Subject Guide
Off-Grounds Access
Most databases are available only when you're connected to the UVa network. For off Grounds use you'll need a connection through the proxy server or UVaAnywhere. More information.
Searching Virgo
Searching Virgo
Search Catalog Only = slavery law Virginia
Search Catalog Only = papers "Daniel Webster"
- Virgo does not use Boolean connectors, such as and, or between terms.
- Put a phrase within quotation marks
- Automatically does stemming of search terms (view, viewer, viewers, viewing)
- You can further refine search results by using the limiters on the left of the search results screen. For example, clicking on "Special Collections" under "Library" will narrow your results to materials held in Special Collections.
- Be sure you click on "Start Over" to perform a new search
Finding Scholarly Articles
A list of all our major online databases is found in Virgo at http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/ . Remember, to access our databases from off-Grounds you need a proxy server account, or a UVA Anywhere or Anywhere-Lite account: see http://www.library.virginia.edu/services/off-grounds-access/
America History and Life Covers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to present with records from 2,000 English-language journals published worldwide. Includes book reviews.
Search: "native americans" AND citizenship
Academic Search Complete Large general database of articles from scholarly journals and a few newspapers on many topics. The interface is almost identical to America History & Life, above.
Search: "search and seizure" AND "supreme court"
JSTOR Full-text backfiles of many important scholarly journals. Coverage is usually from the first issue to 3-5 years before the present.
Advanced Search: "native hawaii"~5 AND "land rights"~5
Item Type = article Discipline = History, Law
Collections of Historical Newspapers, Magazines & Books
A list of all our major online databases is found in Virgo at http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/ . Remember, to access our databases from off-Grounds you need a proxy server account, or a UVA Anywhere or Anywhere-Lite account: see http://www.library.virginia.edu/services/off-grounds-access/
The Library has a number of newspapers on microfilm. You can search for them here.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers Searchable full text and page images of several hundred U.S. newspapers from the 19th century. You can limit your search to particular states or cities.
Search: "human rights" Date = 1850-1870
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922 Searchable full text collection of U.S. newspapers. Can limit by place.
Search: Texas and annexation and whig* Custom date Range = 1844
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Searchable backfiles of the New York Times , Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune , Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Defender.
Advanced Search. Search NY Times and Chicago Tribune: citizenship AND immigrant*
Date range = 1860-1870
The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective - 1860-1865 Searchable text and page images from The New York Herald, the Richmond Enquirer, and The Charleston Mercury, published between November 1, 1860 and April 30, 1865.
Accessible Archives Access to The Pennsylvania Gazette (1728-1800), 7 African-American newspapers from 1827-1860, and 3 Civil War newspapers: New York Herald, Richmond Enquirer, and Charleston Mercury.
Search: negro* and legislation and "New York" Publication Type = All
Date of Publication = 1830-1850
American Periodicals Series Full text of over 1,000 magazines and journals published in the U.S. between 1740 and 1900.
Advanced Search: "slaughter-house cases" Date Range = 1873-1874
Early American Imprints. Series I: Evans, 1639-1800. Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 Searchable full text with page images of books published in 17th, 18th and early 19th-century America. The collection can also be browsed by genre, subject, author, printer, place of publication, and language.
Search Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker: "internal improvements"
Congress and the Courts
A list of all our major online databases is found in Virgo at http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/ . Remember, to access our databases from off-Grounds you need a proxy server account, or a UVA Anywhere or Anywhere-Lite account: see http://www.library.virginia.edu/services/off-grounds-access/
ProQuest Congressional Full-text information by and about the U.S. Congress, including testimony before Congressional hearings, the Congressional Record and its predecessors, the Serial Set, legislative histories of laws, biographical information on members, etc.
Search: "constitutional amendments" [from Index Terms] AND 14
Date = between 1866-1870
Lexis Nexis Academic News and business information from sources around the world; includes many newspapers. Legal component also includes access to federal and state court cases and legal codes.
US Legal : Select Federal & State Cases
Search For: Boyd v. United States
Specify Date: Date is 1886
Jurisdiction: US Supreme Court
Hein Online Access to decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, opinions of the U.S. Attorney General, the Congressional Record and its predecessors, etc.
Click on: U.S. Attorney General Opinions, then on
Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States, vols. 1-43 then
Search This Title: Text = reconstruction Date = 1865-1880
To search The Congressional Globe
Click on: U.S. Congressional Documents then on icon beside Congressional Globe then
Search This Title: Text = "American system" AND Text = Clay
Date = 1835-1840
Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 Over 240,000 Supreme Court documents, many of them briefs, from the final years of John Marshall through the early years of Warren Burger.
Search: Texas v. White Search type = Case Name Date is between 1865 and 1870
Additional Resources
U.S. History in Context An excellent starting point to get an overview of a topic. Consists of historical encyclopedia articles, journal articles, and some primary source materials.
Search = Boyd v. United States
The Library has a number of significant microform collections that may be relevant to this class, including Pamphlets in American History, State Constitutional Conventions, 1776-1959, State Secession Debates, 1859-1862, etc . See a general listing of our major microform collections in U.S. history.