The Black Press
The National Era, (1847-1860)
Frederick Douglass' Paper, (1851-1859)
Freedman's Record, (1865)
The Liberator, (1835-1865)
Colored Conventions: Bringing Nineteenth-Century Black Organizing to Digital Life:
An NEH-funded platform bringing to life the "Colored Conventions" of the 1830s-1890s. Explore exhibits of primary source documents, search for a specific convention, or make history come alive through helping transcribe convention meeting minutes.
New York Times Historical
Offers full-text, full-image articles of The New York Times, going back to 1851. The database can be used to search national and international news, editorials, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, plus historical photos and advertisements. The documents are downloadable in PDF format. How to export to RefWorks
Detroit Free Press Historical
Covers several editions of the Detroit Free Press from 1831-1999.
History Vault: Southern Life and Slavery
A collection of digitized primary sources documenting the far-reaching impact of slavery and the plantation system on the American South and the nation.
American Periodicals Online Series Use a subject search to discover abolition and pro-slavery publications of the 19th Century.
The National Era, (1847-1860)
Frederick Douglass' Paper, (1851-1859)
Freedman's Record, (1865)
The Liberator, (1835-1865)
Colored Conventions: Bringing Nineteenth-Century Black Organizing to Digital Life:
An NEH-funded platform bringing to life the "Colored Conventions" of the 1830s-1890s. Explore exhibits of primary source documents, search for a specific convention, or make history come alive through helping transcribe convention meeting minutes.

Offers full-text, full-image articles of The New York Times, going back to 1851. The database can be used to search national and international news, editorials, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, plus historical photos and advertisements. The documents are downloadable in PDF format. How to export to RefWorks

Covers several editions of the Detroit Free Press from 1831-1999.

A collection of digitized primary sources documenting the far-reaching impact of slavery and the plantation system on the American South and the nation.


A subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. It is produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), an organization dedicated to the study and teaching of language and literature. The electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to 1925 and contains over 2 million citations from more than 4,400 periodicals (including peer-reviewed e-journals) and 1,000 book publishers.

Full text of core scholarly journals from their beginning to approximately one year ago. Disciplines include botany, business, ecology, general science, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and statistics. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. Especially good for historic or classic articles in most fields. Coverage: 1665 to present. How to export to RefWorks

The definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Provides indexing for 1,700 journals. How to export to RefWorks. Coverage: 1964-present

Emily Spunaugle
Assistant Professor, Humanities Librarian
spunaugle@oakland.edu
248.370.2498

Offers introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods.

A collection of online reference titles. You can search the entire collection or a sub-set. It is also possible to look at reference works individually. A few of the potentially useful titles include: The Reader's Companion to American History, The Chronology of American Literature, Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

Provides more than 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. DLB Complete Online includes the DLB main series, the DLB Documentary Series, and the DLB Yearbook Series.

This source brings together a wide range of disciplines related to the history and cultures of the United States, from pre-colonial days to the present. It features broad, synthetic articles covering areas such as history, literature, art, photography, film, architecture, urban studies, ethnicity, race, gender, economics, politics, wars, consumer culture, and global America.

Now available online. The OED is a historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest times to the present day and showing the development of meanings through time.

Authors and their works are grouped within each year by category: fiction and nonfiction; poetry; drama; literary criticism; and publishing events. Short, concise entries describe an author's major works for a particular year while placing them within the larger context of that writer's career.