Background/Context/Biography
There are many helpful specialized scholarly encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks in Widener and other libraries that can give you an overview of a specific topic. You can try searching in HOLLIS for your subject (see the HOLLIS page for finding the proper Subject terms) plus the words encyclopedias or dictionaries. Thus: “United States” AND Immigartion AND (encyclopedias OR dictionaries).
Anti-immigration in the United States : a historical encyclopedia, ed. by Kathleen R. Arnold. Santa Barbara, Calif. : Greenwood Press, 2011, 2 v.
HOLLIS Record
Asian American society : an encyclopedia, ed. by Mary Yu Danico, editor, Anthony C. Ocampo. Los Angeles, California : SAGE Publications, 2014, 4 volumes.
HOLLIS Record
Asian American history and culture : an encyclopedia, ed. by Huping Ling and Allan Austin. Armonk, N.Y. : Sharpe Reference, 2010. 2 v
HOLLIS Record
Asian American religious cultures, ed. by Jonathan H.X. Lee, Fumitaka Matsuoka, Edmond Yee, and Ronald Y. Nakasone. Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, 2015, 2 volumes.
HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of Asian American issues today, ed. by Edith Wen-Chu Chen and Grace J. Yoo. Santa Barbara, Calif. : Greenwood Press,2010. 2 v
HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of Asian-American literature, by Seiwoong Oh. Published: New York : Facts On File, 2007, 384 p.
HOLLIS Record
The Asian American encyclopedia, ed. by Franklin Ng. New York : Marshall Cavendish, 1995. 6 v.
HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of Japanese American history : an A-to-Z reference from 1868 to the present, ed. by Brian Niiya. Updated ed. New York : Facts on File, 2001, 446 p.
HOLLIS Record
What other things were happening at that time?
The following books offer historical overviews of particular eras of American history
American eras:
Development of a nation, 1783-1815 FindIt@Harvard
Westward expansion, 1800-1860 FindIt@Harvard
The reform era and eastern U.S. development, 1815-1850 FindIt@Harvard
Civil war and reconstruction, 1850-1877 FindIt@Harvard
Development of the industrial United States, 1878-1899 FindIt@Harvard
American decades 11 volumes. Covers, decade by decade, 1900-2009 FindIt@Harvard
Almanacs of American life:
Civil War America, 1850 to 1875 FindIt@Harvard
Victorian America, 1876 to 1913 FindIt@Harvard
Modern America, 1914 to 1945 FindIt@Harvard
Cold War America, 1946 to 1990 FindIt@Harvard
Notable Asian Americans, ed by Helen Zia and Susan B. Gall. New York : Gale Research, 1995, 468 p.
HOLLIS Record
Distinguished Asian Americans : a biographical dictionary, ed. by Hyung-chan Kim. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999, 430 p.
HOLLIS Record
Who's who among Asian Americans. Detroit : Gale Research Inc., 1994. 1 v.
HOLLIS Record
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, ed. by Gary Y. Okihiro. Ispwich, Mass.: Salem Press, 2013. 3 v.
HOLLIS Record
General Sources
American National Biography is the standard American source for biographies of major figures. Can do searches of occupations and limit by date.
World Biographical Information System includes full text of thousands of biographical dictionaries accessible by name of biographee.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) indexes thousands of English-language biographical dictionaries and other compendia. Not full text; one must do HOLLIS searches for retrieved sources.
Biography in Context includes full text of many reference books, including Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Black Biography, Directory of American Scholars (10th (2002) ed.), Dictionary of American Biography, Marquis Who’s Who on the Web since 1985. The Biographical Facts Search allows search by occupation, nationality, ethnicity (African-American, Asian- American, Hispanic- American, Native- American only), gender, birth/death year, and place.
Additional sources in Finding Biographical Information.