Research Guides: #History: HIST 1302: US History Since 1877

Course Info

A survey of U.S. history from 1877 to the present. Topics will include western expansion, industrialization, immigration, imperialism, economic, political and social developments, the wars of the 20th century and the changing status and conditions of women and minorities. Another purpose of this course is to introduce students to the skills and practices of history.

Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
Analyze & interpret primary & secondary sources.
Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural & global forces on this period of United States history.

Citations: Chicago Style
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Multi-Era Resources, Post-1877

Lives and Times: Individuals and Issues in American History: Since 1865 by Blaine T. Browne; Robert C. Cottrell Lives and Times is a biographical reader designed to acquaint students with major issues in American history through the lives of individuals, prominent and otherwise, whose activities and ideas were crucial in shaping the course of the nation's history.
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Collection: EBSCO eBook Collection
Published: 2009
Remembering America: How We Have Told Our Past by Lawrence R. Samuel Organized around six distinct eras of American history ranging from the 1920s to the present, Samuel shows that our understanding of American history has often generated struggle and contention as ideologically opposed groups battled over ownership of the past.
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Collection: Ebook Central
Published: 2015

American History in Video Collection
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Part of Alexander Street Press Academic Video Online. Search or browse by historic event to find documentaries and newsreel footage.

Gilded Age & Progressive Era

Digital History: Gilded Age
Online text with primary sources and other cultural context for this period.
Digital History: Progressive Era
Online text with primary sources and other cultural context for this period.

The A to Z of the Progressive Era by Catherine Cocks; Peter C. Holloran; Alan Lessoff
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Collection: Ebook Central
Transcending the New Woman: Multiethnic Narratives in the Progressive Era by Charlotte J. Rich
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Collection: Ebook Central
Contesting the Past, Reconstructing the Nation: American Literature and Culture in the Gilded Age, 1876-1893 by Ben Railton
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Collection: Ebook Central

World War 1 & Roaring 20s

NYTimes Topics: World War 1
News about World War I (1914-18), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Interactive Timeline
From the National WWI Museum & Memorial
National Archives: World War I Centennial
Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918 to 1919

The Great Depression

NYTimes Topics: The Great Depression
News about The Great Depression, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
FDR Presidential Library: Great Depression Facts
Social Welfare History Project: Great Depression Era
Site provides articles relating to the history of social reform and social welfare services that have strengthened the fabric of American society
The Living New Deal
Documents public works from across the country, including buildings (including Houston's own City Hall), that were developed by the Public Works Administration.

Radio's America: The Great Depression and the Rise of Modern Mass Culture by Bruce Lenthall
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Collection: Ebook Central
In Radio’s America, Bruce Lenthall documents the enormous impact radio had on the lives of Depression-era Americans and charts the formative years of our modern mass culture.

World War 2

NYTimes Topics: World War 2
News about World War II (1939-45), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Research Starters
Basic introduction to major topics from the National WW2 Museum.
Nuremberg Trials Project
The Harvard Law School Library's Nuremberg Trials Project is an open-access initiative to create and present digitized images or full-text versions of the Library's Nuremberg documents, descriptions of each document, and general information about the trials.
After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States.

Cold War Era (including Korea, Vietnam)

The Cold War, 1945-1991 by John W. Mason
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Collection: Ebook Central
Published: 1996
Provides concise coverage of the entire Cold War from start to end, paying particular attention to the Soviet-American dimension.
The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War by David L. Anderson
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Collection: Ebook Central
Truman, Congress, and Korea: The Politics of America's First Undeclared War by Larry Blomstedt
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Collection: Ebook Central
Blomstedt's study explores the changes wrought during this critical period and the ways in which the war influenced US international relations and military interventions during the Cold War and beyond.

Office of the Historian: 1945–1952: The Early Cold War
FBI.gov: World War, Cold War, 1939-1953
Cold War International History Project
A well-organized and large collection of primary sources related to the Cold War. Probably the best place to start online for Cold War primary sources.
Wende Museum
The Wende Museum collection contains art, artifacts, personal histories and archival documents that record life, expression and political developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Cold War period from 1945 to 1991.

Civil Rights Movement

PBS Black Culture Connection: Civil Rights Movement (1954-1985)
Each of the features on this page is a window into a documentary or program about this transformational period in American History, including key influencers like the Freedom Rides and Black Power Movement.
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Originally developed by and for veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement (1951-1968), site provides primary source materials.
Time Magazine: Civil Rights Movement
Articles relating to civil rights, both modern and historic, from Time magazine.
Civil Rights Digital Library
Helps users discover primary sources and other educational materials on a national scale.