Guides: HIST 347: History and Sexuality 2: Home

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Useful Subject Guides

Modern European History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Sep 25, 2025 880 views this year
Canadian History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Sep 26, 2025 2138 views this year
U.S. History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Sep 29, 2025 369 views this year
Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
by Michael David MILLER Last Updated Sep 24, 2025 862 views this year

Reference Books

Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures by Bonnie Zimmerman (Editor); George Haggerty (Editor)
Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History by Howard Chiang and Anjali R. Arondekar (editors)
Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century by Robert Aldrich (Editor); Garry Wotherspoon (Editor)

Find Secondary Sources

Find books and eBooks

Library Catalogue

Find peer-reviewed articles

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
This contains references to journal articles, book reviews and some dissertations about the history of all parts of the world from 1450 on, EXCLUDING Canada and the United States. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1850 To End Year: 1917).
America: History and Life (EBSCO)
Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada for all time periods. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1850 To End Year: 1917).
Gender Studies Database (EBSCO)
Combines Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with coverage of issues related to sexual diversity. Includes gender-engaged scholarship from 1972 to the present.
GenderWatch (ProQuest)
Database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas, and a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgender community and the changes in gender roles over the years.

Find Primary Sources

Pre-20th Century

Defining Gender, 1450-1910 (Adam Matthew)
Explore gender through a vast body of British source material from the 15th to early 20th century. Through correspondence, advice literature, periodicals, ephemera and government documents, traditional models of gender and contemporary perceptions can be explored.
Sex and Sexuality (Adam Matthew)
This collection of British and North American documents explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviours from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Early documents include 19th-century diaries, information about early sex operations, records relating to brothels and prostitution, and more.

Homosexuality in 18th-century England
An online sourcebook compiled by Rictor Norton.
Homosexuality in 19th-century England
An online sourcebook compiled by Rictor Norton.

Nineteenth-Century Writings on Homosexuality: A Sourcebook by Chris White (Editor)
Available as an eBook.

Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the U.S. & U.K., 1815-1914
Drawn from the Harvard Law School Library’s extensive trial collections, Studies in Scarlet features over 420 trial narratives involving the crimes and passions of both renowned and ordinary people.
L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
Enfer ("Hell") from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is one of the most storied and sought-after private case collections of forbidden books. The collection was created in the 1830s to protect and isolate works that were considered contrary to the morals of the time. Enfer is made up of more than 2,400 literary works, manuscripts, engravings, lithographs, and photographs dating from the 1530s to 2010s and provide a wide perspective throughout time and in different societies on what were considered to be erotic and/or pornographic works.

20th Century

Archives of Sexuality and Gender (Gale Primary Sources)
LGBTQ history and culture since 1940. Archive containing historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals, personal correspondence, interviews, publications, gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries. Includes reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health.

Includes reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health.Documents span from 1940 to 2014, with the bulk from 1950 to 1990.
Sex and Sexuality (Adam Matthew)
This collection explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviours from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Investigating the breadth and complexity of human sexual understanding through the work of leading sexologists, sex researchers, organizations and personal accounts. Notably, this includes documents, correspondence, research papers, and records from Dr. Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Institute.
Queer Pasts
A collection of primary source exhibits. The database uses “queer” in its broadest and most inclusive sense, to embrace topics that are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender and to include work on sexual and gender formations that are queer but not necessarily LGBT. Each of the document collections in the database will include a critical introductory essay that helps explain the significance of the primary sources in historical terms and in relationship to previous scholarship.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 (Adam Matthew)
Contains collections of original manuscript, typescript and ephemera archival material about civil rights, protest movements and popular culture from key libraries in Britain and America. Includes pamphlets, letters, government files, eye witness accounts, fanzines and video content. Themes include gay and lesbian rights, sex and sexuality, and women's rights.
Mass Observation Online (Adam Matthew)
Access to one of the most important archives for the study of Social History in the modern era (1937-67). Contains scans of original manuscript and typescript papers created and collected by the Mass Observation organisation, as well as printed publications, photographs and interactive features. Includes diaries, as well as topic collections including family planning, sexual behaviour, and health.
Mass Observation Project (Adam Matthew)
This collection consists of the directives (questionnaires) sent out by Mass Observation in the 1980s and 1990s and the thousands of responses to them from the hundreds of Mass Observers, documenting the social history of Britain.
Try searching by clicking 'Browse by Directive', and then choosing a directive (questionnaire) in line with your research topic/question.

Newspapers & Magazines

Newspapers
by Humanities and Social Sciences Library Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 13953 views this year

Paper of Record
Searchable archive of historical newspapers from Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Coverage varies, from the mid-1800s to 2000s.
2 simultaneous users.
British Library Newspapers (Gale Primary Sources)
Full-text database containing digitized regional and local newspapers published in Britain between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab

Access to parts I-V, not part VI- Ireland, 1797-1950.

France Archives Portal: Presse, journaux et imprimés numérisés
Links to digitized historic French newspapers, organized by city.

LGBT Magazine Archive (ProQuest)
Archival runs of 26 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests including the US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively.
Women's Magazine Archive (ProQuest)
An archival research resource comprising the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005.

Subject coverage : gender studies, social history, economics/marketing, media, fashion, politics, and popular culture.
Men's Magazine Archive (ProQuest)
A collection of men’s-interest magazine backfiles serving research in men’s studies/history but also offering important additional perspectives for women’s studies. It includes some of the earliest publications of this type – National Police Gazette and Argosy – and covers key topics such as fashion, sports, health, and arts/entertainment. Coverage: 1845 - 2015

Subject coverage: Consumer culture, Entertainment, Fashion, Fiction, Gender studies, Health and fitness, Masculinity, Men's history, Popular culture, Social history.

Citations

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (18th edition) for citations, and usually the Notes-Bibliography form. This requires creating properly formatted footnotes footnotes and a Bibliography for your assignments. Resources to understand the Chicago style of citations are included below.

Note: Chicago Manual of Style updated to the 18th edition in September 2024.

HCS Guide to the Chicago Manual of Style
A guide to the Chicago Manual of Style developed for students in History and Classics (18th edition).

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Publication Date: 2024
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition by Kate L. Turabian
Call Number: LB2369 T8 2018

Publication Date: 2018

A guide to Chicago Manual of Style with more information on hard-to-cite or unusual sources than the original manual. Note that this manual has not yet been updated to reflect the changes in the 18th edition of Chicago.

Guides

Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide
McGill Library Citation Subject Guide
Under "citation styles by subject", select "History" for more resources on Chicago style.

Library Support

Chicago Workshops
McGill Librarians offer virtual Chicago Citation Style workshops every term. Follow this link to find and register for upcoming workshops!
Citation Management
Attend a workshop to learn how to use Zotero or EndNote, useful citation management systems. Zotero is highly recommended for History students!

Liaison Librarian

Kristen Howard

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Subjects: Classical studies, History, Indigenous studies, Religious studies