Bibliography of Reference Sources

General Sources | United States History Sources | American Revolution Sources
General Biographical Sources | Biographical Sources By Subject | Military Sources
Tools for Locating Early Imprints | Tools for Locating Primary Sources | Tools for Locating Diaries
Locating Newspaper Resources | Resources Published by the Massachusetts Historical Society

General Sources

Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998-.

United States History Sources

Adams, James T. Dictionary of American History. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1940. 5 vols.

Johnson, Thomas H. The Oxford Companion to American History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.

American Revolution Sources

Adams, Thomas R. American Independence: the Growth of an Idea: a Bibliographical Study of the American Political Pamphlets Printed between 1764 and 1776 Dealing with the Dispute Between Great Britain and Her Colonies. Providence: Brown University Press, 1965.

Blanco, Richard. The War of the American Revolution: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of Published Sources. New York: Garland Publishing, 1984

Boatner, Mark M. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New York: D. McKay Co., 1966.

Capon, Lester, Barbara B. Petchenik and John H. Long. Atlas of Early American History: The Revolutionary Era, 1760-1790. Princeton: Princeton University, 1976.

Faragher, John. The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

Greene, Jack P. and J.R. Pole. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Reference, 1991.

Kaplan, Sidney and Emma N. Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

Library of Congress. Revolutionary America, 1763-1789: A Bibliography, compiled by Ronald M. Gephart. Washington: Library of Congress, 1984. 2 vols.

Library of Congress. The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints: A Checklist of 1765-1790 Graphics in the Library of Congress. Washington: Library of Congress, 1975.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Paul Revere's Boston, 1735-1818, with an introduction by Walter Muir Whitehill. Boston: Dept. of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, 1975.

National Geographic Society. Historical Atlas of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1988.

Wilkie, Richard W. and Jack Tager. Historical Atlas of Massachusetts. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991.

General Biographical Sources

American Council of Learned Societies. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928-37. 20 vols.

American Library Association. A.L.A. Portrait Index: Index to Portraits Contained in Printed Books and Periodicals. Edited by William Coolidge Lane and Nina E. Browne. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1906.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966-1990.

Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes. American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 24 vols.

McNeil, Barbara. Abridged Biography and Genealogy Master Index: A Consolidated Index to more than 2,150,000 biographical sketches from over 260 selected current and retrospective biographical dictionaries indexed in Biography and genealogy master index through 1994. New York: Gale Research, 1995. 3 vols. Stephen, Sir Leslie and Sir Sidney Lee. The Dictionary of National Biography, from the Earliest Times to 1900: Founded in 1882 by George Smith. London: Oxford University Press, 1921-22. 22 vols.

Biographical Sources by Subject

Dexter, Franklin B. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History. New York: Holt, 1885-1912. 6 vols.

James, Edward T., Janet W. James, and Paul S. Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. 3 vols.

Kaufman, Martin, Stuart Galishoff and Todd L. Savitt. Dictionary of American Medical Biography. 2 vols. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.

Logan, Rayford W. and Michael R. Winston. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: Norton, 1982.

McNeil, Barbara. Artist Biographies Master Index. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., 1986.

New York Historical Society. The New-York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-1860. George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, s. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957.

Palmer, Gregory. Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution. Westport, Conn.: Meckler Publishing, 1984.

Petteys, Chris. Dictionary of Women Artists : An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1985.

Princeton University. General Catalogue of Princeton University, 1746-1906. Princeton, New Jersey: The University, 1908.

Raimo, John W. Biographical Directory of American Colonial and Revolutionary Governors, 1607-1789. Westport, Conn.: Meckler, Books, 1980.

Schutz, John A. Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780: A Biographical Dictionary. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997.

Shipton, Clifford K. Biographical Sketches of Those who Attended Harvard College With Bibliographical and Other Notes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1933-. 15 vols.

Sibley, John Langdon. Biographical Sketches of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. New York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1967. 3 vols.

Sobel, Robert. Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1971. Westport, Conn., 1971.

Treese, Joel D. Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1996. Alexandria, Va.: CQ Staff Directories, Inc., 1997.

Whittemore, Bradford A. Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Boston: The Society of Cincinnati, 1964.

Military Sources

Massachusetts. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War: A Compilation from the Archives. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1896-1908. . 27 vols.

Tools for Locating Early American Imprints

Evans, Charles. American Bibliography...A Chronological Dictionary of all Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 down to and including the Year 1820…. Worcester, 1903-1959. 14 vols.

Tools for Locating Primary Sources

American Library Directory, 1999-2000. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1999. 2 vols.

American Association of Museums. The Official Museum Directory. New York: American Association of Museums and National Register Publishing Co., Inc., 1971-.

National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States. Washington: National Historical Publications and Records Commission, 1978.

Library of Congress. Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for Research on the American Revolution compiled by John R. Sellers. Washington: Library of Congress, 1975.

Hinding, Andrea, Ames Sheldon Bower and Clark A. Chambers. Women's History Sources: A Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the United States. New York: Bowker, 1979. 2 vols.

Tools for Locating Diaries

Arksey, Laura, Nancy Pries, and Marcia Reed. American Diaries: an Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals to 1980. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. 2 vols.

Williams, Matthew. American Diaries in Manuscript, 1580-1954: A Descriptive Bibliography. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1974.

Matthews, William. British Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of British Diaries Written Between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1950.

Locating Newspaper Resources

Bailyn, Bernard and John B. Hench. The Press & the American Revolution. Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1980.

Brigham, Clarence S. History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820. Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1947. 2 vols.

Early American Newspapers on Microfilm. New Canaan, Conn.: Readex Microprint Corporation, 1986-87.

Lathem, Edward C. Chronological Tables of American Newspapers, 1690-1820: Being a Tabular Guide to Holdings of Newspapers Published in America Through the Year 1820. Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1972.

Resources Published by the Massachusetts Historical Society

Massachusetts Historical Society. Witness to America's Past: Two Centuries of Collecting by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Exhibit catalog compiled by the staff of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1991.

Massachusetts Historical Society. Portraits in the Massachusetts Historical Society. Illustrated Catalog with Descriptive Matter by Andrew Oliver, Ann Huff, and Edward Hanson. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1988.

Massachusetts Historical Society. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1791-1999.

Massachusetts Historical Society. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1791-1999.

Massachusetts Historical Society. Index of Diaries in the Massachusetts Historical Society. Unpublished Guide available in the Society's Library.