Library Guides: PACFTB Literary and Cultural Heritage Maps Research: Home

Introduction

This guide is a starting point for anyone who is writing biographies and feature articles for the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Literary and Cultural Heritage Maps of Pennsylvania project. Below are general-purpose resources that should be useful for most topics. To the left are links to additional resources for particular subjects.

Please note that many of the databases listed in this guide are subscription-based. Most are available through Penn State University Libraries, but some are only available at other institutions or through a personal subscriptions. Please read the descriptions carefully to determine whether you can access them.

For Penn State resources, current faculty, staff, and students can access them remotely, but other users must visit a Penn State library in person and use the databases on-site. Visitors to Penn State must also abide by the library's policies for use of computer software, use of public access workstations, and other policies. Before visiting any Penn State library, contact staff ahead of time to confirm building hours, availability of computers, and other details.

If you have further questions or need assistance, please contact Bernadette A. Lear (BAL19@psu.edu), the administrator of the Maps project.

Start Here: Secondary Sources

Catalog (Penn State University Libraries catalog) This link opens in a new window
Searches all Penn State libraries for books and other materials. Use the "refine" options to the left of your results list to narrow down by date and other criteria.
This is the online catalog of materials owned by Penn State Libraries. All formats (books, journals, audiovisuals, maps, recordings, etc.) are included. Circulation status for individual items is also provided. Coverage: Presently contains about 7 million records. Updates: Continuous up-to-the-minute as new records are added.

Google Books
Google's search engine for books. Includes some partial and full text. Penn State account not required.
State Library of Pennsylvania
Vast collections of books, newspapers, government documents, and other materials relating to the history of Pennsylvania.

WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Searches catalogs from libraries around the world, especially other university libraries and major public libraries in Pennsylvania. Penn State faculty, staff, and students can request other libraries' materials via ILLiad; other users can request items through their public libraries' interlibrary loan services.
OCLC WorldCat database is the OCLC online union catalog. It contains over 43 million records describing library holdings around the world.
America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Uniquely provides access to state and county historical societies' journals. Includes Pennsylvania History, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Pennsylvania Heritage, and Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, as well as journals and magazines published by some (but not all) of the PA county historical societies.
Search for articles on all aspects of the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Articles from national, state and local historical journals are covered, as well as historical articles in major humanities and social science journals. Also includes citations to reviews, books, and dissertations. Keywords: African-American, Afro-American, Black, Hispanic, Latino, Colonial, Pennsylvania, Native Americans, women, gender, revolution, revolutionary war, civil war, Vietnam War, Cold War, World War I, World War II, Immigration, Immigrants, labor, agriculture, culture, society, politics, religion, economic, military, historiography.
American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Offers biographical information on more than 17,000 men and women from all eras and walks of life. Most entries include bibliographies or notes about relevant primary sources.
The American National Biography Online offers portraits of more than 17,000 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation. The online version reproduces the full-text of the original 24 volume set published in 1999, with new and updated entries added regularly. The online edition features thousands of illustrations, hyperlinked cross-references, links to select web sites, and powerful search capabilities.
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Publisher of Contemporary Black Biography; Who's Who Among African Americans; and other biographical series, as well as American Eras, American Decades, and other reference books on American History.
A collection of over 2000 reference resources.

Biography in Context / Gale
Not available at Penn State, but available at some Pennsylvania libraries. Provides biographical information from encyclopedias and other works.
Biography Reference Bank
Not available at Penn State, but available at some Pennsylvania libraries. Provides reliable biographies on people throughout the world.
Credo Reference
Not available at Penn State, but available at some Pennsylvania libraries. Provides biographical information from encyclopedias and other works. Provides authoritative, encyclopedia-length information on all topics.

Who's Who in America
Call Number: in print at Penn State University Park; also available at some Pennsylvania libraries.
Publication Date: 1899-present
This annual, printed reference book -- available at the Arts & Humanities Library at Penn State's University Park location, and at some other Pennsylvania libraries -- contains biographical information on hundreds of people who are not readily findable through Google searching. Some Pennsylvania libraries subscribe to Marquis Who's Who, the database version of the printed resource.

Salem Reference Online
Not available at Penn State, but available at some Pennsylvania libraries. Provides encyclopedia-type information on historical topics.
Pennsylvania State Historic Sites and Museums
A list of historical buildings and parks owned by the State of Pennsylvania.
National Park Service: Pennsylvania
A list of all NPS sites in Pennsylvania.
National Park Service Search
Searches the National Park Service's web sites, blogs, and other publications.
Atlas Obscura: Pennsylvania
Lists hundreds of unusual, often historic, landmarks, as well as visitors' information.
Pennsylvania History
Penn State University Libraries' guide for researching Pennsylvania history.
Pennsylvania History
Duquesne University library's guide for researching Pennsylvania history.

Digging Deeper: Primary Sources

Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography
Published irregularly between 1914 and 1967, this digital edition provides biographical information about numerous Pennsylvanians -- though coverage of women and people of color is very limited.
Pennsylvania's Past
Searches hundreds of published histories of Pennsylvania regions, counties, and communities.

HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Similar to Google Books, HathiTrust provides digitized books, journals, and other publications.
Sponsored by the libraries of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the University of California, and other partners, HathiTrust is a repository of digitized materials in all disciplines. Its content--primarily scanned books and journals-- may be searched via authors, titles, subjects, and other data elements.
Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Provides online access to the U.S. Census, birth/marriage/death records, military records, school yearbooks, and many other primary sources.
With more than 1.5 billion names in over 4,000 databases, Ancestry Library Edition includes records from the United States, UK, and Canadian censuses, beginning in the 18th and 19th century; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more. These collections are continuously expanding, with new content added every business day.

Pennsylvania News Archive
A growing database of freely-available, digitized newspapers.

Access World News: Pennsylvania Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Provides access to various recent Pennsylvania newspapers, mostly 2000 or 2010 to the present day.
The electronic editions of record for major national newspapers, local, regional, and U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources -- all in one easy-to-search database with a world map. Each provides unique coverage of local and regional news, including companies, politics, sports, industries, cultural activities, and people in the community, as well as a distinctive focus offering a variety of viewpoints on local and world issues.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 1860-2001 [Full Page Reproduction] This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. An important Philadelphia newspaper.
A complete digital archive of one of the longest surviving daily newspapers in the United States. Includes all news stories, editorials, advertisements, illustrations and other content. The Inquirer is known for its coverage of the American Civil War; its published works by literary figures such as Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe; and its reporting of breaking news in the city, country, and around the world. The Philadelphia Inquirer offers a regional perspective on historical events as they unfolded.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1786-2003 [Full Page Reproduction] This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. An important Pittsburgh newspaper.
A complete digital archive of the Post-Gazette, one of the earliest newspapers west of the Alleghenies. Includes news stories, editorials, advertisements, illustrations and other content. The Post-Gazette offers coverage of the U.S. westward expansion, the industrial revolution—from coal mining to the rise of the steel industry and notable figures such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Fricke, Andrew Mellon, and H.J. Heinz. The Post-Gazette provides researchers a valuable regional perspective on international, national and local news.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922 [full page reproduction] This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Historical newspapers from around the U.S.
Readex's Early American Newspapers (1690-1922) is a unique, web-based archive of Americana that provides a fascinating glimpse into our nation's past. The Early American Newspaper Collection will feature the images and full-text content from scores of historical publications.
NewspaperARCHIVE (Pennsylvania) [full page reproduction] This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Especially helpful for historical newspapers in smaller Pennsylvania cities.
NewspaperARCHIVE is a database of newspaper page images from Pennsylvania. Searches are automatically limited to the content Penn State has access to. NewspaperARCHIVE is particularly good for accessing historical newspapers from smaller and medium-sized cities and towns across the Commonwealth (e.g., Altoona, Dubois, Gettysburg). The text is fully searchable, but there are gaps in coverage for many titles.

Newspapers.com
Not available at Penn State, but available at some Pennsylvania libraries. Another resource for historical and current local newsoapers.
Chronicling America
A freely-available database of digitized newspapers, including some Pennsylvania newspapers.

American Periodicals Series (1740-1900) [full page reproduction] This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Popular magazines of the 19th century.
Search a selection of periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals. Contains full-text of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1900. Digitized page images reproduce the publications as they appeared when originally published.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 This link opens in a new window
Available at Penn State and some other Pennsylvania libraries. Popular magazines published in the 20th century.
The online version of the original Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature offers subject access to over 3 million articles from approximately 375 leading magazines. Use Readers Guides Retrospective to find contemporary magazine accounts documenting events in politics, fashion, media, film, television, health and medicine, literature, popular culture, religion and science.

Library of Congress Digital Collection
America's largest library; owns many of the nation's most important collections of primary sources. Check here for materials that have been digitized.
Digital Public Library of America
Freely accessible. More than 30 million historical documents, photographs, recordings, and other materials from libraries across the United States.
Pennsylvania Libraries on the Web
A list of public, academic, and other libraries in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania State Archives
A repository for Pennsylvania government records. Also has the records of various nonprofit organizations and individuals.
H-Net: Archives of Pennsylvania
A list of other archival repositories in Pennsylvania.
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Helps you find archives related to your topic.
An index produced by the Research Libraries Group to finding aids and other descriptive information about the holdings of manuscript and archival collections in libraries and research institutions throughout the world

MuseumsUSA: Pennsylvania
A list of museums in Pennsylvania. Scroll down the page to see topical categories.

Beyond Penn State, there are additional resources that could be pursued at local libraries and historical societies, and at organizations related to the topic of your search. Ask a librarian for help in identifying the best contacts.