The American Presidency
Need help with your research? Contact:
Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM: jjarson1 (AIM, Yahoo, add @hotmail.com for MSN)Need help after hours?
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Online Sunday-Thursday 2pm-10pm.
See Ask a Librarian for more information and other ways to get help.
Selected Reference Materials
American Decades (1994-2001)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 973.92 A512d v.1-10 (Level A)American Decades Primary Sources (2004)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 973.92 A512dp v.1-10 (Level A)American President: An Online Reference Resource (Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia)
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresidentAmerican Presidential Campaigns and Elections (2003)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 324.973 A512p v.1-3 (Level A)American Presidents (2006)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 973.099 A512p v.1-2 (Level A)Atlas of American Politics, 1960-2000 (2002)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 320.973 A881o (Level A)Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989 (1990)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 353.03 B615d (Level A)Encyclopedia of Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms (2004)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 324.973003 R646e (Level A)Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (1994)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 353.0313 E56o v.1-4 (Level A)Guide to the Presidency (1996)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 353.0313 C749g v.1-2 (Level A)Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 1788-2004 (2006)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 324.973 H673a (Level A)The Presidents: A Reference History (1996)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 973.092 P933a (Level A)U.S. Presidential Candidates and the Elections: A Biographical and Historical Guide (1996)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 324.63 H384u v.1-2 (Level A)Vital Statistics on the Presidency: Washington to Clinton (1996)
Location: Trexler Library Reference Collection 324.63 R144v (Level A)Voting America: United States Politics, 1840-2008 (University of Richmond)
http://americanpast.richmond.edu/voting/index.html
Finding Secondary Sources
What is a secondary source? See Primary vs. Secondary Sources.
Finding Books: Library Catalogs
TREXLER LIBRARY
Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.
GETTING THERE: Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in the Quick Links box) -- Trexler Library Catalog
OTHER LIBRARIES
To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)
GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in Quick Links box) -- Other Library Catalogs -- WorldCat
Finding Articles: Databases & Indexes
SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES
See a list of all databases via the Library Homepage -- Databases A to Z (in the Quick Links box).
Specialized Databases:
America History & Life
The definitive database for U.S. and Canadian history, indexing journals, books, and dissertations.PAIS International
Citations from 1972 to the present from scholarly journals, gray literature, government publications, and more from 120 countries on political, economic, social and public policy issues.Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Indexes international serials literature in political science and complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.General / Interdisciplinary Databases:
Academic Search Premier
Full text access to scholarly and non-scholarly publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas.Omnifile (Wilson Web)
A database with some full text articles covering various academic subjects including general sciences, humanities, social sciences, and business.
GETTING THE ARTICLES
- When searching for articles in library databases, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.
- If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.
- Most databases have a Get It! link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.
- Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title or by ISSN. Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.
- If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.
- Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.
- Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage -- Interlibrary Loan (in the Quick Links box) -- Articles request form). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.
Finding Primary Sources
What is a primary source? See Primary vs. Secondary Sources.
News and Popular Publications
19th Century Masterfile
Citations to Anglo-American nineteenth century newspapers, periodicals, books, and goverment documents.Academic Search Premier
Full text access to scholarly and non-scholarly publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas. (Likely best for 1980s/1990s to the present.)LexisNexis Academic
Full text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, business publications, legal materials, and more. (Likely best for 1980s/1990s to the present.)New York Times
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?srchst=p
Use the New York Times website archive to search for articles from 1851-1980. Once you have the information about the articles you want (title, author, date, section, page numbers), use our microfilm collection (in the AV Alcove, Level A) to access the text. Do not pay for the articles online. NOTE: For New York Times articles 1981-present, use LexisNexis Academic (above) or the website.Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
Print index -- 1890-1997 (available in Indexes area of Reference Section)
Online (via OmniFile) -- Indexing 1983 to present, Full-text 1994 to present.
Via Websites
American Memory (Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
"[P]rovides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning." Includes a wide variety of collections, including those specific to Government/Law and Presidents.American Presidency Project (University of California, Santa Barbara)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
These online archives contain more than 68,000 documents "related to the study of the Presidency," including addresses, press conferences, executive orders, data, and more.Living Room Candidate (Museum of the Moving Image)
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/
Archive of presidential campaign commercial, 1952-2008.National Archives (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
http://www.archives.gov/POTUS: Presidents of the United States (ipl2)
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
Compilation of information on presidents and their administrations. Includes links to historical documents and audio/video files.Presidential Libraries (American Presidency Project, UCSB)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/libraries.php
Links to presidential libraries and museums.Presidential Speech Archive (Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia)
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches
Collection of "some of the most important presidential speeches in American history. These speeches all have transcripts, and some are available in their entirety in full audio. Recently we have expanded our collection to include video speeches from President John F. Kennedy through President Barack Obama."Websites for Political Speeches (Wake Forest University)
http://www.wfu.edu/~louden/Political%20Communication/Class%20Information/SPEECHES.html
Collection of links to sites archiving political speeches.
Via Library Catalogs
All items in our library catalog are assigned Library of Congress Subject Headings. These are fixed and standardized terms that describe the content of documents. Subject headings are divided into elements, or subdivisions. The subdivisions modify the main headings, describing a narrower topic within a subject category or even describing the type of document. A number of these subdivisions, then, identify documents as "primary sources." By adding these terms to your search in the library catalog, you can pull up relevant Trexler Library holdings.
See the Using Franklin to Find Primary Resources guide (http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/hist/franklinprimary.html) from the University of Pennsylvania Library for a listing of potentially relevant subdivisions.
Note: Do NOT follow the search tips in the guide. They are specific to the University of Pennsylvania Library catalog and will not help you search the Trexler Library catalog. The guide will only provide a list of the subdivisions (e.g., correspondence, interviews, sources, etc.).To search Trexler Library's holdings, go to the Advanced Search screen of the Library Catalog (Library Homepage -- Catalog tab -- More Search Options).
- In the first search box, enter keyword(s) describing your topic. Leave the drop-down menu at Any Field.
- In the second search box, enter one of the subject heading subdivisions terms (e.g., correspondence). Select Subject from the drop-down menu.
- Click Submit.
To search for these kinds of items in other libraries, use WorldCat (Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in the Quick Links box) -- WorldCat). To search WorldCat, follow the search tips above. You may be able to request materials via Interlibrary Loan.
The following are examples of potentially useful subject headings:
- Ford, Gerald R., 1913- -- Interviews
- Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875 -- Correspondence
- Presidents -- United States -- Correspondence
- United States -- History -- Sources
- United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783 -- Sources
SELECTED ITEMS FROM THE CATALOG
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897
Location: Trexler Library Government Publications AE 2.114:789-897 v.1-9 (Level A)American Speeches (2006)
Location: Trexler Library Main Collection 973 A512sp v. 1-2 (Level C)
From the Revolution to Bill Clinton
Government Documents
Muhlenberg College receives about 30% of all materials published by the Federal Government. All of the government documents that we receive have records in the Trexler Library Catalog.
Government Information Resource Guide
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/govdocs/index.html
Collection of links.LexisNexis Congressional
Information on the U.S. legislature, including full text of bills from 1989 on, public laws from 1988 on, committee reports from 1990 on, House and Senate documents from 1995 on, Congressional Record from 1985 on, Federal Register from 1980 on, and more government information.Documents Center (University of Michigan Library)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/
"The Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news."
Statistics and Data
American Presidency Project (University of California, Santa Barbara)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
These online archives contain more than 68,000 documents "related to the study of the Presidency," including addresses, press conferences, executive orders, data, and more.Finding Statistics and Data
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/statistics/index.html
Links to recommended sources.Historical Statistics of the United States
Location: Online (http://0-hsus.cambridge.org.library.muhlenberg.edu/ or search the library catalog by title)
Citing Your Sources
For help using Chicago Style, consult the following resources.
The Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.027 C632m (at Reference Desk)Chicago Style (Trexler Library, Muhlenberg College)
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/chicago_example.pdf
This and other style guide handouts available from the library website. Library Homepage -- Citation Guides (in the Research Help box).Writer's Handbook (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
For additional help constructing an annotated bibliography, consult the following resources. Note: First consult your assignment handout.
Writing Annotated Bibliographies (Trexler Library, Muhlenberg College)
http://muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/annotated.htmlAnnotated Bibliographies (Purdue University)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_annotatedbib.htmlAnnotated Bibliographies (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/AnnotatedBibliography.html
© Muhlenberg College
Last modified: 28 September 2010
