Ohrstrom Blog » U.S. History

New Reference Book: The Measure of America

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:45 +0000

The Measure of America written and edited by Sarah Burd-Sharps, Kristen Lewis and Eduardo Borges Martins, Columbia U. Press, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom: REF 317 B89M

A collection of data, statistics and interpretive text that reflects upon and measures the well-being of Americans. The report focuses, using a variety of different measurements, on three main areas: health, education & standard of living.

Chapter/Essay Titles Include: The Essential Conditions for Good Health, Health Insurance: The Policy That Unlocks Many Doors, Access to Knowledge: How We Fare Internationally, Factors That Fuel Growth in Earnings InEquality.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, American History, Social History, Statistics, Gender Studies

New Database: American History in Video

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00:31 +0000

Ohrstrom Library is pleased to announce its subscription to American History in Video. This database provides access to over 5,000 titles from the 1920s to 2008 including: newsreels, documentaries and government footage.

Every video includes a complete and fully searchable transcript, readable alongside the video.

Videos can be selected from the database by keyword searching, or by multiple categories, including: subjects, historical eras, years, historical events, people, places and topics. Consider browsing by year to locate primary source videos created during the time period you are studying.

Click HERE to access the database.

To cite this source, be sure to give credit to both the creator of the video and to the database.
Example:

Burns, Ken, dir. Civil War. Episode 3, Forever Free (1862). PBS, 1990.

American History in Video. Web. 12 Dec. 2009. .

Fourth Form Paper: Go with the Flowchart!

Lisa Laughy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:00:20 +0000

You’ve received your assignment and had your class with Ms. Sanborn in the library, but where do you go from there? Go with the flowchart – the Fourth Form Paper Flowchart, that is.

The Fourth Form Paper Flowchart was developed as a companion to the Fourth Form Paper Research guide – as an easy way to visualize the process of writing your Humanities paper. The flowchart is available as a one page PDF document (click HERE) that can be downloaded, saved to your computer desktop, printed out for ready reference, and/or hung on the wall as a constant guide. Hypertext links have been embedded into the PDF for the online elements, making it possible to click through to the resource described. Following the flowchart step-by-step will help you see where you are in the research process and what still needs to be done – assisting with time management so you can avoid a last minute crunch.

Save it, print it, post it, bookmark it, or favorite it, just be sure to take advantage of this great new reference resource!

New Reference Book: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:59:51 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture edited by Gary Hoppenstand, Greenwood Press, 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 306.03 G85W

Each volume in this 6-volume set discusses popular culture from a particular area of the world.

Included are:
• Volume 1 – North America
• Volume 2 – Latin America
• Volume 3 – Europe
• Volume 4 – North Africa and the Middle East
• Volume 5 – Sub-Saharan Africa
• Volume 6 – Asia and Pacific Oceania

Each volume then discusses the following topics:
•   Architecture
•   Art
•   Dance
•   Fashion and Appearance
•   Film
•   Food and Foodways
•   Games, Toys and Pastimes
•   Literature
•   Love, Sex and Marriage
•   Music
•   Periodicals
•   Radio and Television
•   Sports and Recreation
•   Theater and Performance
•   Transportation and Travel

Helpful for: Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, Humanities V, Humanities V Research Paper, Topic Finding, History, Middle Eastern Voices, Global Studies

New Reference Book: Nature and the Environment in 20th-Century American Life

Lisa Laughy — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:00:57 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Nature and the Environment in 20th-Century American Life by Brian Black, Westport: Greenwood, 2006.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 304.2 B56N20

Did recent Earth Day activities generate an interest in topics related to the environment? This new reference book is a great way to continue fueling the inspiration. Read about oil and the automobile, the evolution of the National Park Service and/or the Donora Smog of 1948. Dozens of additional topics are covered and discussed in this new source. Photos and primary texts are scattered throughout the volume.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, U.S. History Research, Environmental Research

New Reference Set: Statistical Encyclopedia of North American Professional Sports

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:09:30 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Statistical Encyclopedia of North American Professional Sports: All Major League Teams and Major Non-Team Events Year by Year, 1876 through 2006 2nd ed. Edited by K. Michael Gaschnitz. McFarland, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 796 G21S

Use this set to locate statistics related to Major League team sports of the U.S. and Canada including: baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer and football. Browse or search by date or team.

Use this set to determine the number of wins by the Boston Red Caps in 1876 (39); to find that in 1959 Jean Beliveau lead the National Hockey League with 45 goals; and discover that in 1998 the Women’s National Basketball Association named Suzie McConnell Serio of the Cleveland Rockers the Newcomer of the Year.

Helpful for: Sports Fans, North American History.

Ohrstrom Library staff wishes best of luck to our spring SPS sports teams as they begin the new season: baseball, crew, lacrosse, softball, tennis and track!

Image above: Bennett, James E. Baseball Catcher. Patent 755,209. 22 Mar. 1904. United States Patent and Trademark Office. 14 Feb. 2009 .

New Book Acquisition: Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

Lisa Laughy — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:18:17 +0000

Ohrstrom Library has acquired a copy of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt published by Cambridge University Press in 2009 (133.43 R72R). One of the ten Associate Editors for this ambitious publishing project is St. Paul’s own Language Center Director, Margo Burns. Ms. Burns also served as Project Manager for the hefty two inch thick 996 page book that was ten years in the making. The General Editor of the volume is Bernard Rosenthal.

John Murrin of Princeton University offers this review:

“Bernard Rosenthal and his exceptionally talented, international team of associate editors have produced the most comprehensive and carefully edited collection of legal documents from the Salem witch trials ever published. Unlike the three-volume collection of The Salem Witchcraft Papers, edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, who used the typescript prepared by the Works Progress Administration during the New Deal, the Rosenthal team has gone back to the original manuscripts and, in the process, corrected a number of serious errors of transcription. They have included more than thirty new documents either never published before or only printed in part.”

Ms. Burns has also created an in-depth website that provides links to primary resources on the web relating to the Salem Witchcraft trials as well as a link to the Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt – materials specifically covered in this book. Together, the book and website offer an excellent comprehensive resource for anyone with interest in this fascinating period of early American History.

New Reference Set: Milestone Documents in American History

Lura Sanborn — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:58 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Milestone Documents in American History (four volumes) edited by Paul Finkelman. Dallas: Schlager, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 973 F495M

133 primary source documents key to U.S. history are included in this set. Each primary source is provided alongside a history of the source, its impact and information about the creator(s).

Examples include: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor” speech, Federal-aid Highway Act and Bush v. Gore.

Also available online through the Ohrstrom Library website HERE.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, U.S. History Research, Primary Source Research.

Spotlight On: Historical Newspaper Collection Timelines

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:46:22 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Looking for a quick collection of newspaper articles related to significant events in U.S. history? Try using the Timeline feature in the Historical Newspaper Collection database.

First, access the Historical Newspaper Collection database through the Ohrstrom Library website by clicking HERE.

Once at the Historical Newspaper Collection website select the “Timeline” tab near the top of the screen:

Choose your time and topic:

Select the subtopic of your choice:

And behold, a list of newspaper articles about that particular subject:

Fantastic!

New Reference Book: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:00:07 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics edited by David R. Henderson, Liberty Fund, Inc., 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 330 C74

Interested in expanding your economic understanding? This encyclopedia provides essay length articles on a variety of economic topics, typically reflecting mainstream economic thought. Points of disagreement among economists are identified and discussed. Entries include helpful descriptions of things such as: Behavioral Economics, Financial Regulation, Futures & Options Markets, and Bubbles.

Want to get to know some economic thinkers? The second half of this volume contains biographies (about 100) of prominent economists.

Helpful for: Understanding Economics, The Investment Club, U.S. History, Reflecting on Current Events