Research Guides: WRPR 133: The American West in Fact and Fiction (HC): Background

History and Biographical Background

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History
- This link opens in a new window
This is a growing collection of articles providing analysis and discussion of recent scholarship. Note the bibliographies and references to related articles at the ends of entries. Use the Browse by Subject link to see listings by topic area. Note in particular the category Browse by Subject link to see listings by topic area. Note in particular the category "Western History."

American National Biography
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Offers portraits of more than 18,000 men and women, from all eras and walks of life, whose lives have shaped the nation. No living person is included.
Ancestry.com
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Wide-ranging collections of information for conducting genealogical and local history research. Includes: digitized images of the United States Federal Census from 1790 forward; the American Genealogical Biographical Index; Passenger and Immigration Lists Index; United Kingdom and United States Directories 1680-1830; court, land, and probate records; and many other resources. Tip: If you're presented with a message that the page isn't redirecting properly, try turning off the third party cookies in your browser.

Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Offers over 500 articles about important aspects of 19th century society.
Oxford African American Studies Center
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Includes many scholarly journal articles and biographical entries as well as images and primary sources about African Americans. This database is available online.
Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Presents an accurate and comprehensive history of the indigenous peoples who lived-and live-in the territory that became the United States. Leading experts, both Native and non-Native, focuse on significant moments of upheaval, histories of indigenous occupation, and overviews of Indian community life.
Oxford Handbook of American Women's and Gender History
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
See relevant essays including "Public and Print Cultures of Sex in the Long Nineteenth Century" and "Reproduction, Birth Control, and Motherhood in the United States." This latter essay was written by Rickie Solinger who has written important books on sexuality and abortion.
A Companion to the American West
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Includes entries of the history of American West politics, culture, and environment. Available online.

Background in Other Subject Areas

The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This book highlights tension, conflict, and creativity in America’s religious history. The 20 chapters, written by experts in their fields, follow particular religious traditions, movements, and time periods.

Literature Resource Center
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides biographies, bibliographies and scholarly articles on novelists, poets, essayists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of highly-studied authors.
Oxford Art Online
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Oxford Art Online is an art reference library that searches Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. This resource contains images, biographies, subject entries, and thematic timelines (antiquity to present).

Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Immigrant experiences and issues of ethnicity and race form the heart of essays in this handbook.
Inspiration and Innovation: Religion in the American West
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Includes entries on Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Christianity, Judaism, Latter-day Saints, and Buddhism. Available online.
The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American West
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides articles on American West literature, including that produced by Native American, Hispanic, Asian American and African American authors. Available online.
A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Includes 33 articles on American West literature.
New Wests and Post-Wests: Literature and Film of the American West
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Chapters discuss the mythic qualities of the American West that were/are manifested through literature and film. Available online.

Bibliographic Essays

Bibliographic essays, also known as literature reviews, are very useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a particular question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

History Compass
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This journal is devoted to literature reviews about history. Specialists analyze the issues involved in a particular question and discuss individual books and journal articles that are essential for research in that area. Browse or search the journal website for overviews related to your research topic. Relevant articles include:
"Beyond it all: Surveying the intersections of modern American Indian, environmental, and western histories" (2018)
"Eighteenth‐Century Land Speculation at the Margins of the Anglo‐American World" (2006).
"Gender and Sexuality in the North American Borderlands, 1492–1848" (2009).
"The Significance of the Frontier in World History" (2005).
Oxford Bibliographies Online.
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Extensive annotated bibliographies on specific topics in a variety of subject areas written by scholars in the field. This website is under development with new essays added twice a year. Essays of interest now available include:
The American West (in the Atlantic History section).
Native American Histories in North America (in the Atlantic History section).
Manifest Destiny (in the American Literature section).
Westerns (in the American Literature section).
Regionalism (in the American Literature section).
Native Americans (in the Cinema and Media Studies section).
The Searchers (in the Cinema and Media Studies section).

Dissertations & Theses
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is a collection of scholarly research in the Humanities and Social Sciences that consists of 2.7 million searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world, and 1.2 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Coverage is from 1861 to the present day.

Reviews in American History
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Use this journal to find detailed book reviews, essays, and bibliographies in American history. These reviews can be helpful for understanding different historical approaches to and interpretations of your topic.