Librarian
Liaison for American Studies, History, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies
Interim Head, Research Services
Room 2624
2nd floor, east tower
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, Illinois 60208-2300
phone: 847-467-1866
gmorse@northwestern.edu
For more library assistance please see the Library web site.
Reference Sources: Overview
Historical research is often informed by reference materials from many disciplines. Reference online and in print brings together some of the library's many reference works while providing tips on how to locate others. The types of works profiled in this guide include dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, grammar and usage guides, biographical sources, sources for quick facts, directories and bibliographies, across the disciplines.
Reference resources come in several formats. Online resources will be shown by title in NUsearch. Print resources are also listed in NUsearch, by title. Print resources which do not circulate are available in the main library periodical room. For more information, send us an IM, email or call us.
Encyclopedias, Historical Dictionaries, & Other Reference Resources
The library's collection of reference sources are listed in NUsearch. You may search by title, keyword, or subject heading.
To use the subject search, you must use a valid Library of Congress (LC) subject heading. LC maintains a list of valid subject headings. To use this list, type your subject into the search box, choose an LC subject heading from the drop down menu, and hit enter. A list of "official" subject headings will appear.
- Chicago Collections Consortium: Explore Chicago Collections PortalFinding aide for archival and other materials about Chicago and surrounding areas. This portal identifies collections in the Consortium's member institutions, which include museums, libraries, and archives in the Chicago region.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowSearchable database of several hundred subject encyclopedias and other reference works across all subject areas, but with particular strengths in the social sciences and humanities. It includes a number of major reference works, and is Northwesterns largest single collection of reference materials. A good source for authoritative background information.
- Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new windowOffers annotated bibliographies of the most important books and articles on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas. Particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
- Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new windowOnline version of many Oxford University Press reference works, ranging from specialized dictionaries and companions to major reference works such as the Encyclopedia of Human Rights, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, among many others.
- U.S. Declassified Documents Online (formerly Declassified Documents Reference System/DDRS)Searchable database of previously classified federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports. Database allows users to to locate the full text of documents and filter their search results by document type, issue date, source institution, classification level, and date declassified as well as other document characteristics.
English Language Dictionaries
Foreign Language Dictionaries
- Pocket Oxford English-Spanish DictionarySpanish-English also available
- Pocket Oxford English-French DictionaryFrench-English also available
- Pocket Oxford English-German DictionaryGerman-English also available
- Pocket Oxford English- Italian DictionaryItalian-English also available
- Pocket Oxford Latin English DictionaryEnglish-Latin also available
- Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Portuguese.