American Studies is an interdisciplinary field. Although it deals mainly with the United States, Canada, Central and South America are sometimes included. American Studies incorporates the study of history, economics, literature, art, politics, race, the media, urban studies, women’s studies and cultural studies, among other fields. The nature of this subject can make it difficult to locate appropriate sources. This pathfinder can help you with links to information and provide a starting point from which to locate the knowledge you need.

Finding Primary Sources
OASys:

Try keyword searches on your topic and include phrases such as:

Sample Keyword Searches

american slave narratives

american civil war sources

american revolution documents

Benjamin franklin letters of

Sample compilations of reprinted primary source materials in our collection: 

Documents of American History

Sources of the American mind; a collection of documents and texts in American intellectual history

Free expression in America : a documentary history

Dramatist in America : letters of Maxwell Anderson, 1912-1958

American speeches

Early native American writing : new critical essays

My captivity among the Sioux Indians

Finding Secondary Sources

OASys:

Try an advance keyword search in which you limit the location to the reference stacks. You could also try a keyword search for “encyclopedia of …” or “dictionary of …” followed by your topic.

Sample Keyword Searches

encyclopedia of the war of 1812

dictionary of American Indians

antebellum south and limit search to Location: Ref Stacks

Or, consult the Guide to Reference Books (Ref Desk, Z1035 .W79).

Sample reference works:

Dictionary of American History

American Prose Writers of World War I: a documentary volume

Dictionary of the American West

Who’s Who in Colored America

Social Issues in America: an encyclopedia

Women and Music in America since 1900: an encyclopedia

The Golden Age of American rock n’ roll

Encyclopedia of Urban America: the cities and suburbs

Books: OASys and LINK+

Keyword Searches

To get started, try a keyword search in OASys. Be sure to notice the subject headings for the best items on your topic. Click on those headings to get more resources. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

Suggested Keyword Searches for this Course

keyword: (USA OR America) AND wom*n
keyword: America* AND music
keyword: revolution* AND America*
keyword: (USA OR America) AND media*
keyword: (USA OR America*) AND slave*

keyword: terror* AND (USA OR America)

keyword: religio* AND antebellum AND (America OR USA)

keyword: cold war* AND politic* AND (USA OR America*)

keyword: oral histor* AND civil right* AND America*

HINT: Remember to be flexible with your terminology. Try several different searches and truncate words as demonstrated above.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

LC Subject Headings are classifications agreed upon by all US libraries and be an invaluable tool when you are searching for information. While keyword searches may bring up more titles, LC Subject searching can bring up more accurate lists of works specifically related to your field of study. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may also place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

Suggested Subject Headings for this Course

United States History

United States Social Conditions

United States Economic Conditions

United States Armed Forces

United States Secret Service

United States Race Relations

United States Politics and Government

For more assistance with searching for books, please see Finding Books.

Articles in Magazines, Newspapers and Journals

For clues to identifying various citations, click here 

Selected Library Research Databases for American Studies:

 America: History & Life Find citations to and occasional full-text links for articles and books.

JSTOR Full-text archive of high-impact academic journals in many disciplines. Included journals generally begin with full-text from the first issue up until 3-5 years ago. Full-text is not available through JSTOR for recent issues. You can browse journals by discipline, by title or search articles by keyword.

 ProQuestHistorical Newspapers Search the full text of the New York Times (1851 - 1999) and the Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1928 and growing).

Black Thought and Culture Black Thought and Culture contains 989 sources with 947 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamphlets, letters and other fugitive material.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries North American Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters. The materials have been chosen using bibliographies and more than 7,000 pages of previously unpublished material. The collection also includes biographies and an annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, so providing a personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives, the series provides a source for scholars in a wide range of disciplines. In selected cases, users will be able to hear the actual audio voices of the immigrants

The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This release contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs. The product includes 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts.

California Newspaper ProjectContains a catalog of bibliographic records for "11,000 of an estimated total of 20,000 California newspapers published since 1846," representing the holdings of over 2,500 libraries, historical societies, and museums. Searchable by keyword, title, place, subject, publishing year, and holding institution.

Early Encounters in North America This release of Early Encounters in North America contains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters. For example, you can identify all encounters between the French and the Huron between 1650 and 1700.

For more assistance with searching our databases, please see Finding Articles.

Web Sites

Tired of Googling? try a different search engine or a subject directory found on our Public Internet Search Tools page. For example, go to the Librarian's Index to the Internet, and try this search: racism

Some results include:

The American Studies Web The American Studies Web is the largest bibliography of web-based resources in the field of American Studies.

American Studies: Approaches and Concepts Essay by historian Richard P. Horowitz

American Heritage History Homepage Searchable data on all aspects of American History

American Presidents: Life Portraits A companion Web site to the 1999 C-SPAN series American Presidents: Life Portraits. Part biography and part travelogue, this site profiles the personal and public lives of each of the U. S. presidents. The biographical information is brief, but resources for further study are included.

Biography.com A&E's Biography site. An online search engine of more than 25,000 short biographical entries of "greatest lives," past and present. Many entries feature additional Web resources.

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Project, 1936-1940 The WPA's American Life Histories project, 1936-1940, at the Library of Congress. This famous New Deal project sent three hundred writers to interview and record the lives of Americans all across the nation.

Jews in America: Our Story Searchable gallery of documents, photographs and other artifacts from the collections of five partner organizations of the Center for Jewish History

Studies in American Humor This site features a selection of essays that appeared in the journal Studies in American Humor from 1974 to 1994. Topics include Mark Twain, immigrant stereotypes 1880-1900, "Catch-22" and angry humor, Will Rogers, S. J. Perelman, and New Yorker cartoons. From a retired editor of the journal.

Black Studies A browsable webliography featuring dozens of annotated links to high-quality Web sites related to African American studies.

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Digital Collection Browse through or search this extensive collection of more than 2,300 photographs and 3,800 pages of text on the lives of Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest. Cultural topics include work, education, transportation, treaties, housing, clothing, and crafts. There are essays on specific Indian tribal groups (Alaskan Tlingit and Tsimshian, Coeur d'Alene, Lushootseed, Makah, Nez Perce) written by teachers, historians, and anthropologists with links to related text and images

Center of the American West This site focuses on the study of the modern American West. It features academic works on energy policy, economic theory, land use, and various social interactions in history. Includes reports and essays, curriculum materials, and information about projects such as "Ranchland Dynamics" and a conference on environmental justice.

For more assistance with searching for web sites, please see Finding Public Web Pages.

Courses offered at Occidental College.

Please check the Occidental Course Catalog American Studies page for courses offered in American Studies. Note not all courses listed are offered every year

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