HIST 4880: History of West Africa Guide

Overview

For further assistance ask for help at the Central Reference Desk,Waldo Library, or make an appointment with Maria A. Perez-Stable, 387-5322, maria.perez-stable@wmich.edu, library liaison to the History Department.

Finding Books

Classic Library Catalog
WMU's Classic online catalog (also known as WestCat), is used to identify books (including electronic books), government documents, journals, audio and video, slides and other items in the University Libraries' collections. The catalog can be searched by title, author, subject heading, keyword, call number, and more.

Advanced Search
This is an option for searching WestCat. Multiple words or phrases that are "your language," not known to be from the official subject heading list, can be entered. However, the system only finds books that use the same word or words in their catalog entries. As a result, no book in our collection may contain all of the words and phrases that you enter. If no titles appear, try synonyms or fewer headings--or select a heading(s) from the Library of Congress Subject Headings. When a list of titles appears, review them and then select those that might contain relevant information. On the screens that appear after clicking on a title, there are official Library of Congress subject headings that are linked to other books on the same topic.

WorldCat Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries around the world. Contains millions of records in hundreds of languages. Nonbook materials include (among other publication formats) the titles of journals and magazines, manuscripts, maps, electronic resources, websites, computer programs, musical scores, films, slides, sound recordings, conference proceedings, and videotapes. Items located through WorldCat must be requested through Interlibrary Loan unless they are also listed in the WMU libraries catalog, WestCat.

Finding Books
How to locate books (print and electronic) in the WMU Libraries and elsewhere.

For additional help in finding books in the WMU Libraries, please see this "how to" guide.

Finding Articles

America: History and Life Indexes and abstracts 2,100 journals, book and media reviews, and dissertations about the history and culture of the US and Canada. Searches by subject, author, title, time period, or document type. Coverage from 1964 to the present. Updated monthly.
This subscription is limited to six simultaneous users. Please logout when finished.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) The Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary database that indexes 1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, and selected, relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals. Coverage is from 1975 to the present.

America's Historical Newspapers 1690-1922 Full text images of articles from early American newspapers for over 700 newspapers from 24 Eastern states, including three Michigan Newspapers, Kalamazoo Gazette (1872-1919), Grand Rapids Press (1893-1922), and Jackson Citizen Patriot (1849-1858).

HarpWeek Full-text as well as images from the important American magazine Harper's Weekly. Coverage: 1857-1912. Includes scanned images and text from Harpers Weekly, a periodical that began publication just prior to the Civil War in 1857.Online coverage from 1857-1912.HarpWeek can be both searched and browsed.

Historical Abstracts Indexes and abstracts over 2,100 journals, books, and dissertations in world history, excluding the US and Canada, from 1450 to the present. Searches by subject, author, title, time period, or document type. Coverage: 1955 to present. Updated monthly.
This subscription is limited to six simultaneous users. Please logout when finished.

Humanities Abstracts Indexes more than 465 major humanities journals in art, history, literature, philosophy, religion, music, and related areas. Coverage from 1984, abstracts from 1994 to the present.

19th Century Masterfile
This electronic index to the nineteenth century includes poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 4,000,000+ Citations from both popular and scholarly journals published from 1802 to 1906. WMU owns quite a few of these titles.

Digital Collections & Information

American Memory Multimedia collections from the Library of Congress of digitized documents, photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, and texts. Over 100 collections, including, for example, African-American pamphlets, Chautauqua flyers, Depression photographs, Coca-Cola advertising, and the papers of Alexander Graham Bell, to name just a few.

Making of America (Cornell University)

Making of America (University of Michigan) A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the ante-bellum period through Reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Includes over 4 million page images, representing close to 13,000 volumes of primary source materials, including books and periodicals. Cornell University has focused on the major journal literature of the period. The University of Michigan has focused on monographs.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade a Database on CD-ROM. CD-ROM HT 1 (Permanent Reserve). Contains records of 27,233 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages made between 1595 and 1866. Format allows users to track information by time period and geographic region, and includes interactive maps that allow viewers to chart the trans-Atlantic connections. The accompanying data contains materials about people on board, owners and captains, ships' characteristics, and the geographic trajectory of each voyage.

Finding Book Reviews

Web of Science Contains three major databases: (1) Science Citation Index Expanded (1900-present), (2) Social Sciences Citation Index (1956-present), and (3) Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Cited Ref. Search allows users to search for articles that cite a particular author or work. Tutorial

Please LOGOFF when finished, so others may use the database.

RefWorks Info: For Import Filter, choose "ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)". For Database, choose "Web of Science". Be sure and limit your search to just BOOK REVIEWS down at the bottom of the search screen.

Book Review Digest Indexes and excerpts reviews of English-language fiction and nonfiction books published in leading periodicals. Scholarly books, textbooks, government publications, and technical books are excluded. Online coverage: 1983-present. Updated weekly.

Book Review Index Provides reviews of general interest and some scholarly books published in the US since 1965. This doesn't have the excerpts from reviews that Book Review Digest provides, nor does it go back to 1905, but it does index many more periodicals.
Print: Z 1035 .A1 B6 (Ref)

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974 Z 1035 .A1 C64 (Ref)
This 15-volume set offers title and author access to over one million book reviews that appeared in the backfiles of about 460 scholarly journals in the fields of History, Political Science, and Sociology between 1886 and 1974. Reviews are arranged by author's last name.

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 Z 1035 .A1 C63x (Ref)
A 10-volume set that includes close to 500,000 book review citations from the backfiles of 150 humanities journals, mostly focusing on Literature, Religion, and Philosophy. Reviews are arranged by author's last name.

Social Sciences Abstracts Indexes over 600 periodicals in anthropology, economics, ethnic studies, feminist studies, geography, human services, international relations, law and criminology, police science, political science, population studies, psychology, public administration, public health, social work, sociology, urban studies, and related social science subjects. Coverage: indexing from 1983 and abstracts from 1994. Updated weekly.
Details

Information about Historians & Reviewers

Contemporary Authors Z 1224 .C6 (Ref)
Part of the Literature Resource Center, this directory provides brief biographical information about more than 120,000 authors from the US and elsewhere. Includes writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, journalism, and many other fields.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index Indexes numerous printed reference sources that include usually short biograhical information on multiple persons. Covers living and deceased people all over the world in all occupations.

Biographies Plus Illustrated Contains more than 145,000 biographies and more than 36,000 photographs. Includes full text articles from Current Biography and other biographical sources. Many of the biographies have links to other sources and citations to articles.

Biography Index Z 5301 .B5 (Reference Collection)
Indexes biographical information from thousands of periodicals and books. Coverage from 1984. Updated weekly.

Biographical Sources About Historians

American Historians, 1866-1912 (PS 129.D5x v.47 Ref)

American Historians, 1607-1865 (PS 129 .D5 x v. 30 Ref)

American Literary Biographers: First Series
(PS 129. D5x v. 103 Ref)

American National Bigraphy.

American Women Historians,1700s-1990s: A Biographical Dictionary
(E 175.45 .S27 1996 Ref)

Blackwell Dictionary of Historians (D 14 .B58 1988 Ref)

Great Historians From Antiquity to 1800:An International Dictionary
(D 14 .G74 1989 Ref)

Great Historians of the Modern Age:An International Dictionary
(D 14 .G75 1991 Ref)

A New Research Guide in History (D 16. W634 1986 General Stacks)

Twentieth-Century American Historians
(PS 129 .D5x v.17 Ref)

Who's Who on the Web Provides brief, usually up to date and usually reliable biographical information about more than 1.3 million people. Entries focus on frequently needed facts, such as birthdates, education, career, publications, and other objective data supplied by the individual to the editors. Who's Who in America biographies go back to 1607. The coverage of the rest of the Marquis Who's Who series is from 1985 to the present.

Faculty Directories

National Faculty Directory (L901.N34 Ref Desk Coll.)
Directory of American Scholars (LA 2311 .C32 Ref)

Chronologies of American & World History

African American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience
E 185 .S797 2003 (Ref)
This book begins with a chronology of important events in African American history, starting in 1444 and ending in 2002. The bulk of the volume contains primary documents corresponding to the events listed in the opening chronology. There is a short introduction to each of the documents, putting them in context for students and researchers. Many entries also include bibliographical references for further study. This book is full of fascinating historical illustrations, photographs, and maps.

Almanac of American History E 174.5 .A45 1983 (Ref)
Although basically a chronology, this work also has introductory essays by renowned historians. Divided into five major time spans in U.S. history from 986 to 1982, each section contains an essay followed by a chronology of events.

Black Chronology from 4000 B.C. to the Abolition of the Slave Trade DT 17 .D5 1983 (Ref)
Beginning in 4777 B.C., this chronology presents significant events and personalities in the history of the African continent and the peoples of the African diaspora, until 1888 when all of the slaves in Brazil were emancipated.

Chronicle of America E174.5 .C55x 1995 (Ref)
Presented in a newspaper format with brief articles, this lavishly illustrated book presents a year-by-year account of the major events in American history and culture.

Chronology of World History D 11 .M39 1999 (Ref)
Containing over 70,000 entries, this 4-volume set provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of world history from 1492 through 1998. Arranged year-by-year, each entry includes information on politics, government, economics, science, technology, medicine, mathematics, the arts, society, education, religion, sports, everyday life, and important births and deaths in each year.

Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates E 174.5 .C3 1997 (Ref)
This is the only encyclopedia of American history that is arranged in both concurrent and chronological order. More than just a listing of dates, the entries are full of details about such things as business, entertainment, fashions, social issues, crime, science, architecture, philosophy, and religion. Details

Encyclopedia of World Facts and Dates D 11 .C47x 1993 (Ref)
Traces, in chronological order, global history from pre-history to the latest happenings of 1992. The arrangement is chronological, and then sub-divided into topics such as vital statistics, exploration, politics and war, economy and trade, religion and philosophy, science and education, arts and leisure, and sports and games.

Pan-African Chronology: A Comprehensive Reference to the Black Quest for Freedom in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia
E 185.18 .J46 1996 (Ref)
This set presents a chronology of Africana history in three separate volumes: Volume I: 1400-1865; Volume II 1865-1915; and Volume III: 1914-1929. It includes events relating to the interactions among three cultures--the African, the indigenous American, and the European. Includes the origins of black slavery and the African diaspora worldwide. Each volume has a useful bibliography and index at the end.

Timetables of American History E 174.5 .T55x (Ref)
Arranged by the broad subjects of History and Politics, the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and Miscellaneous, the emphasis of this work is on placing events in U.S. history in a time frame alongside significant happenings in world history. Coverage extends to 1980.

Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events, Based on Werner Stein's Kulturfahrplan
D 11 .G78 2005 (Ref) This work covers world history from 4500 BC through 1990 AD, emphasizing European and American history. Each time period includes seven categories: history and politics; literature and theatre; religion, philosophy and learning; visual arts; music; science, technology and growth; and daily life.

Universities with Strong African Collections

Boston University

Harvard University

Michigan State University

Northwestern University

Ohio University

Tulane University

University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)

University of Florida

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Web Resources

Alexander Falconbridge's Account of the Slave Trade. This site contains a brief excerpt from Alexander Falconbridge's book. An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa. Falconbridge, a Surgeon abroad slave ships, recounts the transportation of slaves by ship across the Atlantic. The site is hosted by PBS.

Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent. This online collection is maintained on the web site of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. It contains digitized visual images and sounds of Africa contributed over the years to the African Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Africa Web Links: An Annotated Resource List Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, this site lists links related to all aspects of African studies, including history, maps, and women's issues.

African Studies Association Founded in 1957 as a nonprofit organization, it is open to all individuals and institutions interested in African affairs. Its mission is to bring together people with scholarly and proffessional interest in Africa.

Amistad Case Sponsored by the National Archives, This site features primary documents and information about the Amistad case, a slave revolt by Kidnapped West Africans that took place in 1839 on the ship Amistad. Includes teaching activities for the classroom.

Chronology on the History of Slavery and Racism. The office of Architectural History and Preservation at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo offer this detailed , year-by year outline of the history of slavery. Includes links to other works on the Web.

Modern History Sourcebook: Life of Gustavus Vassa Features excerpts from an autobiography entitled Life of Gustavus Vassa, written by the former slave Olaudah Equino (1745-1797) after he was freed and living in England . Discusses Equiano's capture and transportation in Africa and describes the abuse of slaves in the West Indies.

Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African A site devoted to the former slave who published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative, in 1789 in England. The site includes a brief biography, numerous extracts from the book itself, portraits of the Author , a newspaper advertisement about the book from 1789, and links to related Web sites.

Slave Trade Archives
Hosted by UNESCO, the purpose of this site is to preserve primary materials concerning the transatlantic slave trade that are housed in libraries and archives all over the world, including Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Barbados, Senegal, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Barbados, Colombia, and Haiti. In addition to providing access to a database of digital archival documents, the Web site also provides an outline of the transatlantic slave trade.

H-Net Discussion Groups
H-AFRICA. An international electronic discussion group sponsored by the Humanities and Social Sciences Online consortium of scholarly lists. H-Net provides a forum for discussing Africa's history and culture and African studies in general. H-Africa is also an affiliate organization of the African Studies Association (USA).

H-Afro-Am. The main mission of the H -Afro-Am (African American Studies)is to provide an exchange of information for the professionals, faculty and advanced students in the field of African American Studies(also called Afrocentricity, Africology, Africana Studies, Afro-American Studies, Black Studies, and Pan-African Studies).

H-West-Africa. H-West-Africa is dedicated to enhancing research, services, and teaching of the region of West Africa, including its history, culture, science and development.

Middle & High School Internet Resources on Africa

Awesome Library: Africa As part of the Awesome Library, R jerry Adams and the Evaluation and Development Institute (EDI) present a collection of internet resource related to Africa. The collection offers links to sites featuring lesson plans, images, country profiles, articles and other curriculum enrichment materials. Materials for elementary, middle, and high school social studies classes are provided.

Geography Lesson Plans and Resources. This site includes geography lessons for all the parts of the world .Just click on the Africa and/or Specific African Countries links on the opening page to find what is available for teachers of African studies.

K-12 Electronic Guide for African Resources on the Internet A great site, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, that includes a wealth of useful Web site to help K-12 history and social studies teachers present information on Africa to there students. Includes lesson plants, country-specific links, and a multimedia archive.

National Council for the Social Studies: Classroom Resources
The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) site offers this section of classroom resources which include links to teaching with primary documents, curriculum standards, and lesson plans to help K-12 classroom teachers.

Odessey Online
Odyssey Online is an interactive activity site for elementary and middle school students. The students explore the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as sub-Saharan Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, by examining images of museum objects .This activity was developed by the Micheal C. Carlos Museum of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York; and the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas.

Outline Maps The Education Place, a service of the Houghton Mifflin Co., presents a collection of free, printable outline maps, intended for use with K-8 social studies classes. Some of the maps are in PDF format. The collection offers maps of Africa, Asia, California, Cannada, Central America, Europe, Mexico, North America, the United States, and more.

Slave Trade Present a history of the African slave trade, compiled by Jennifer Scott as part of the African-American History Through the arts Project of Coral Gables Senior High School in Florida.

Ask A Librarian

Maria A. Perez-Stable, E-mail: maria.perez-stable@wmich.edu
Phone: 269-387-5322
Last updated: August 2009