Research Guides: HIST 286: Gender and the Construction of Science in America, 1700-1900 (HC): Background

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Women computers working at the Harvard College Observatory, circa 1890 (Wikimedia Commons)

Using Background Information

Subject encyclopedias, handbooks and companions provide overviews of ideas, people, and events They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and current points of debate. When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, sometimes, primary sources.

Handbooks in the History of Science

A Companion to the History of American Science by Mark Largent; Georgina Montgomery
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ISBN: 1119072239
Publication Date: 2015-10-28
Offers a collection of essays that give an authoritative overview of the most recent scholarship on the history of American science covering topics including astronomy, agriculture, chemistry, eugenics, and more. See in particular the essays "Gender and Science" and "Science Education."
A Companion to the History of Science by Bernard Lightman (Editor)
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ISBN: 9781118620779
Publication Date: 2016-04-04
Provides a single-volume overview of current scholarship in the history of science featuring essays on key debates and developments. See in particular the essays "Scientific Illustrators," "Amateurs," and "Domestic Space."
Also available in a print copy.

Encyclopedias and Handbooks in Women's History

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History by Bonnie G. Smith (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780195148909
Publication Date: 2008-01-23
Capitalizes on the explosion of research in women's history in the last 30 years. Entries cover six main areas: biographies; geography and history; comparative culture and society; organizations and movements; womens and gender studies; and topics in world history.
The Oxford Handbook of American Women's and Gender History by Ellen Hartigan-O'Connor (Editor); Lisa G. Materson (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780190222628
Publication Date: 2018-10-02
Twenty-nine essays illustrate how women's and gender history can shape how we view the past.

Biographies

American National Biography
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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.
Biography & Genealogy Master Index
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Provides citations to reference sources and important retrospective works that cover individuals both living and deceased from every field of activity and from all areas of the world.

Complete dictionary of scientific biography
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Provides information on the history of science through articles on the professional lives of scientists. All periods of science from classical antiquity to modern times are represented.

U.S. History

Dictionary of American History by Stanley I. Kutler
Publication Date: 2002-12-11
Presents an extensive group of articles on many different aspects of American history. Also includes a collection of primary source documents.
Oxford African American Studies Center
Offers more than 10,000 articles from major Oxford reference works cover all aspects of the African American past. Updated regularly and includes web links as well as bibliographies for further research.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History by Lynn Dumenil (Contribution by); Paul Boyer (Series edited by)
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Publication Date: 2012-04-13
Social structures that shaped American life, including family, work, leisure, social movements, and patterns of mobility and settlements, are central to the work, as are themes of race,gender, ethnicity, and class. Sensitive to transnational developments, the volume draws extensively on new literature on slavery, health and disease, sexuality, women's activism, and technology's impact on everyday life.

Encyclopedias in Related Subject Areas

Encyclopedia of religion
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The second edition of a resource that is considered a standard reference in the field. Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture.

Literature Resource Center
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Provides biographies, bibliographies and scholarly articles on novelists, poets, essayists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of highly-studied authors.
Oxford Art Online
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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).

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Entries are created and updated by experts in the field, and each contains extensive bibliographic references

		Margaret Schaus Haverford College Contact