International History
A Guide to Resources at The University of Auckland Library

This is a selective guide to general sources for students of international history. It is aimed particularly at History Department staff and graduate students but will also be useful for undergraduates. There is a similar guide for New Zealand History. For most types of sources there are many more items than listed here, particularly sources which focus on narrower subject areas.

Databases
Handbooks and research guides
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Chronologies
Historical maps and atlases
Historiography
Bibliographies
Theses and dissertations
Biography
Statistics

Databases

The Library has an extensive range of historical databases. You can keep up to date with the latest research and new citations by setting up automatic email alerts, RSS feeds, and Table of Contents alerting services with databases and ejournals.

For modern history, start your research with America: History and Life for U.S. and Canadian history, and Historical Abstracts for other parts of the world. Other databases cover medieval history.

Handbooks and Research Guides

Handbooks include chronologies, statistics, biographical sketches, bibliographies and lists of members of institutions. They provide an introduction to a field of study and a source of general background information. Research guides provide more detailed information on libraries, manuscript and archival depositories and important printed sources in a particular area of study.

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History - Research
History Handbooks, manuals etc

Some examples:

• The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature, 3rd edn, New York, 1995. Library copies
  Arranged by country and epoch with essays and bibliography.
• Cook, Chris. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1995, 3rd edn, London, 1996. Library copies
• Cook, Chris. The Longman Handbook of Modern European History, 1763-1997, 3rd edn, New York, 1998. Library copies
• Cook, Chris. The Longman Handbook of World History Since 1914, London, 1991. Library copies
• O'Day, Rosemary. The Longman Companion to the Tudor Age, London, 1995. Library copies

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Historical dictionaries and specialised encyclopedias will give you a basic introduction to a topic with a selective bibliography.

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History Dictionaries
History Encyclopedias

• A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, 2nd edn, Chichester, 2010. Library copies
• Encyclopedia of Social History, New York, 2001. Library copies
• An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology, London, 2002. Library copies
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, New York, 1996. Library copies
• Encyclopedia of American Studies, Baltimore, 2010.
• Europe 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World, New York, 2004. Library copies
• Australians: A Historical Library, Broadway, N.S.W., 1987. Library copies

Chronologies

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History Chronology

• Doherty, J.E. and D.J. Hickey. A Handbook of Dates: For Students of British History, Cambridge, 2000. Library copies
• Historical Tables 58BC - AD1990, 12th edn, London, 1991. Library copies
• Keesings Contemporary Archives, 1931-1986.
  Keesings Record of World Events, 1987-2008.
  Library copies
• Chronology of the Modern World, 1763 to 1992, 2nd edn, New York, 1994. Library copies

Historical Maps and Atlases

The Map Room is on Level M in the General Library.

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History Atlases

• Historical Atlas of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1988. Library copies
• The Times Atlas of World History, 4th edn, 1993. Library copies

Historiography

Historiography encompasses reviews of the historical literature and the aims and methods of writing history.

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History - Methodology
History Research
Historiography

Most items are held at 907 and 907.2 on Level 6.

• Burke, P. New Perspectives on Historical Writing, 2nd edn, Cambridge, 2001. Library copies
• Jenkins, Keith. Re-thinking History, London, 2003. Library copies
• Tosh, John. The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History, 4th edn, Harlow, 2006. Library copies
• Vovelle, Michel. Ideologies and Mentalities, Cambridge, 1990. Library copies

Bibliographies

As well as the footnotes and bibliographies found in books nd journal articles, and the results of database searching, subject-specific bibliographies are a good starting place for your research. Most annual bibliographies are now available as online databases, although a few remain in print:

• Bibliographie annuelle de l'histoire de France, 1953- Library copies
• Bibliography of Asian Studies
• Fritze, Ronald J. Reference Sources in History: An Introductory Guide, 2nd edn, Santa Barbara, Calif., 2004. Library copies
• International Medieval Bibliography
• Perks, Robert. Oral History: An Annotated Bibliography, London, 1990. Library copies
• Royal Historical Society. Bibliography of British and Irish History

Theses and Dissertations

Most thesis databases have abstracts, and some include the full text.

In addition to the general thesis databases, there are some sources specifically for History.

• Dissertations in History: An Index to Dissertations Completed in History Departments of United States and Canadian Universities 1873-1960, Lexington, 1965. Library copies
• History Theses and Historical Research for Higher Degrees in the U.K. Library copies
  The printed lists cover 1901-1980, followed by History Online.
• The New Zealand Journal of History annually lists history theses completed and in progress at New Zealand universities since 1967.

Biography

The library holds general biographical dictionaries for most European countries and many other areas. Biographical dictionaries for particular occupations or groups of people are shelved with other material on the subject.

LibrarySearch subject headings:
(Biography AND History) AND (Dictionary OR Encyclopedia)

• American National Biography
• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
• Biography Index Library copies
  A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines published since the 1940s.
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography
• Dictionary of Irish Biography
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  British biographies.
• Who's Who Library copies
• World Biographical Information System
  Biographical profiles of people from all centuries and countries and regions worldwide. The articles are from printed reference works published from the 16th to the 20th century, reproduced as facsimile images.

Statistics

LibrarySearch subject headings:
History Statistics

• OFFSTATS Official Statistics on the Web

Many printed statistical publications are available in the General Library Statistics Collection on Level M.

• The 1851 Census: A National Sample of the Enumerators' Returns, 1985. Library copies
• Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial edn, 2006.
• Mitchell, B.R. British Historical Statistics, Cambridge, 1988. Library copies
• Mitchell, B.R. International Historical Statistics: Europe 1750-2000, 5th edn, Houndmills, 2003. Library copies
• Mitchell, B.R. International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia & Oceania 1750-2000, 4th edn, Houndmills, 2003. Library copies
• Mitchell, B.R. International Historical Statistics: The Americas 1750-1993, 5th edn, Houndmills, 2003. Library copies

Last updated 21 December, 2011
Contact: p.abela@auckland.ac.nz