HIST 201: Historical Methods: Books

Controlled vocabulary legislate the use of predefined, authorised terms that have been preselected by the designer of the vocabulary, in contrast to natural language vocabularies, where there is no restriction on the vocabulary.

Subject headings are a controlled vocabulary. A single term or phrase is determined by an authority (Library Congress or a database vendor) to describe a subject. For example, try searching for the subject "sources" in West-Cat and note that the subject term "sources" is added to a library item when it is considered by the Library of Congress to include primary sources. This can be very useful as you look for history in primary sources.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)

• eugenics--United States
• criminal behavior--United States--genetic aspects
• folk music--political aspects--united states
• folk music--United States--history and criticism
• modernism (art)--United States
• mural painting and decoration, American
• United States in Art
• Western Illinois University--history
• Macomb (Ill.)--history
• Depressions--1929
• Economic history--1918-1945
• New Deal, 1933-1939
• Kennedy family
• National parks and reserves
• Herbert Hoover, 1874-1964
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)--1882-1945

WorldCat

One of the databases available from FirstSearch. Bibliographic records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Includes manuscripts written as early as the 12th century. Includes 52 million bibliographic records. If you learn how to use this tool, you will be able to tap into a huge amount of bibliographic information, including many historical documents. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings to refine searches. To find primary sources, use the subject headings "sources." WorldCat has its own ILL function that works in conjuction with ILLiad. Very easy to initiate a request.

• American Decades (REF E/169.1 .A42)
• The Annals of America, Volume 15: 1929-1939 [The Great Depression] (REF E/173 .A793)
• Encyclopedia of the Great Depression, 2v. (REF E/806 .E63 2004
• Encyclopedia of the U.S. in the Twentieth Century, 4v. (REF E/740.7 .E53 1996)
• The FDR Years (REF E/747 .P43 2006)
• The Greenwood encyclopedia of daily life in America (REF E/169.1 .G7553 2009)