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AMST 236 / EVST 318 / HIST 199 / HSHM 207: American Energy History: Activities for Feb. 7th

This guide is intended for students in Professor Paul Sabin's course and provides an overview of key resources in the Yale Library for writing your research papers this semester.

Activity 1: Zotero

Install a reference management software, such as Zotero. With each of the activities that follow, make sure to download the relevant citations for your items into it. At the conclusion of the exercise, submit a screenshot of your citations with your assignment.

Link to Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/

Activity 4: Legal resources

Use Nexis Uni (click on the "Online database" link in the "Available from" box) to find the following court cases involving Standard Oil between 1870 and 1920:

  1. A state case involving Standard Oil between 1870 and 1920. 
  2. A federal case involving Standard Oil between 1870 and 1920. 

Question: What was the subject of one of the cases? Who won?

Activity 2: Historical newspapers

Using ProQuest News and Newspapers (click on the "Online database" link in the "Available from" box), locate an article on Standard Oil and monopoly published in the New York Times between 1900 and 1910.

Question: How do these stories talk about the Standard Oil Trust? 

Activity 5: Historical magazines & journals

Use the American Periodicals database (click on the "Online database" link in the "Available from" box) to find an article by Ida Tarbell on Standard Oil that was published in McClure's.

Question: How did Ida Tarbell characterize John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil?

Activity 3: Congressional resources

Using ProQuest Congressional Publications (click on the "Online database" link in the "Available from" box), locate Congressional testimony on Standard Oil's business practices from before 1920.

Question: Who testified at the hearing? What was a major issue or concern of one of the speakers at the hearing?

Activity 6: Yale archives

Use the Archives at Yale finding aid database to find the archival records for the Roger Sherman Collection in Manuscripts and Archives.

Question: What kind of information about the history of Standard Oil might you hope to find in the Sherman Collection?

For more information and general help with navigating Yale's special collections please consult the Guide to Using Special Collections at Yale University.