Guides: HIST 597: Modern Europe Seminar: The Invention of the Past and the Birth of Modern Europe: Home

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Modern European History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 1072 views this year
Anthropology and Archaeology
by Nikki Tummon Last Updated Aug 30, 2024 1241 views this year

Reference Sources

The Wiley-Blackwell Dictionary of Modern European History Since 1789 by Nicholas Atkin; Michael Biddiss; Frank Tallett
Publication Date: 2011
Authoritative and accessible reference guide to the major people, events, and issues that have shaped the development of Europe from the French Revolution to the present day.
The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology by Robin Skeates, Carol McDavid, John Carman (Editors
Publication Date: 2012

Find Primary Sources

Library Catalogue

Depending on your research question/topic, there may be print books, eBooks, eJournals, or other digitized materials that can serve as useful primary sources. Using the Library Catalogue, try:

Searching for author names: au:Elgin, Thomas Bruce
Search for exact titles of items using exact phrase searching: ti:"Memorandum on the subject of the Earl of Elgin's pursuits in Greece"
Keyword search and use the filter on the lefthand side to limit by date
- Be cautious with this trick! This may exclude reprinted items that could be useful primary sources.
Use the eJournals A-Z list to search for older journals by title (tip: skip an initial "the")
Search using subject headings such as
- Su: History, Ancient Historiography
- Su: Archaeology Periodicals

Newspapers & Periodicals

Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection (Gale Primary Sources)
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Contains 17th and 18th-century English news pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from Charles Burney Collection in the British Library. The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab
British Library Newspapers (Gale Primary Sources)
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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.
British Periodicals (ProQuest)
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Full-text database containing British periodicals from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century. - Library can facilitate negotiating text-mining rights for this database for McGill faculty and students wishing to acquire the rights with their own research funds. Please contact Digital Scholarship Hub
Times Digital Archive (Gale Primary Sources)
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Full-text searchable database of the Times Newspaper. Coverage from 1785 to 2019. The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab
Eighteenth Century Journals (Adam Matthew)
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Contains rare journals printed between c.1685 and 1835, illuminating aspects of eighteenth-century social, political and literary life. Topics covered include colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, the French and American revolutions, reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe, political debates, and London coffee house gossip and discussion.
Text mining is permitted, but certain conditions apply. Please contact Digital Scholarship Hub

France Archives Portal: Presse, journaux et imprimés numérisés
Links to digitized historic French newspapers, organized by city.
Compact Memory: Internetarchiv Judischer Periodika
A virtual archive of 118 Jewish historical magazines and newspapers in German speaking countries from 1806 until 1938 when these were banned by the Nazis. Items available in German, Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

Anthropology Plus (EBSCO)
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Typically used to find current research articles, this database indexes journals from the early 19th century to today and can therefore be used to find primary sources for this class.
TIP: use the "Year of Publication" filter to limit to the dates that will be useful for a primary source for your research question.

Thematic Digital Collections

Anthropological Fieldwork Online (Alexander Street)
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A fully indexed, primary source database charting the historical development of anthropology from a global perspective, bringing together the work of early scholars who shaped anthropological theories and methods. Includes the papers of Margaret Mead, Victor Turner, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Ruth Benedict, as well as field notes, letters, and government documents.
Empire Online (Adam Matthew)
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Brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials from the past 500 years for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences.
The thematic grouping "Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire" may be useful for this course.
Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926 (Gale Primary Sources)
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This collection includes pre-1926 treatises and similar monographs in Foreign Law including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and more.
Digitale Bibliothek Deutscher Klassiker (ProQuest)
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German writing database covering the works of major authors spanning eleven centuries and includes historical, philosophical, theological, political and art history texts.
Eighteenth Century Collections (Gale Primary Sources)
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Full-text searchable database including books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides published in the UK and elsewhere during the 18th century. Based on the English Short Title Catalogue and primarily in English but also includes other languages. The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index (ProQuest)
C19 Index draws on the strength of established indexes such as the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Periodicals Index Online and the Cumulative Index to Niles' Register 1811–1849 to create integrated bibliographic coverage of over 1.7 million books and official publications, 70,000 archival collections and 23.5 million articles published in over 2,500 journals, magazines and newspapers. C19 Index now provides integrated access to 18 bibliographic indexes, including more than three million records from British Periodicals Collections I and II, together with the expanded online edition of the Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism (DNCJ).
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources)
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The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab
Victorian Popular Culture (Adam Matthew)
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Victorian Popular Culture is a portal comprised of four modules, inviting users into the darkened halls, small backrooms, big tops and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic, spiritualist sances, optical entertainments and the first moving pictures. Primary source material includes objects, printed books, ephemera, posters, photographs and playbills.
Text mining is permitted, but certain conditions apply. Please contact Digital Scholarship Hub

Find Secondary Sources

Find books

Find books by searching the Library Catalogue by keyword or by subject heading. Try subject heading searches such as:

su: Archaeology History 20th Century
- Tip: replace 20th Century with whatever century you are interested in (17th Century, 18th Century, etc.); replace Archaeology with another discipline
su: National Museums Europe History
su: archaeology Germany history
su: civilization Greek influences
- Tip: try adding the name of a country (e.g., Germany, France, India) to this search.

Tip: also try searching for books assigned in class and seeing what subject headings have been applied to those books.

Find peer-reviewed articles

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
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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).

Jahresberichte fur Deutsche Geschichte
Searchable digital edition of the printed Jahresberichte, a bibliography of writings (journal articles and monographs) on German history since 500 C.E. (updates ended in 2016).

Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) (Brepols)
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If your research strays beyond continental Europe to modern Britain, this is an excellent database to find articles, chapters, and books.

Citations

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (17th 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 will update 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, 17th Edition
Publication Date: 2017
There is a copy of the current Chicago Manual of Style available for reference at the McLennan Service Desk (first floor).
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.

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 two virtual Chicago Citation Style workshops per 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