New Database: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970: Middle East Online I

 Arab Israeli Relations, 1917-1970: Middle East Online Series I is a dual-language (English and Arabic) online archive of documents  from British government files on the politics, administration, wars, and diplomacy of the Palestine Mandate and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Arab-Israeli Relations 1917-1970 offers a wide range of "original source material from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, […]

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Presidential Libraries

Separate presidential libraries are a generally a 20th century phenomenon–previously presidential papers were usually kept by the National Archives or in historical societies.  The privately funded museum/library/shrine of modern presidents has many advantages, and some drawbacks.  The advantages are that there is a focused, dedicated staff collecting and arranging material, and the drawbacks are that each library […]

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Military History Institute

The website of the Military History Institute at Carlisle PA (official name: U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center) http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp is a gold mine of useful information, both bibliographic and full text, for an area in which Columbia traditionally hasn’t been strong.   There are two basic catalogs listed on this link, the Research Catalog, which is […]

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Finding Articles 1900-1983

Looking for twentieth-century articles published before 1984?  Try the Wilson Retrospective Indexes: Applied Science & Business Retrospective (1913-83) Art Retrospective (1929-84) Education Index Retrospective (1929-83) Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective (1907-84) Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908-81) Readers’ Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) They can be searched individually or together: […]

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New Reference Books

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 7 vols. Historical Atlas of the Ancient World. Boston : Brill, 2010. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Boston : Brill, 2010. 2 vols. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Nova, 2009. Anarchist Periodicals in English Published in […]

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Frances Perkins Exhibition, through March 26, 2010

“Frances Perkins: The Woman behind the New Deal” is on display in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library through March 26th.   Perkins  was the first woman cabinet member, serving as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor from 1933-45. Columbia houses the most significant collection of Perkins’ papers outside of the National Archives.  In addition to […]

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The Gerritsen Collection of Aletta Jacobs

As we observe International Women’s Day, we should also acknowledge the contributions of Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929), the first Dutch woman physician, who assembled, with her husband Carl Gerritsen,  the first great library collection related to the history of women. Although the scope of the Gerritsen Collection of Women’s History Online extends from the 16th to […]

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Personal Writing: Letters and Diaries

Letters and diaries provide a unique perspective on public and private events.  These database collections also offer extensive indexing (use the advanced search to see the many options available). The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries, from 1500-1900 North American Women’s Letters and Diaries (1700-1950) North American Immigrant […]

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America’s Historical Newspapers

This extraordinary collection provides full-text access to nearly every American newspaper* published from 1690 through the 19th century.  Search the entire database or limit a search to a specific region, state, town, or paper.  You may also limit by time period, language, and article type (including letters, news/opinion, advertisements, illustrations, cartoons, and announcements), or page […]

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