HIS300 American Beginnings Research Guide

Since the sample ship landed in Virginia, we will search for information sources covering the history of Virginia, including slavery in the colony

Click on the Reference link to see a select list of resources in which you can search

Sample searches:

Credo Reference

• Place a search for: 
  • "colonial virginia"
  • virginia AND history
  • virginia AND slavery
  • virginia AND ("seventeenth century" OR "17th century")
• Sample information sources:
  • American colonies: Virginia Company. (2003). In Reader's guide to British History.
  • Colonial North America - 1650-1763. In Concise atlas of world history, Andromeda.
  • Virginia, settlement of. (1998). In The new encyclopedia of the American west.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

• Place a search for:
  • "colonial virginia"
  • virginia AND history
  • virginia AND slavery
  • virginia AND ("seventeenth century" OR "17th century")
• Sample information sources:
  
  • Colonial society. (2003). In S. I. Kutler (Ed.), Dictionary of American history (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 290-293). New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Slavery. (2003). In S. I. Kutler (Ed.), Dictionary of American history (3rd ed., Vol. 8, pp. 341-346). New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Virginia. (2003). In S. I. Kutler (Ed.), Dictionary of American history (3rd ed., Vol. 8, pp. 341-346). New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Click on the Primary Sources links to see selected lists of resources in which you can start searching

Sample searches:

CLICsearch

• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND history AND sources
• Sample information sources:
  • Billings, W. M. (2012). The Old Dominion in the seventeenth century: A documentary history of Virginia, 1606-1700. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
  • Waldstreicher, D. (2001). The struggle against slavery: A history in documents. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

America in Class from the National Humanities Center

• Click on "American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492-1690"
• Click on "Settlement", "Permanence", or "Power"
• Click on appropriate sub-categories
  For example:
  • "Africans I" or "Africans II" under "Power"

Click on the Books & eBooks link to access the resources in which you can search

Sample searches:

CLICsearch

• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND history
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Virginia--History
  • Virginia--History--17th century
  • Virginia--Social conditions--17th century
  • Virginia--Economic conditions--17th century
  • Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
  • Slavery--Virginia--History--17th century
  • United States--Social life and customs
  • United States--Social conditions
• Sample information sources:
  • Mancall, P. C. (Ed.). (2007). The Atlantic world and Virginia, 1550-1624. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
  • Hatfield, A. L. (2004). Atlantic Virginia: Intercolonial relations in the seventeenth century. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Parent, A. S. (2003). Foul means: The formation of a slave society in Virginia, 1660-1740. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
  • Krawczynski, K. (2013). Daily life in the colonial city. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.

WorldCat

• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND history
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Virginia--History
  • Virginia--History--17th century
  • Virginia--Social conditions--17th century
  • Virginia--Economic conditions--17th century
  • Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
  • Slavery--Virginia--History--17th century
  • United States--Social life and customs
  • United States--Social conditions
• Sample information sources:
  • Bradburn, D., & Coombs, John C. (2011). Early modern Virginia: Reconsidering the Old Dominion. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
  • Wallenstein, P. (2007). Cradle of America: Four centuries of Virginia history. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas.

Click on the Articles link to see a select list of resources in which you can search

Sample searches:

JSTOR

• Click on "Advanced Search"
• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND (colonial OR "seventeenth century" OR "17th century") AND (agricultur* OR crop* OR hemp OR cotton OR wheat OR tobacco)
• Sample information sources:
  • Herndon, G. M. (1963). Hemp in colonial Virginia. Agricultural History, 37(2), 86-93.
  • Wright, G. (2003). Slavery and American agricultural history. Agricultural History, 77(4), 527-552.

Humanities Source

• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND history AND colonial
• Limit your search by: 
  • Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
• Sample information sources:
  • Coombs, J. C. (2011). The phases of conversion: A new chronology for the rise of slavery in early Virginia. William & Mary Quarterly, 68(3), 332-360.
  • Walsh, L. S. (2011). Boom-and-bust cycles in Chesapeake history. William & Mary Quarterly, 68(3), 387-392.

Project MUSE

• Place a search for: 
  • virginia AND history AND colonial
• Limit your search by: 
  • Content Type: Articles
  • Research Area:  History
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
  • Slavey--Chesapeake Bay Region (Md. and Va.)--History
• Sample information source:
  • Menard, R. R. Making a "popular slave society" in colonial British America. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 43(3), 377-395.