Welcome
This guide covers a set of high-quality sources of information for American Studies. This is the starting point for your research.
America: history and life. The key resource for American Studies
America: history & life is the leading bibliographic database for the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory up to today. The database contains references to literature from over 1.700 journals. Together, America: history & life and Historical Abstracts cover the history of the entire world. Like Historical Abstracts, this database is hosted by EBSCO and its functionality is exactly the same as that of Historical Abstracts
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America: history & lifeCovers the history and culture of the United States and Canada,
from prehistory to the present. -
American National BiographyOver 19.000 biographies of significant, influential or notorious figures from American history.
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Oxford Bibliographies OnlineWith an extensive section on American Literature
Other useful general bibliographies
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Academic Search PremierMultidisciplinary bibliographic and full-text database
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Very large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature with over 21.500 titles in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social science and arts and humanities.
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Citation database with multidisciplinary coverage of journals, as well as international proceedings. With cited reference searching.
AM Explorer
- AM Explorer This link opens in a new windowCollections of primary sources from the 15th to the 21st century.
Smartcat
GoogleScholar

- Select the first icon (top left)
- Select ‘Settings’
- Select ‘Library links’
- Search for: university groningen
- Tick: University of Groningen Library – Get It! Univ of Groningen (un-tick other options)
You will now be able to see, via the Get it! link, whether a document is available through the RUG.
N.B. If you are working via the University network, these links are automatically selected.
Reference books
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The 2000s in America
This comprehensive collection centers on the impact of the 2000s in the United States and Canada. -
An Encyclopedia of American Culture
The areas covered are fine arts (painting, sculpture, photography); performing arts (music, ballet, theatre, film); architecture; literature; and various non-artistic forms of culture (symbolic, material, culinary). -
Encyclopedia of American History by
This 11-volume set contains, in one chronological compilation, the history of the United States of America from its prehistoric ancestors to its 21st-century citizens. It seeks to offer a balanced presentation of the political, social, economic and cultural events that have shaped the nation. Topics covered include: the first settling of the land; the historical convergence of European, African and Native American peoples beginning in the late-15th century; the period during which America built itself physically through industrialization and territorial expansion and ideologically through economic, political and social growth and reform; how America made the ideals of liberty, equality, justice and human dignity a reality after Reconstruction; the rapid expansion of the US economy into an industrial power; the influential people, places and events that created American history after World War II and into the early 1970s; and the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. -
Encyclopedia of American Studies by
Contains about 660 alphabetically arranged articles in which specialists and scholars examine topics related to American studies, providing diverse perspectives on American history, culture, and society, and includes a comprehensive index. -
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture
This volume contains over 1,200 alphabetically-arranged entries - spanning 'the American century' from the end of World War II to the present day.
American Studies journals
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American Studies JournalsOverview of American Studies journals held at the University of Groningen
Overview of American Studies journals worldwide
Collections e-journals
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JSTORFull-text archival access to hundreds of top journals
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Periodical Archive OnlineArchival issues of hundreds of journals in the humanities and the social sciences
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Project MUSEFull-text periodicals (humanities and social sciences)
Book Reviews
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New York Review of BooksFull text from volume I issue I (February 1963)
Early books online
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Evans: Early American Imprints Series I and SupplementThis digital collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadsheet published in America from 1639 to 1800
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Evans: Early American imprints : TCP Open AccessAll texts are fully searchable.
Please note: Fascimiles and other illustrative material cannot be accessed in the Open Access version of Evans.
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Early English Books Online (EEBO)All books published in English from 1475-1700 in facsimile
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Eebo (Early English Books Online) - TCPAll texts are fully searchable. Please note: Fascimiles and other illustrative material cannot be accessed in the Open Access version of Eebo.
Historical Newspapers
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Early American Newspapers Series I, 1690-1876 This link opens in a new window
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Los Angeles Times 1881-1997 This link opens in a new window
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New York Times 1851-2018 This link opens in a new window
DPLA
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DPLAThe Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a portal to the digital collections of libraries, archives and museums in the United States.