Historical and Background Research
Encyclopedias
One very easy way to start your research is to look in an encyclopedia that will provide an overview of basic background information on a topic. For example, Wikipedia is an excellent place to get background information. See the WIKIPEDIA guide of more.
eLibrary is an online database paid for by the Library, contains several encyclopedias and almanacs in its Reference section.
Vogue Archive is a resource is perfect for historical research because it has every issue completely available going back to the late 1800s, including ads, articles, etc. All searchable by key word and date range.
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Wikipedia This link opens in a new window
Good place to START your research. Collaborative multilingual, web-based, free encyclopedia. Do not use it as a source in your final project; most faculty will not count it. -
eLibrary This link opens in a new window
Guided Research Topic interface. Full-text of 1,500 international magazines and newspapers (including The Wall Street Journal), company profiles, news transcripts, and encyclopedias.
General Timelines
Browsing through these books and websites can be extremely helpful to you in learning about the cultural, social, and historical context of a particular time or period.
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20th Century Day by Day
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Perfect for students, researchers, history buffs, and anyone curious about the people, places, and events of the last 100 years, 20th Century Day by Day is both the ultimate guide to humankind's most tragic and triumphant century and a perfect millennium gift and keepsake. Featuring thousands of great color and black-and-white illustrations and text written in a lively, journalistic "you are there" style, this special millennium edition of a classic reference work features coverage updated through 1999 and a dazzling new jacket.
Call Number: D422 C53 1999ISBN: 0789446405Publication Date: 1998 -
American Decades, 1900-, 1910-, 1920, 1930-. 1940-, 1950-, 1960-, 1970-, 1980-
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Books for each decade from 1900-1990. Intended as a reference source for American social history, each volume discusses the people, events and ideas of the period. After an introductory overview and chronology, subject chapters follow with subject-specific timelines and alphabetically arranged entries.
Call Number: REF E169.12 A419 (9 volumes)
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News and Events Year-by-Year, 1900-2022Describes historic events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries by year and by decade.
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Timelines of World HistoryLinks to several different timelines and lists in Wikipedia
Art and Design Timelines
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Design Is HistoryToolkit created to help students learn about the History of Graphic Design. (January 2020: no longer maintained.)
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Fashion History TimelineEvolving open-access resource for professional, emerging, and casual researchers. Created by faculty and students at the Fashion Institute of Technology
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Modern Art Movements: 1870s to 1980sDisplays major trends and movements in modern art.
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SAH ArchipediaOpen-access edition of the peer-reviewed online encyclopedia that tells the history of the U.S. through its structures and places. Produced by the Society of Architecture Historians (SAH) and the University of Virginia Press.
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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History This link opens in a new window
Developed by the Met, the Timeline is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of global art history.
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