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Guide to History Databases

This guide lists a selection of online databases that are important for locating primary and secondary resources in the field of history. A complete list of history databases is available here. The library has other guides that are relevant to the field of history. See, for example, the guides to finding newspapers, diaries, U.S. government documents, 18th and 19th century periodicals, and historical statistics.

General History Databases
Regional and Ethnic Studies Databases
History of Science, Technology and Medicine Databases
Medieval and Ancient History Databases

General History Databases

Database	Coverage	Content	Holdings	Notes
America: History and Life http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6812	History of the United States and Canada from Prehistory to the present	Abstracts of scholarly articles, book chapters, dissertations and book reviews.	1964-present. 1,700 journals published internationally.	Penn-Text enabled.
Historical Abstracts http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6930	Historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the U.S. and Can.)	Abstracts of scholarly articles, book chapters, and dissertations.	1974-present. Over 2,000 journals published internationally.	Penn-Text enabled.
JSTOR http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6965	Database of journals covering many disciplines, subjects and time periods.	Journals	19th century-five years ago. Includes about 400 journals, 60 of which are specifically related to history.	Full Text
Dissertation Abstracts http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6878	The United States.	Dissertations	1861-present. Over 1.5 million dissertation are in the database.	Non-Penn dissertations can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Penn dissertations should be held by the Library. Post 1997 Penn dissertations are available in full-text online.

 

Regional and Ethnic Studies Databases

Database	Coverage	Content	Holdings	Notes
African Studies Centre Catalogue http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6808	All subjects pertaining to Africa. Covers all periods.	Journal articles, books, collections, government publications, and pamphlets.		Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
American Bibliography of Slavic and Eastern European Studies http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6800	All subjects pertaining to East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union published in the US and Canada. All periods	Journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, dissertations, online resources, and selected gov. publications	1990-present	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
Bibliography of Asian Studies http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6840	All subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asian countries. All periods.	western-language periodical articles, monographs (-1991), conference proceedings, etc.	1971-present.	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
Bibliography of British and Irish History http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/9605	History of the British Isles, Empire and Commonwealth, from 55BC to the present.	Journal articles, books, articles in collective volumes	1975-present. Less comprehensive coverage prior to 1975.	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
Francis http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6915	Multidisciplinary database that covers history, art history, literature, etc., and focuses on topics relevant to the European Continent.	Journal articles, books, articles in collective volumes	1984-present.	PennText enabled
Index Islamicus http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/9993	Islam, the Middle East, and the Muslim world, including Asian Muslim minorities worldwide. All periods.	Journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, book reviews, etc.	1906-present	PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts.
Jahresberichte für deutsche Geschichte Online http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/8751	Indexes historical scholarship published in Germany.			Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
Oesterreichische Historische Bibliographie http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/oehb/oehbquery/	Indexes historical scholarship published in Austria. Not Penn-Text enabled.		1945-present.	Not PennText enabled. Dominated by german language publications. Use with Historical Abstracts
Rambi-index of articles on Jewish Studies http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/7018	Scholarly literature relating to Jewish Studies and the study of Israel. Covers all periods.	Journal articles and collections.	1966-present	Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts
Chicano Database http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6857	Scholarly literature relating to Mexican-American topics.	All types of materials	1967-present	PennText enabled. Use with America: History and Life
Handbook of Latin American Studies http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6936	Scholarly literature relating to latin america	Books, articles, chapters, papers	1935-present	Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts.
Hispanic American Periodical Index http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6931	English, Spanish and Portuguese language scholarly literature relating to Central America, South America, the Carribean and Hispanics in North America.	Journal Articles	1970-present	Some full-text links but many articles are citation only. Use with Historical Abstracts.
Victorian Database http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/7061	Scholarly literature relating to British studies,1830-1914	Covers editions, books, dissertations, and articles in over 500 journals.	1945-present	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Use with Historical Abstracts

 

History of Science Technology and Medicine

Database	Coverage	Content	Holdings	Notes
History of Science, Technology and Medicine http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6940	Covers the history of science, technology and medicine from pre-history to the present.	Journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations	1975-present	PennText endabled
HISTLINE via MedLine http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6978	History of health related professions, sciences, specialties, individuals, institutions, drugs and diseases in all parts of the world and all historic periods	Journal Articles	1964-present	PennText enabled
Sexbiblio http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/8852	Primary and Secondary Literature relating to sex written in Europe, America and Canada. Covers 1700-1945.	Books, articles, pamphlets, other primary resources.	1700-1945	Citations only. Important works from places and times other than the primary ones listed are also included. Highly specialized but not comprehensive.

 

Medieval and Ancient History Databases (NOT including area studies databases)

Database	Coverage	Content	Holdings	Notes
International Medieval Bibliography http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6950	Scholarly literature on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, 400-1500.	articles, proceedings, collections	1967-present	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Strong indexing of non-English journals. Advanced search interface.
ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6961	Medieval (400-1500) and Renaissance (1300-1700) studies with a focus on the Renaissance.	Journal articles, reviews, bibliographies, catalogues, collections and discographies	Articles: 19th century-present Reviews: 1943-present Collections: 1995-present	Not PennText enabled.
Medieval Feminist Index http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6980	Scholarly literature relating to women, sexuality or gender during the Medieval Period.	Journal articles and collections.	1992-2002. Very incomplete indexing.	Not PennText enabled. Supplements IMB and ITER.
L'Annee Philologique http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/6823	Scholarly literature relating to Classical Studies, including the history of Greece, Rome and surrounding areas.	Journal articles, collections and conference papers.	1969-1999	Citations only. Not PennText enabled. Wide coverage of material written throughout Europe.
TOCS-IN: Tables of Contents of Journal of Interest to Classicists. http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/7051	Literature relating to Classical Studies and the Near East.	Journals and anthologies	1992-present	Provides the tables of contents only.

Send mail concerning this page to Nick Okrent at: okrent@pobox.upenn.edu