Archives and Special Collections at Loyola University Chicago
Consider the print and digital collections in the University Archives and Special Collections and Women and Leadership Archives here at Loyola University Chicago.
Links to other Research Guides/Collections
- Archives and Special Collections Subject GuideA guide dedicated to the special collections at LUC.
- Civil Rights: Loyola University Chicago Archives and Special Collections This category encompasses the subjects of Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, Minorities, and Race. Some of the collections included here may only have 1 or 2 files on these subjects while other collections will have more information. Collections will be added to this list as they are uncovered at the Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections.
LC Call Number Quizzes & Training
Research & Learning Librarian
HIST 212: US History Since 1865 to the Present
This course focuses on primary and secondary source-based research.
Searching the Library Catalog
The library catalog is a great place to start your research. Here are some tips to make searching more effective:
- Make sure that you sign in. This allows you to see your access options for library materials, save searches, set notifications on saved searches, and save items to your favorites.
- Use Boolean operators if you're doing a keyword search. For example:
- Civil War AND slavery AND soldiers - the catalog will return only materials that mention all three search terms.
- Revolution AND (French OR American) - the catalog will broaden your search to include materials that discuss either the French Revolution or the American Revolution alongside other instances of the term 'Revolution.'
- Reformation AND England NOT Henry VIII - the catalog will reduce your search results by returning materials that mention Reformation and England but do not mention Henry VIII.
- Make sure that you enter Boolean operators in all caps: AND, OR, NOT
- Use truncation and/or wildcards. For example:
- Entering the search term coloniz* will return results for colonize, colonized, colonization, colonizer, etc.
- Entering the search term wom?n will return results for woman, women
- Group your terms using parenthesis to do multiple searches at once. For example:
- ("18th century" OR "19th century") AND "industrial revolution"
- Narrow your results to a specific genre, place, or time. For example:
- "World War II" AND Europe
- "civil rights" AND "United States"
- "medieval" AND "architecture" AND "12th century"
Select a history-focused research database using the lists linked below:
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull-text scholarly journal articles and ebooks related to the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Coverage: 2-5 years from current.
- LUC Library Catalog Advanced Search This link opens in a new windowA search tool for finding books, journal articles, media, and other materials in the library collection. The advanced search provides filters and scopes to narrow your search results.
- WorldCat Discovery Advanced Search This link opens in a new windowAdjust result list sort to relevance in order to eliminate weighting of locally-held titles.
Primary Sources
Learn more about sources and search strategies at the pages linked below:
Our catalog may be used to locate primary sources in the library collection. One means for doing so is to include one of the terms listed below in combination with topical search terms. Also experiment with publication date limits to identify materials published during a particular time period.
- Diaries
- Case studies
- Personal narratives
- Songs and music
- Correspondence
- Public opinion
- Photography
- Caricatures and cartoons
- Interviews
- Pictorial works
- Underground literature
- Sermons
- Sources
Remember, though, that the catalog will not always explicitly categorize the items they list as primary and secondary, so you’ll have to use your own judgment.
As a student at Loyola, you have access to a wide range of wonderful library and archival collections in Chicago. These catalogs allow you to search across institutions to locate primary-source materials:
These local research institutions have strong collections of materials on Chicago history and more:
- Chicago History Museum
- Gerber/Hart Library and Archives
- Newberry
- University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections
Let me know if you have questions, and enjoy exploring the rare and unique materials at these institutions!
Newspapers, Databases, and other Collections
- AdForum This link opens in a new windowA searchable library of commercials, ad campaigns of all media types and a directory of advertising and marketing agencies. Also includes case studies, advertising awards information, industry news, and job resources. Coverage: 2000 - present. Limited to 10 concurrent users.
- African American Newspapers 1827-1998 This link opens in a new windowFull-text content from African American newspapers published nationwide. Coverage: 1827 - 1998.
- African American Periodicals 1825-1995 This link opens in a new windowFull-text content from African American magazines and journals published nationwide. Coverage: 1825 - 1995.
- Alternative Press Index Archive This link opens in a new windowFull-text bibliographic containing journal, newspaper, and magazine articles from alternative, radical, and left sources with focus on socialism and revolution, ecology, democracy and anarchism, feminism and organized labor, indigenous peoples, and gays/lesbians. Coverage: 1969 - 1990.
- American Periodical Series I, II & III (1741-1940) This link opens in a new windowDigitized images of full-text articles from American magazines and journals, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and other historical sources. Coverage: 1741-1900.
- Chicago Tribune Historical This link opens in a new windowDigitized images and full-text articles related to Chicago news, history, and advertising. Coverage: 1849-2012.
- HarpWeek (1857-1912) This link opens in a new windowFull-text primary sources from Harper's Weekly, a resource for examining 19th century America. Includes editorials, news stories, cartoons, and advertisements. Coverage: 1857 - 1912.
- Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull-text historical newspaper articles from the Chicago Tribune (1905 - 1975), the New York Times (1850 - 2001), the Los Angeles Times (1881-1987), and the American Periodical Series I, II & III (1741-1900).
- Indigenous Peoples: North America Archive This link opens in a new windowCovers the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. The archive includes monograph, manuscript, newspaper, periodical and photograph collections. Sources include the National Archives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Library, the Alaska Indian Language Collection of Gonzaga University, and the W.S. Prettyman photograph collection of Wichita State University.
- New York Times Historical This link opens in a new windowFull-text archive of the New York Times with Index. Coverage: 1851 - 2018.
- Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull-text news articles from 19th century newspapers published in the United States.
- Vogue Archive This link opens in a new windowFull-text and full-image content from Vogue magazine (US edition). Coverage: 1892 - present.
- Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new windowFull-text archive of consumer magazines aimed at a female readership including Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Woman's Day. Also includes titles such as Parents, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Essence. Coverage: 19th century - 2005.
- Chicago Foreign Language Press SurveyThe Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey was published in 1942 by the Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project of the Works Progress Administration of Illinois. The purpose of the project was to translate and classify selected news articles that appeared in the foreign language press from 1855 to 1938. The project consists of 120,000 typewritten pages translated from newspapers of 22 different foreign language communities of Chicago.
- Historical newspapers and magazine databasesBrowse a list of databases for historical newspapers and magazines.
Images printed in Newspapers and Periodicals, as well as other audio and video recordings.
- AP Newsroom This link opens in a new windowPhotographs, graphics, charts, news stories, and audio clips provided by The Associated Press. International in scope. Coverage: 1826 - present.
- Vogue Archive This link opens in a new windowFull-text and full-image content from Vogue magazine (US edition). Coverage: 1892 - present.
- Oral History Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text primary sources including audio and video files with transcripts on American history.
- Media Burn Independent Video ArchiveArchive of documentary films on topics in cultural history, including a Chicago-focused collection.
- Image and sound CollectionsFurther resources to find image collections.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowFull-text primary sources from the 18th and 19th centuries covering British and American history. Coverage: 1700s - 1800s.
- American Folklife CenterProvides digital primary source collections from this unit in The Library of Congress.
- Internet ArchiveContains digital images, sound recordings, videos, and texts.
- NYPL Digital CollectionThe New York Public Library (NYPL) Digital Collections platform is the primary portal for engaging with our digitized collections and their descriptions, over 922,495 items and counting.
- United Nations Digital LibraryPlatform provides access to UN-produced materials in digital format free of charge.
All-Hours Research Help
Generalist librarians offer particularly helpful guidance with online source identification and access.