Encyclopedias & Dictionaries for Historical Research

General Encyclopedias

American
Library policy is to purchase a new set of each title every 3 years. The previous edition is available to check out, in general collection AE. The most current volumes are located on Table D in the Reference Area.

Online Encyclopedias:
Columbia Encyclopedia
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Judaica (electronic version; accessible only through the Truman network)

Foreign
Foreign encyclopedias can provide an alternative point of view. Pickler has the following:

Spanish
Enciclopedia Universal Illustrada. 70 v. AE 61 E6
Nueva Enciclopedia Universal 30 v. Reference AE 61 N83 1984

French
Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopedique Larousse. 1982. 10 v. Reference AE 25 G63 1982
Encyclopedie de Diderot et D'alembert. 1751-1772. 17 v. Special Collections AE 25 E54

German
Brockhaus Enzyklopadie. 1986. 25 v. Reference AE 27 B76 1986

Russian
Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in English). 1977. 31 v. Reference AE 5 G743

Japanese
Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. (in English) 1983. 9 v.
Reference DS 805 K633 1983

Subject Encyclopedias

Subject encyclopedias are useful for gaining background information on a topic and may include brief bibliographies with the articles. One way to find subject encyclopedias is by browsing; find the Library of Congress Class Number which fits your topic (LC class number) and go to those shelved in the Reference Collection. You can also do a keyword or subject search in the Library Catalog with your topic and the term encyclopedias or dictionaries.

For example:
keyword search: (encyclopedias or dictionaries) and religion
subject search: religion encyclopedias

Note: In the Library Catalog, the subject headings use the plurals---dictionaries or encyclopedias.

Anthropology
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. 1996. Reference GN307 .E52 1996
Encyclopedia of World Cultures. 1991. 10 v. Reference GN307 .E53

Art
Dictionary of Art. 1996. 34 v. Reference N31 .D5 1996
Encyclopedia of World Art. 1959. 17 v. Reference N 31 E4833

History
Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. 988. 3 v.
    Reference DE 59 C55 1988
Dictionary of American History. 1976. 8 v. Reference E 174 A43 1976
Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 1982-1989. 13 v. Reference D 114 D5
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 1995. 5 v. Reference E 185 E54 1996
Encyclopedia of American Social History. 1993. 3 v. Reference HN 57 E58 1993
Encyclopedia of Asian History. 1988. 4 v. Reference DS 31 E53 1988
Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. 1993. 4 v. Reference E487 E55 1993
Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. 1990. 4 v. Reference D 804.3 E53 1990
History in Dispute. Volumes added yearly. Reference D20 .H56 2000
International Dictionary of Historic Places. 5v. Reference CC135 .I585
Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I. 1984. 11 v.
    Reference D 522.5 M39
Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History. 1976-. 59v.
    General Collection: DK 14 M6

Music
Grove Music Online--Online version of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
In Print: New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Macmillan, 1980. 20 v. Reference ML 100 N48

Philosophy
Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 1973. 4 v. + Index Reference CB 5 D52
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1967. 8 v. Reference B 41 E5

Politics, Government, Law
American Justice. 1996. Reference KF154 .A44 1996
Encyclopedia of American Political History. 1984. 3 v. Reference E 183 E5 1984
Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. 1994. 4 v. Reference JK 511 E53 1994.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 1998. 12 v. Reference KF154 .W47 1998

Religion
Encyclopaedia Judaica (electronic version; accessible only through the Truman network)
In print: Reference DS 102.8 .E496 1972 ( 16 vols. )
Encyclopaedia of Islam. In progress, through v. 9. Reference DS 37 E523
Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 1992. 5 v. Reference BX 8605.5 E62 1992
Encyclopedia of Religion. 1987. 16 v. Reference BL 31 E46 1986
Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience. 1988. 3 v. Reference BL 2525 E53 1988
Mennonite Encyclopedia. 1955-59. 5 v. Reference DX 8106 M37
New Catholic Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill, 1967-79. 18 v. Reference BX 841 N44 1967

Subject Dictionaries

Locate subject dictionaries (and/or subject encyclopedias) in the Library Catalog by typing in the subject with the subdivision dictionaries. For example:
    economics dictionaries
    political science dictionaries
    united states history dictionaries

You can also browse the shelves of the reference collection using the Library of Congress class letter for that subject. Dictionaries generally come at the beginning of each section.

Social sciences          Reference H 41
Economics                  Reference HB 61
Law                              Reference KF 156
Political science         Reference JA 61
Geography                  Reference G 63
Anthropology              Reference GN 11
History                         Reference D 9
U.S. history                 Reference E 174
Civil war dictionary    Reference E 468

The following are a few examples of subject dictionaries found in the reference collection:

American culture after World War II. 1994. Reference E169.12 .A418
Dictionary of Native American mythology. 1992. Reference E98.R3 G46
Dictionary of Twentieth-Century World History. 1997. Reference D419 .P32
Historical dictionary of Mongolia. 1996. Reference DS798.5 .S36
The Middle East : a political dictionary. 1992. Reference DS61 .Z58
A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. 1992. Reference DG68 .R5

One final note about subject dictionaries and encyclopedias:

The term dictionary or encyclopedia is often used indiscriminately in subject specialized works. For example, The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is comprised of 13 volumes and has long, signed articles. The Cowboy Encyclopedia is a one volume reference source which also contains some long articles, but also defines cowboy lingo, such as cow grease and dude wrangler. For this reason it can be useful to search the Library Catalog for both terms or to browse the shelves using the Library of Congress class letter for that subject.

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