale. This search portal is useful even if you will not be visiting archives beyond Yale -- search results might point to materials that have been digitized by other libraries, and sometimes the information contained in finding aids will itself be helpful.
Freely available web resources:
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CalisphereDigitized historical materials from libraries, archives, and museums across California.
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Mountain West Digital LibraryDigitized historical materials primarily from libraries in Utah (though often relating to other states in the U.S. West).
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Also the following websites not mentioned during class meeting, but potentially helpful:
Paleography resources:
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"Learning to Read Old Handwriting"From the BYU Family History Library
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"English Paleography: Learn to Read Secretary Hand"By Kathryn James, Rare Book Librarian, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University
Background resources
Background or "reference" sources are a great place to start in building your bibliographies. These are scholarly encyclopedias, handbooks, bibliographies, and similar sources that will often contain lengthy essays with background information on a topic and overviews of the relevant scholarship. Citations to the secondary literature will always be included, and often so too will citations to primary sources.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia in American History
A scholarly encyclopedia of potentially great use in the early stages of your research project. Each article has a discussion of the literature, including primary sources -- often a great starting point for finding more sources. A few examples of potentially useful articles are the following:
- "Infrastructure: Water and Sewers"
- "Infrastructure: Streets, Roads, and Highways"
- "Infrastructure: Mass Transit in 19th- and 20th-Century Urban America"
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science
The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics
This and other Oxford Handbooks are useful sources for getting started on research projects. You will find informative overviews on topics and helpful lists of suggestions for further reading in each chapter.
Oxford Bibliographies
This is a large collection of bibliographic “articles,” each containing numerous bibliographic annotations, often of both primary and secondary sources.
The Environmental History Bibliography
Secondary Sources/Subject Databases
Subject-specific databases are a key resource for finding secondary literature, including the latest scholarly journal articles in the field, and the main subject databases for finding historical literature are:
- America: History and Life Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada and indexes over 2000 historical journals. A key resource if you are searching for historical scholarship related to your research project.
- Historical Abstracts Provides historical coverage of the world, not including the United States and Canada, from the 15th century to the present. Indexes thousands of journals in multiple languages.
Additional subject databases for finding scholarly literature that may be helpful are:
Searching these databases will allow you to check for the latest scholarly articles, reviews of books, citations to book chapters, and more in a wide array of historical journals. Please note: the full text of articles will not always be available in these databases. If you see the "YaleLinks" icon instead of a PDF, click on the icon to discover whether we have online access to the article.
Library contact
James Kessenides, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, james.kessenides@yale.edu
Click here for a list of subject specialists in the Yale Library
