Home - HIST 278 - U.S. Women's History 1890 - present - LibGuides at DePauw University Libraries

Background info

American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Great starting point, but wouldn't count for one of your two scholarly sources. The bibliographies could lead you to good sources.

Women in Congress
"This Web site, based on the publication Women in Congress, contains biographical profiles of former women Members of Congress, links to information about current women Members, essays on the institutional and national events that shaped successive generations of Congresswomen, and images of each woman Member, including rare photos."

Find books using WorldCat Discovery

You can limit your search to e-books, but if you find books that are only in print, but could really help you in your research, here are some options to try:

Check HathiTrust (further down on this guide)
If there are one or two chapters that are helpful, use the Request Item option and change to the article/chapter tab to request specific parts of a book be scanned (note: the amount is generally limited to 1-2 chapters, due to copyright).
Request the entire item through interlibrary loan - a copy will be sent to campus for you to pick up from the library
Work with a librarian to talk about other ways we might be able to help.

Find journal articles

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles (or article summaries) from scholarly journals, newspapers and popular magazines covering most academic disciplines.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
- Why search here? You’re researching topics about gender issues.
- What's included? Articles from journals, magazines, newspapers (some working papers & dissertations), published since 1970. Almost all are full text. Gender studies, men's studies, & women's studies.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
- Why search here? It’s an excellent tool for scholarly articles and books/chapters from university presses, covering most disciplines.
- What's included? The collection's strength lies in its complete back issues of journal titles covering 75 disciplines, while a weakness is a "moving wall" limiting access to the most recent journal issues - the coverage skews older, so it’s not always a great starting point for researching topics that need to have the most current sources.

Primary Sources

Women & Social Movements US 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
- Why search here? You want primary sources related to women’s activism in U.S. History.
- What's included? Full text from books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, etc. Records of women’s reform organizations throughout the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
- Why search here? You want primary sources (magazine articles and advertisements) related to women’s lives in the past decades.
- What's included? Full text & page view of Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005), Chatelaine (1928 to 2005), Cosmopolitan (1886 to 2005), Essence (1970 to 2005), Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005), Ladies’ Home Journal (1885 to 2005), Parents (1926 to 2005), Redbook (1903 to 2005), Seventeen (1944 to 2005), Town and Country (1846 to 2005), Woman’s Day (1937 to 2005), and Women’s International Network News (1975 to 2003).
Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 This link opens in a new window
- Why search here? You’re researching topics related to sex, sexuality, or gender in history.
- What's included? Primary sources in a few subcollections related to LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Sex and Sexuality 16th-20th Century, International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture, and L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Sharing Stories from 1977 Biography Project

DePauw Access

Ancestry Institution (on-campus, VPN access only)
Locate birth, marriage, death dates, and more. A good place to begin your biographical research.
Indiana State Library Legacy Index
Index includes local history and vital records, such as: birth, marriage, death, divorce, obituaries, court records, military records, and more.
Hoosier State Chronicles
Online access to digitized issues of Indiana's historic newspapers.
New York Times (Historical) (1851-2017)
Full text newspaper from 1851 to four years ago. May cover local Indiana topics on the national and international level.
U.S. Major Dailies (1980-present)
Includes New York times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times.
America's Historical Newspapers (on-campus, VPN access only)
Includes historic newspapers from around the United States. The dates vary widely.
INSPIRE/Newspapers.com
Limited access to historic national and international newspapers via INSPIRE, a service provided by the Indiana State Library.
Indianapolis Star (1903-2004)
We now have access to the Indianapolis Star from 1903-2004! (Database added week of April 12, 2021)

Additional Resources/Tips

Many public and special collection libraries and historical societies will have non-digitized files on people, places, events, and etc. within their holdings. Make sure to reach out to them for more information about individuals and any specifics on finding additional resources in the local area.

The Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana State Library has a rich collection of women's history materials. The Indiana Historical Society has made a comprehensive guide of their women's history materials on their website. The Indiana State Library houses the records of many women's organizations. A filtered search of those collections can be found via their Manuscript Catalog. Both institutions continue to digitize their collections via the Indiana Historical Society Digital Repository and the Indiana State Library Digital Collections.