HIST 301: The Historians Craft (Sheriff, Spring 2024)

If you are really stuck you may want to try PRIMO (our main "search [almost] everything") database or Academic Search Complete, for in 99% of cases you're going to want to stick with America: History and Life.

• William Henry Harrison campaign of 1840
  • ("William Henry Harrison" OR "William Harrison") AND 1840
  • election AND 1840
• Responses to Lincoln’s Assassination
  • Lincoln AND Assassination AND (reaction* OR response* OR "public opinion")
  • lincoln AND abraham AND (assassination OR burial) AND "public opinion")
• Reconstruction-era voting and voting restrictions
  • (Reconstruction OR postemancipation) AND (voting OR suffrage) AND (restriction* OR suppression OR "jim crow")
  • "voter suppression" AND (Reconstruction OR postemancipation)
  • "African Americans" AND "voter suppression"
  • (voting OR suffrage) AND (restriction* OR suppression OR "jim crow") [TIME PERIOD LIMITED 1865-1877]
• The Lost Cause or the Civil War at W&M
  • ("William & Mary" or "william and mary") AND ("civil war" OR "lost cause")
    • not a good search, you get articles about the war written by professors at WM.
    • Possibly better off using PRIMO (See dissertations too)
  • ("higher education" OR "education, higher") AND ("civil war" OR "lost cause")
  • The same as a Subject search
  • ("higher education" OR "education, higher") AND "lost cause"
• Civil War POW camps 
  • keyword search for "civil war" AND ("united states" OR america*) AND "prisoners of war"
  • Subject search for "civil war" AND "prisoners of war"
  • subject search for "Civil war" AND "prisoners & prisons"
  • keyword search for ("military prisons" OR "prisoners of War") AND "confederate states"
  • Subject search for Andersonville AND "Civil War"
• Crime in the media
  • Subject search for newspapers OR journalism limited 1800-1899 coverage is much too broad
  • Using Limiting feature to focus on period 1800-1899, keyword search for  "True crime" OR "crime reporting" OR (murder* AND newspapers)
  • broad search for just "true crime"
• W&M’s student culture at the transition from all-male to co-ed
  • ("higher education" OR "education, higher") AND coeducation*
  • Articles about William & Mary generally 
  • Because of the focus, using W&M's catalog in this case makes sense for articles too for ("william & mary" OR "william and mary") AND (coeducation* OR women)
    • There are a Lot of MA thesis on the topic.
• Perception of political compromise in antebellum America
  •  antebellum AND (politics OR political) AND compromise
  • (politics OR political) AND compromise [limited to 1800-1860 with AHL]
    • narrowed still further to Subject searching
  • (19th OR antebellum) AND politic* AND compromise* AND "public opinion"
    • politic* AND compromise* AND "public opinion" [limited pre 1860]
  •  (19th OR antebellum) AND compromise* AND "public opinion"  
    • limited pre-1860 
  • compromise* AND "public opinion"
• Impact of the Lost Cause on K-12
  • (school* OR education) AND "lost cause"
  • (teaching OR instruction) AND "lost cause"
• New York City Draft Riot
  • "new york" AND ("draft riot" OR "draft riots") AND "civil war"
  • Draft Riot, New York, N.Y., 1863 [as subject]
• Know Nothings (in particular, he is looking at the Bedini Riot in Cincinnati 1852, but if there were anything in Special Collections related to the Know Nothings, that would be great.)
  • riot* AND cincinnati
  • "Gaetano Bedini"
  • ALL of ebsco, primo, andnearly nothing for Bedini AND Cincinnati
    • Proquest is better 
    • search "Bedini" AND Cincinnati AND riot* in JSTOR and Project MUSE
  • "Know Nothings"
  • "Know Nothings" AND (Cincinnati OR ohio)  
  • "Know Nothings" AND (riot* OR violence)
  • "Know Nothings" AND catholic*
• Antebellum representations of indigenous people in the press
  • (depict* OR represent* OR opinion*) AND ("native americans" OR "indigenous" OR "indians of North America") AND (newspaper* OR journalis* OR media)
    • too broad
  • same search, using database to limit to pre 1860
  • ("native americans" OR "indigenous" OR "indians of North America") AND (newspaper* OR journalis* OR media)  limited to pre 1860
    • the same as subject search
      • the same subject search, broadened beyond 1860
  • "Indigenous" AND "press coverage"
  • ("native americans" OR "indigenous" OR "indians of North America" OR "first peoples") AND "press coverage" 
• Religion’s impact on the enslaved during the Civil War
  • "Civil war" AND (faith OR religion OR religious) AND ("african Americans" OR enslaved OR slaves)
    • Same, as subject search 
  • "civil war" AND "religious aspects" AND ("African american" OR enslaved OR slaves)
• How the Civil War influenced Americans’ conceptualization of “America”
  • "civil war" AND "national identity"
  • "civil war" AND ("national characteristics" OR "national character")
    • same as Subject search
  • "Civil War" AND influence* AND identity  
• Economic Development/Class tensions in the antebellum North 
  • (class OR social) AND tension* AND north* AND antebellum 
    • (class OR social) AND tension* AND north* [focus to pre 1860]
  • (labor OR class OR social) AND conflict AND north* [focus pre 1860]
  • (labor OR class OR social) AND conflict AND north* AND antebellum
  • (tension* OR conflict*) AND (north*) AND (social OR class OR labor OR industrial OR economic) AND antebellum
  • (tension* OR conflict*) AND (north*) AND (social OR class OR labor OR industrial OR economic) [limited to 1861]
• African American soldiers in the Civil War
  • "civil war" AND (soldier* OR enlisted OR Combatant*) AND ("African americans" OR "african american")
    • same as SUBJECT search
    • same as Abstract search
    • same as Title search
  • "civil war" AND "african american soldiers"
    • same as subject, abstract, or title search
• Native American displacement in the antebellum era
  •  ("native americans" OR "indigenous" OR "indians of North America" OR indian* OR "first peoples") AND (remov* OR displace* OR relocat*) AND antebellum
  • ("native americans" OR "indigenous" OR "indians of North America" OR indian* OR "first peoples") AND (remov* OR displace* OR relocat*) [PRE 1860]
    • Too many results
      • narrow to abstract search
      • narrow to subject search
        • best starting point
      • narrow to title search
  • Will need to be more specific and add extra search terms (Ex specific state or territory, or narrow to specific decade.
• Plimoth Plantation (historical site in MA) 
  • ("Plimoth Patuxet" OR "Plimoth plantation")
  • ("Plimoth Patuxet" OR "Plimoth plantation") In all ebsco to capture LIS and Museum studies articles too
  • ("historical sites" OR "historic sites") AND "public history" 
• The slave “grapevine”
  • (slave* OR enslaved) AND grapevine*
  • ("african american" OR "African americans") AND grapevine*
    • points to book of interest
  • (slave* OR enslaved) AND grapevine* in EBSCO for very broad search
  • Search "slave grapevine" in JSTOR and Project MUSE 
• Enslaved people’s literacy pre- and post-emancipation
  • (Literacy OR literate) AND (enslaved OR slaves)
    • same as SUBJECT search
• Antebellum New Orleans, with potential focus on slave rebellion of 1811
  • "new orleans" AND 1811
  • "new oreans" as subject, focus pre 1860
  • ("new orleans") AND (slaves OR slavery OR enslaved) as subjects
  • (("new orleans") AND (slaves OR slavery OR enslaved)) AND (rebellion* OR revolt* OR revolution* OR resist*)
• Antebellum Jewish immigration
  • antebellum AND (jews OR jewish) AND (immigrant* OR immigration)
  • (jews OR jewish) AND (immigrant* OR immigration) [PERIOD FOCUS PRE 1860
    • (jews OR jewish) AND (immigrant* OR immigration) as title, subject, or abstract
• Female soldiers in the Civil War
  • (women OR female) AND (participation OR participant*) AND "civil war"
  • subject search for Women's participation in the American Civil War, 1861-1865  
• California maritime trade and/or shipboard culture
  • (california* OR "san francisco" OR "pacific coast" OR "West coast") AND sailors [limited to pre 1860 focus]
  • (california* OR "san francisco" OR "pacific coast" OR "West coast") AND ("shipboard life" OR "shipboard culture" OR "maritime life" OR "maritime culture")
  • In all ebsco, (california* OR "san francisco" OR "pacific coast" OR "West coast") AND ("shipboard life" OR "shipboard culture" OR "maritime life" OR "maritime culture") AND (19th OR nineteenth OR antebellum)
  •  (california* OR "san francisco" OR "pacific coast" OR "West coast") AND (port OR shipping OR ports OR harbor* OR sailor* OR maritime)  [PRE 1860 FOCUS]
  • May help to focus on trade out of a specific port like SF 
  • (california* OR "san francisco" OR "pacific coast" OR "West coast") AND maritime
• Port Royal, Virginia (and/or small farmers) during the Civil War
  • "port royal" AND virginia AND "Civil war"
    • same in ALL ebsco
  • ​​​​​​​"port royal" AND virginia AND "Civil war" in JSTOR and Project MUSE and PRIMO
  • ("farms" OR "farmers") AND ("va." OR virginia) AND "Civil war"
  • ("Small farms" OR "small farm" OR "Family farms" OR "family farm") AND "Civil war"
• "Flying the Hump" (route over the Himalayas from India to Yunnanyi, Kunming, and other locations in China) 1942
  • ​​​​​​​"world war" AND "hump" IN AHL
  • The same in Historical Abstracts
  • Extremely broad search in EBSCO for the same  
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ social and political impacts through examining the progression of the government agency
  • ​​​​​​​Start in American: History and life with SUBJECT search for "Bureau of Indian Affairs"
    • ​​​​​​​Rather than add extra search terms, I'd skim the results in full to see what stands out.
  • ("Bureau of Indian Affairs") AND development
  • ("Bureau of Indian Affairs") AND (impact* or effect* or influence*)
• antebellum American theatre
  • ​​​​​​​In AHL: keyword search theatre AND antebellum and skim results.
  • also try (theatre* OR theater*) as SUBJECTS with the time period focus on 1800-1860
    • There are ~500 results, but after limited to peer review and articles published since 2000 you get down to 150
      • Skim the top results and the "subject" filter to see what topics are being discussed by Historians.
• California Gold Rush and its effect on business and economy prosperity.
  • ​​​​​​​In AHL,  keyword search for ("California Gold Rush") AND (econ* OR business* OR commercial)
  • Narrow further with abstract search of the same
  • abstract search for ("California Gold Rush") AND (econ* OR business* OR commercial) AND prosper*