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History
What is Background Information?
Background information is particularly useful when you don't know very much about a topic. It provides a broad overview and highlights the key people and events you need to know about as you prepare to research your topic. It teaches you the language (keywords) used in the discipline. It often contains a recommended list for further reading. Background information is often found in sources described as reference works written by scholars (experts) in the field. Encyclopedias, handbooks, and historical dictionaries are good examples of reference works.
Selected Background Information in American History
Click on a title to check its availability.
American Decades Primary Sources by Call Number: E169.1 .A471977 200410 volumes covering 1900-1999
Available in print and as an e-book in the Gale Virtual Reference Library database.
Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History by Call Number: E162 .C68 20065 volumes
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History by Call Number: E468 .E53 20005 vols.
Selected Background Information in World History
Click on a title to check its availability.
World History Encyclopedia by 21 volumes
E-book
Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome by Call Number: DG270 .B86 2012
Encyclopedia of India by E-book
Biography
To find biographical information on a specific person, use Library Quick Search to search on the person's name along with the word "biography."
Example: dolores huerta biography
Try consulting a collection of biographies about well known individuals. Click on a title to check its availability.
American National Biography by Call Number: CT213 .A68 1999More than 17,500 biographical essays on historical figures written by experts in the field and completed with a bibliography of additional sources for further reading.
African American National Biography by Call Number: E185.96 .A4466 2008More than 4,000 biographical essays written and signed by distinguished scholars and completed with additional sources for further reading. Also available online.
Notable American Women, 1607-1950 by Call Number: CT3260 .N57Covers the lives of exceptional women throughout three and a half centuries of American history. Also available online.
Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century by Call Number: CT3260 .N5725 2004Biographical essays on almost five hundred women representing a wide range of fields of endeavor. Also available online.
Dictionary of Hispanic Biography by Call Number: CT1343 .D53 1996Profiles of approximately 470 noteworthy Hispanic men and women from the 15th century to the present.
- Britannica Online This link opens in a new windowOnline version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Search Biographies in Britannica Online by person's name, era, national / cultural association, or what they are notable for.
- Biography Index Past and Present (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowFeatures citations to autobiographies, bibliographies, biographies, obituaries, book reviews, interviews, and other biographical materials in English-language books and journals.
- Biography Index Retrospective: 1946-1983 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowProvides information on notable individuals from antiquity through 1983, including indexing of interviews and profiles of history makers, as well as obituaries, collections of letters, diaries, memoirs, juvenilia, book reviews, bibliographies, and exhibition reviews. Covers 1946-1983.
