LibGuides: Library Resources: History: Local History Resources (U.S.)

Introduction

There are many resources available for studying local history, whether it is Cincinnati or your hometown.

As you get started on your project, think about these questions:

Is there any basic background information you need to know about your area to lay the groundwork for your research or to identify keywords for searching? Search Wikipedia or an encyclopedia for a summary
Is there any scholarly work on the time and place you want to study?
Are there any publications that are regularly produced in the place you are studying? Newspapers, magazines, or newsletters are invaluable to local history research! See below for a list of news databases.
What about radio or TV broadcasts? Try the Internet Archive
Have you thought about local government documents that are relevant to your research? How can you access them?
Are there photographs of that time, place, and community? How can you access them?
Are there map or atlases that would help you understand the physical environment?
Are there personal memoirs, organizational records, business records, or other types of primary sources that reflect the community you are studying? Where are they held and how can you access them?

Xavier University Library has a large collection of publications about Cincinnati history. You can search for them in the library catalog using the subject headings in addition to the name of the person, organization, event or topic you are researching:

Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Economic conditions
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- History
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Politics and government
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Race relations
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Social conditions
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Social life and customs
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Social policy -- History
Cincinnati (Ohio). City Planning Commission
Cincinnati (Ohio) -- Emigration and immigration -- History
Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (Ohio)
Charities -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Civic improvement -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Education -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Environmental justice -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Evanston (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Municipal government -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Hamilton County (Ohio) -- History
Immigrants -- Ohio -- Cincinnati -- History
Minorities -- Political activity -- Ohio -- Cincinnati -- History
Neighborhoods -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Orphanages -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Parks -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
Public housing -- Ohio -- Cincinnati -- History -- 20th century
Housing policy -- Ohio -- Cincinnati -- History -- 20th century
Community development -- Ohio -- Cincinnati -- History -- 20th century
Search for Cincinnati and Directories

Looking for more help on how to do local history, check out Carol Kammen's book On Doing Local History (E180 .K28 2014)

Newspaper Databases

Cincinnati Enquirer Historical Database This link opens in a new window
Access from 1841-2009. Every issue of each title includes the complete paper with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF format.
Catholic News Archive This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to thousands of digitized and born-digital issues of Catholic news sources. Search by keyword, names, events and places. Browse by years, titles and dioceses. This collection contains 10,971 issues comprising 254,941 pages.
Chronicling America: Historical American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
New York Times Historical Database This link opens in a new window
1851-within four years of the present; all full-text; updated annually
This database contains full-page and article images of every page of every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF. It includes ads, comics, cartoons, photos, maps and other graphics
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
As compelling as it is comprehensive, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. Legal research provides federal and state cases, Shepard's citations (how to Shepardize), federal and state codes, tax law, Canadian court cases and legislation, law reviews, and patents.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
1984-present; updated daily; some full-text; tutorials

Newspaper SourceThis database provides indexing and abstracts for 4 national newspapers; selected full-text for 245 regional U.S. newspapers, 18 international newspapers, 6 newswires, 9 newspaper columns; and cover-to-cover full text for Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
Access World News is a comprehensive resource that includes more than 8,000 news publications from nearly 200 countries worldwide. These sources include major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles. Access World News is updated daily to keep students informed of current issues and events, and it includes deep archives that provide background information on important topics, enabling students to trace an issue or event over a period of time

Newspapers Through Cincinnati Public Library
This link will take you to the public library's available newspaper databases. Many require a library card for access, but all Xavier students are eligible for a card.
Xavier University Atheneaum (student publication)
The Athenaeum (1912-1919) is a publication featuring original poetry, short stories, essays, text of orations, editorials, news, reports, and graphic artwork by students from St. Xavier College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Intended both as a news and literary publication, this work covering over 1700 pages is of historical significance in reporting the early years of St. Xavier College at the Avondale location.
Xavier University Newswire (student newspaper)
Student newspaper of Xavier University covering campus, local, and national events.
Cincinnati publications
Works published in Cincinnati, demonstrating the city's vibrant printing history and its distinction as a Midwestern hub within the industry. Many titles concern topics of local interest.

Digital Collections & Primary Sources

When researching local history, consider the public libraries, museums, universities, historical societies, and other cultural heritage institutions in a geographic area. Make a list and start searching for their websites! The majority will have a website with information about their historical resources, often under the tabs titled "Collections" or "Research". Some of those resources may be available online, but you made need to physically visit a repository in order to use most materials. When searching for historical primary sources from your local institutions, it's helpful to search using the keywords "primary sources," "archives," "special collections," or "digital collections." For instance, a Google search of "Chicago History Museum" and "Digital collections" brings up a result for their online image database.

Library of Congress Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) This link opens in a new window
DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format. The cultural institutions participating in DPLA represent the richness and diversity of America itself, from the smallest local history museum to our nation’s largest cultural institutions.
Ohio Digital Network is the Ohio Hub for materials in the DPLA. See Ohio Digital Network for more information.

Cincinnati Public Library
Robust digital collection on a wide variety of Cincinnati history topics from business directories and city maps to church programs and neighborhood schools.
Cincinnati History Library and Archives
The archives has a lot of great collections, most of which are available for research in-person.
UC ARB Urban Studies Collection
University of Cincinnati Digital Collections
State Library of Ohio
The State Library Digital Collection contains born-digital State of Ohio electronic publications and documents. These items are produced by State of Ohio agencies and were originally placed on the agency's Web site. They complement paper documents produced by the agencies, and are sometimes the only instance of a publication.

In addition to the born-digital state publications, the collection also includes items that have been digitized from the original paper version, with more items to be added as they are digitized. The digitized items are from two main areas: 1) State documents that were digitized to fill-in missing volumes of a serial, or to extend electronic availability of a serial publication, and 2) Publications that have significant historical value to Ohio and are of interest to a broad audience.
American Jewish Archives
Ohio Memory
Explore digital content from over 390 cultural heritage institutions representing all 88 of Ohio’s counties covering a wide range of topics from prehistory to present day in this freely available platform.

Maps, Atlases, and Directories

Maps, atlases, city directories, and other related materials are essential for understanding the development and transition of a geographical area.

To find maps in the library catalog, use "maps" as a keyword. For directories, use " Directories" and the name of the city.

Maps and Atlases of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Maps and atlases of Ohio and Kentucky
Cincinnati Maps from the David Rumsey Map Collection
Cincinnati Maps from the Library of Congress

Local Government Resources

Ohio Administrative Code This link opens in a new window
This database contains all rules, including full appendices, certified to the Legislative Service Commission and the Secretary of State. It is produced by the State of Ohio and the user interface is provided by Anderson Publishing, Inc.
Public Affairs Index This link opens in a new window
This database covers all aspects of national and global contemporary public policy issues, ranging from public health, the environment, housing, human and civil rights, international commerce, and conflict. It includes scholarly journals, conference papers, trade publications, and government documents. Topics include banking, public finance, criminal justice, economic policy, taxation, education, emigration, immigration, energy, government, humanitarian issues, industry, labor, law, legislation, natural disasters, poverty, politics, elections, social policy, and transportation
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is a premier online database containing more than 150 million pages and 200,000 titles of legal history and government documents in a fully searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline bridges the gap in historical research by providing comprehensive coverage from inception of more than 2,500 law-related periodicals. In addition to its vast collection of law journals, HeinOnline contains the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, and much more. Ohio State Package and also the Fastcase Trial Collections END 11/30/20

Secondary Sources

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. This database offers indexing and abstracts of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features content going back as far as 1887.
Humanities with Full-Text This link opens in a new window
This database contains the full-text from over 330 journals and indexing and abstracts from nearly 700 journals. It includes scholarly journals as well as specialized magazines. Content includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, and poetry. Topics covered include art, classical studies, dance, film, journalism, philosophy, and religion.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to more than 10 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Also houses a growing collection of Open Access e-books and e-journals.

Encyclopedia of American Urban History by [editor] David Goldfield
Call Number: Online Book
Publication Date: 2007

Images

Ohio Memory
The Ohio Memory Collection is comprised of over 4,500 selections from libraries, museums, and historical societies from across the state (but not including the Ohio History Connection). The collection traverses the full length of Ohio's rich and influential history.
Public Library of Cincinnati Digital Collections
Digital images of postcards, publications, maps, photographs, and more all related to Cincinnati.

Local History Publications

Google Books
Search for local history publications that have been digitized using terms like "Cincinnati, Ohio," Hamilton County, Ohio" or your specific person or organization of interest.
Internet Archive
Find e-books and primary sources

WPA Guides:

Starting in the 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration compiled a series of guides to states and important cities in the U.S. They are known as the "American Guides Series" or as the "WPA guides." There is a complete list in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Guide_Series). Many if not all have been digitized and can be found at http://archive.org/details/federal_writers_project

For more information see also http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/WPAStateGuides.pdf

Genealogy

Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
This database is a world-wide genealogy resource that covers North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, China, and more. This database contains billions of records in census data that include birth, death, marriage, military (from the colonial to the Vietnam eras), immigration, emigration, burial, and baptism records, as well as family histories (including Jewish families), court and legal documents, ship lists, phone and other directories, photos, maps and more. Watch this YouTube video for an introduction. Multimedia include family and gravestone photos, postcards, newsreels and more. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by ProQuest.

Statistical Data

DemographicsNow This link opens in a new window
Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
Sage Data This link opens in a new window

United States Census Bureau
Cincinnati Census Data
Ohio Census Data
Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website providing information on census data.

ENGL-201 Evanston and Other Resources

Evanston Community Council
Evanston: A Kingdom Divided | Urban Roots Podcast
Evanston Existing Conditions Study and Community Plan, 1975
Neighborhood study and planning report.
St. Mark's Church - Cincinnati Preservation Coalition
Segregation in Cincinnati's Neighborhoods
News article written by Dan Horn, Cincinnati Enquirer, February 23, 2022
Cincinnati Metropolitan Master Plan 1948
Cincinnati City Planning Commission Records
Motorways
Published by City planning commission, Cincinnati, 1947
Expressway system for metropolitan Cincinnati
Published by the City Planning Commission, Cincinnati, Ohio in 1951.
The First Great Migration
Library of Congress resources on the First Great Migration
Madisionville-Eastwood Community Plan, 1975
Eastwood Historic District Application with Historical Background
Cincinnati Magazine article about the builder of Eastwood Village/Stratford Manor

Making better citizens : housing reform and the community development strategy in Cincinnati, 1890-1960 by Robert B. Fairbanks
Publication Date: 1988