• From anywhere on the Internet, the path to this page, starting from the Union College home page, is mapped out below:

  Go to the Union College Home Page (http://www.union.edu/)  then

  • ...Resources
  • ......Academic Resources
  • .........Schaffer Library Home Page
  • .....................Web Research Guides
  • ..........................Economics
  • ..............................American Economic History

• Off campus:
  Although you may use either of the above routes to access this page remotely through your telecommunications package, the privilege to access certain of the sources listed below is limited to workstations with Union College IP addresses.
  Therefore, a student wishing to use the links on this page from off-campus will find it advantageous to apply at the Office of Computer Services for an account on the proxy server. Such an account enables off-campus users to have full access.

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Sites on the Web

Although it would be far beyond the scope of this page to try to list comprehensively the sites relevant to this class, here instead are the principle avenues to finding a great many:

• Web catalogs
• Search engines

Web Catalogs

Systematic searching is facilitated through the use of Web catalogs, subject-classified groupings of sites.  A few respected catalogs are listed below.

• WWW-VL History: the United States
  Carries the authority of the WWW Virtual Library sites.  Points, for example to the two groups of relevant sites listed immediately below.
  http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/USA/index.html

• WWW-VL Labour and Business History
  Within its wide international range, this WWW Virtual Library site includes much American material.
  http://history.cc.ukans.edu/history/usa/usaindex.html#labor

• Economic History Services
  Funded by the National Science Foundation, this site provides links to datasets and abstracts in economic history.
  http://www.eh.net

• The Gilded Age, 1890-1917
  Provides about 20 sites to try, some full-text, some pointers to more. 
  http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/USA/ERAS/gilded_age.html

• Internet Resources for Economic Historians
  Funded by the NSF, here are datasets, links to relevant library catalogs, government sites, companies with historical information, etc.
  http://eh.net/Other

• Labor History
  A sizable catalog of sites on strikes and other labor history topics.
  http://www.geocities.com/m_lause.geo/AmLabHist/VL.html

• National Bureau of Economic Research
  The respected National Bureau of Economic Research offers in its site a macro-economic history database.
  http://www.nber.org

• Populism
  http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/USA/populism.html

• Gilded Age and Progressive Era Resources
  Dozens of sites are presented in this resource of the Tennessee Technological University History Department.
  http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/gilprog.html

Search Engines: An alternative to Web catalogs are "search engine" sites, whose function is to list Web sites that meet the keyword and logical criteria you stipulate.

Click on the above link to reach a Schaffer-Library page describing and leading you to several of the leading search-engine sites.

    Two caveats, however:

• First, they tend to provide far more irrelevant and unsubstantial listings than one would find through a Web catalog.
• Second, these engines vary in their operation, so they may each turn up differing results in reply to the same query. 

Out of the search engines at the above link, a suggested, effective one to try is Google, at this link or http://www.google.com

One way to compensate for the differing results problem is to use a "meta-search-engine", one that utilizes several simultaneously and sends you the most relevant hits of each.  For example, try  Metacrawler, at this link or http://www.metacrawler.com

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Reference Collection Information

Below are a few titles in the Reference Collection of Schaffer Library that may prove helpful. Some have entries that will be directly informative.   Others are bibliographies that will refer the user to other literature.   Although some of these books are non-recent, many of their references are "classic" and valuable.  And of course newer thinking can be found by using the other sections of this Web-page.  ( "NonCirculating" means that the books must remain at the Library where they are available for consulting at any time.)

American Economic and Business History Information Sources; an Annotated Bibliography... by Robert W. Lovett.  Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1971.

American Economic History Before 1860 by George Rogers Taylor. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969.

American Economic History since 1860. Compiled by Edward C. Kirkland.  New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971.

American Labor History and Comparative Labor Movements; a Selected Bibliography,  by James C. McBrearty. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973.

Bibliography of Industrial Relations in the Railroad Industry / by James O. Morris.  Ithaca : New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell
University, 1975

The Coal Industry in America : a Bibliography and Guide to Studies / Robert F. Munn.  Morgantown : West Virginia University Library, 1977.

Dictionary of American History.   New York : Scribner, 1978.

The Economics of Minorities : a Guide to Information Sources / edited by Kenneth
L. Gagala. Detroit : Gale Research Co., c1976.

Encyclopedia of American Economic History.  Edited by Glenn Porter.   New York : Scribner, 1980.

Encyclopedia of the American left / edited by Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan
Georgakas.  New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Encyclopedia of the American West / Charles Phillips, Alan Axelrod, editors.  
New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 1996.

Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1993.

Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century.  Edited by Stanley I. Kutler, et al.  New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996.

The Gilded Age, 1877-1896 by Vincent P. De Santis.   Northbrook, Ill: AHM Pub. Corp., 1973.

Harvard Guide to American History, by Frank B. Freidel.  Cambridge, Mass.:  Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1974.

The Progressive Movement, 1900-1920: Recent Ideas and New Literature, by George E. Mowry.  Washington, D.C.: Service Center for Teachers of History, 1958.

A Representative Bibliography of American Labor History [by] Maurice F. Neufeld.   Ithaca: New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell
University, 1964.

Something in Common : an IWW Bibliography / compiled by Dione Miles.    Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 1986.

Studies in Enterprise; a Selected Bibliography of American and Canadian Company Histories and Biographies of Businessmen.  Lorna M. Daniells, compiler. Boston, 1957.

Women in American Labor History, 1825-1935 : an Annotated Bibliography / by Martha Jane Soltow, Carolyn Forche, Murray Massre. East Lansing : School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, 1972.

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Books in and out of Schaffer Library

Beyond the good start provided on the Internet and by the Reference Collection (above), there are many volumes in the Schaffer Library collections to call upon for further material treating American economic history.

Minerva Online Library Catalog

Here find the Library's computer catalog for its books, journals, and other collections. You can search it on dedicated terminals in the Library or use the above link, at which you will find online help screens.

Two subject searching strategies are available--(1) Subject  and (2) Keyword

(1) Subject--in the Web version of Minerva (using the above link), click on the "Subject Search" box and enter any of these examples.	Subject Heading Examples
for general histories, try	united states--commercial policy united states--economic conditions united states--economic policy united states--history united states--politics and government
for specific topics, try	antitrust law business and politics competition depressions free trade industrial policy industrial laws and legislation interstate commerce monopolies natural resources petroleum law and legislation petroleum industry and trade railroads and state social reformers steel industry and trade tariff trade regulation trade unions trusts, industrial

(2) Keyword---in the Web version of Minerva (using the above link), click on the "Keyword Search" link and enter any of these examples.  Naturally, make up your own.

trusts and regulating trusts or monopolies tariff and history and united states

A hint--When you find a relevant book listing, look at the subject list attached to the record for that book.  You can click on any of those subjects listed and branch out.  It's a rich and powerful search technique, but you can get off your original path very quickly.  We suggest you jot down good subject headings (and keyword combinations) so you can get back to them later.

A further hint--There remains a small card catalog in the Basement of Schaffer Library.  Although shrinking steadily in proportion to the Library's online database, the card catalog is still the SOLE listing for portions of our collections in certain subjects, including history.  For subject searching, you must look in the cards by method number 1 above, the subject heading method.  See above for examples to try.

Books Beyond Schaffer Library

• Other libraries' catalogs -- Follow this link (through the Schaffer Library home page) into the catalogs of some Capital District libraries as well as into those of major research universities further afield.

 

• CaDiLaC--As an alternative to the preceding, use the cd-rom-based CaDiLaC (Capital District Library Catalog) found
  on the Schaffer Library Networked CD-ROM Collection. (The network has software requirements explained at
  this link. Follow the instructions or come to the Library's own workstations for quick and easy access.) CaDiLaC is
  particularly useful when you know of a given book or journal and wish to see in one list all of the libraries in our area that
  hold it.

Indexes to Journal Articles (Secondary Sources)

Following is a  list of online and cd-rom databases that provide access to the historical literature on the United States found in scholarly journals (secondary sources):