Historical and Biographical Databases
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
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America: History & Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. - Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new windowThe database is a standard source for the quantitative facts of American history.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new windowThere are statistical tables and charts covering various aspects of social, political, and economic life.
- American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowAmerican Periodicals provides access to two separate collections, American Periodicals Series Online (APS Online) and American Periodicals from the Center for Research (APCRL). APS Online contains digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals. APCRL includes full-color scans of original printed documents.
- HarpWeek This link opens in a new windowDigitized images of Harper's Weekly, the leading illustrated American periodical of the last half of the nineteenth century.
- Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new windowPrimary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States. The approximately 15,000 articles, documents, correspondence, proceedings, manuscripts, and literary works of almost 300 Black abolitionists. Covers 1830-1865.
- Black Thought and Culture: African Americans from Colonial Times to the Present This link opens in a new window"When complete, Black Thought and Culture will provide approximately 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the earliest times to the present."
- American National Biography This link opens in a new windowA source of historical American biography.
- Biography in Context This link opens in a new windowBiography in Context is a comprehensive database of biographical information.
- Biography Reference Bank This link opens in a new window
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Full-text biographical profiles of people from antiquity to the present. - Biography and Genealogy Master Index This link opens in a new windowThis is an online index to sources that contain multiple biographies. Use the database to identify a publication that includes the biographical information needed, and then check your library catalog for the call number.
Biographical Information in Digitized Books
Find information about African Americans by searching the full text of millions of books in Google Books and the HathiTrust Digital Library. Note the name of the library that provided the book as well as the book's title, author(s), publisher name and location, date, and the page(s) where the information can be found.
If there are no options for printing or downloading, try to take a screenshot of the page that you need and/or check DELCAT Discovery to see if the UD Library holds the book. Books not held by the Library may be borrowed from other libraries through interlibrary loan.
In some cases, you will find your search terms highlighted in the text but won't be able to view the book. If there are copyright restrictions, the entire book will not be displayed.
- Google Books This link opens in a new window
Digitized books from around the world. When you find a book that is still under copyright, you see only a small portion of the book at a time, plus links to places where you can buy or borrow it. If you find a book that is out of copyright (in the public domain), however, you see the Full Book View displayed. The complete book can be downloaded as a PDF.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Partial Open Access. Partnering with academic and research institutions, HathiTrust (pronounced hah tee) provides access to millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Typically, books in the public domain (no longer under copyright) can be viewed in full by all users.
