Guides: American Studies: Encyclopedias & More

What are Reference Sources?

Oxford English Dictionary
Definitions of 600,000 words, plus the history of how those words have been used in the past.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
A collection of subject-specific encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, The Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, The UXL Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, and more.
Oxford Reference Online: Premium
General reference resources, including encyclopedias, bilingual dictionaries, chronologies, and maps and illustrations.
Cambridge Histories Online
Cambridge Histories collection including The Cambridge History of American Literature, The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, The Cambridge History of African American Literature, The Cambridge History of American Women's Literature, The Cambridge History of Religions in America, and more.

Encyclopedia of Social Theory
Main Library Reference HM425 .E47 2005 (2 volumes)
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Specialized literary dictionary with articles on theorists, critics, and concepts.
Print Reference: PN81 .J554 2005
Print: PN81 .J554 2005 c.2
The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture
Specialized articles on the American South, with thematic volumes treating history, religion, folklore, language, art and architecture, recreation, politics, the mythic South, urbanization, literature, music, violence, law, and media.
Some volumes online.
Print volumes: Davis Family Library general collection, call number: F209 .N47 2006

Gale In Context: Biography
600,000+ biographies covering more than 525,000 individuals. Includes 170+ Gale reference titles, periodical information and multimedia content.

Social Explorer
Easy access to demographic information about the United States, from 1790 to present. Premium edition features over 15,000 interactive data maps and reports from the U.S. census and other sources.
ProQuest Statistical Insight
Formerly Lexis Nexis Statistical Universe, it searches statistical publications and tables by keywords, subjects, and categories. Find a Table searches full text. Find a Publication searches summaries of statistical publications, some with links to full-text. If full text isn't available, check LibrarySearch or google the publication name. See the Quick Start Guide for getting started. Also see Statistical Abstract (under related subscriptions dropdown menu).

Statistics by Topic A-Z Guide
For statistics on a wide range of topics in all fields arranged A-Z (crime, demographics, children, labor, etc.) this Middlebury Libraries Statistics Guide has links to both national and international resources.