1. Facts and Background Information
2. Finding Newpaper Articles
3. Finding Books
4. Finding Archival Materials & Primary Sources
5. Finding Journal Articles
6. Selected Web Resources

Facts and Background Materials

• A History of Technology –PRINT, ELECTRONIC
  T15.H582x, ACLS History E-Book
  Seven volumes with lengthy topical essays and bibliographies.  Coverage from ancient empires to the mid-twentieth century.
• Biography Resource Center — ELECTRONIC
  Hundreds of biographies of historical figures from around the world. Search by name or use the “Biographical Facts Search” to browse by nationality, ethnicity, gender, occupation, etc.
• Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures— PRINT
  REF Q124.8 .S43 2001
  Challenges the concept of science & technology as a particularly western pursuit handed down from Ancient Greece.  Includes biographical entries, bibliographies, and indexes.
• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology — PRINT, ELECTRONIC
  REF Q121 .M3 2002, AccessScience Online
  Twenty volumes, with thousands of articles. Includes cross-references, bibliographies, and a comprehensive index.
• Social Issues in Science and Technology — PRINT
  REF Q175.5 .N49 1999
  Short entries with bibliographic references on “100 areas in which advances in science and technology have raised new issues for human societies” including abortion, animal rights, extinction, biotechnology, and pollution.

Finding Books

• Searching the catalog for books and other materials concerning history:
• Try an LC subject search: Technology - History Technology - Social Aspects Technology - History to 1500 Telescopes - History
• Try a keyword search: Computers and history edison and history
• Try an author search: Franklin, Benjamin LaFeber, Walter
• Browse the 2nd floor stacks: Word History - D US History - E US Local/Regional History - F Technology (General) - T
• Search history e-books: ACLS Humanities E-book Project -- ELECTRONIC Offers a searchable collection of over 1500 full-text books, many of them dealing with historical topics, as well as reviews.

Finding Articles

• America: History and Life — ELECTRONIC
  Historical coverage of the United States, Canada, and Mexico from prehistory to the present; covers articles written from 1964-present. Search can be limited by the chronological range of the events discussed instead of just by the publication date of the book or article.
• Bibliography of the History of Technology— PRINT
  Z7914 .H5 .F4 1968
  Single volume published jointly by the Society for the History of Technology and the MIT Press, this contains 1500 annotated citations to books and journals and an index. Puts “particular emphasis upon the kinds and classes of information that may be available and upon specialized bibliographies and finding aids.”  Not the newest volume anymore but still useful.
• Brepolis Medieval Bibliographies — ELECTRONIC
  Combined searching of the most important indexes for Medieval Studies research, the International Medieval Bibliography, Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale, and International Directory of Medievalists. Brepolis is a comprehensive index for Medieval Studies. The online database comprises over 300,000 records. All subjects relating to the Middle Ages are included, within the date range 400-1500 AD. Geographical areas covered are Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
• Drexel Libraries Databases by Subject — ELECTRONIC
  Because of the highly interdisciplinary nature of STS research, databases from a number of fields may be of use.  This list arranges the 500+ databases into broad subject categories.  Of particular interest will be those databases found in Engineering, History, Information Science & Technology, Philosophy, and Social Sciences categories.
• Engineering Village– ELECTRONIC
  The combined Compendex®, Ei Backfile & Inspec® databases allow for searching on a broad range of topics within the scientific, applied science, technical and engineering disciplines. It also covers engineering websites, CRC Handbooks, patents, and industry standards.  The Ei (Engineering Index) Backfile, going back to 1884, and  INSPEC Backfile, going back to 1896, can be particularly helpful for History of Technology projects.
• Historical Abstracts — ELECTRONIC
  Historical coverage of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present; covers articles written from 1955-present.
• History of Science, Technology and Medicine - ELECTRONIC
  
  Provides searchable access to citations for journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical fields. Coverage is for items published from 1975 to the present.
• JSTOR — ELECTRONIC
  Searchable full text collection of journal articles on various subjects, including over thirty history journals.
• Science Direct — ELECTRONIC
  ScienceDirect is a search platform which provides access to more than 1000 full-text journals in a wide range of subject areas.  Broad holdings in the sciences.  Coverage for some journals goes back into the 1920s and some history of science and mathematics journals are included in this database.

Finding Newspaper Articles

• Electronic Newspapers — ELECTRONIC
  Drexel University Libraries page providing links to various electronic news sources; most are more recent rather than deeply “historical.”
• Free Library of Philadelphia – Central Branch
  1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
  (between 19th and 20th on the B. Franklin Parkway)
  215-686-5322
  Houses an excellent collection of historical newspapers on microfilm, including a large number of local and regional newspapers.
• Lexis-Nexis Academic — ELECTRONIC
  Searchable full text database of international, national, state, and local newpapers. Coverage goes back only to the early 1980s in most cases.
• New York Times (Current) (1980-Present) — ELECTRONIC
  Full text of the New York Times from 1980 to present (no images). Also includes full text of the New York Times Magazine and the New York Time Book Review from 1997 to present.
• New York Times (Historical) (1851-2003)– ELECTRONIC
  Complete full text of the New York Times back issues now available online! Search by topic or browse through an issue. Full page images available, along with the ability to look at a particular issue page by page. Print out or e-mail individual article “clippings.”
• Washington Post (1877-1995) - ELECTRONIC

  ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. For more recent Washington Post articles, see LexisNexis Academic coverage (1977 - Present)

Finding Archival and Primary Sources

• American History In Video – ELECTRONIC
  American History in Video includes approximately 1,000 hours of newsreels from the late 1890s to the 1980s and includes some 200 hours of rare, hard-to-find, and diverse perspectives as captured in a wide range of short films. Alongside the contemporaneous materials are some 750 high-quality documentaries from video content producers such as The History Channel and California Newsreel.  Searchable full-text transcripts and embeddable clips for use in presentations make this a unique and valuable tool.
• Drexel University Archives
  Drexel University Archives and Special Collections at Hagerty Library contain archival material concerning the history of Drexel University. The Archives and Special Collections on Women in Medicine & Homeopathy contains records of the history of Woman’s Medical College and Hahnemann University.
• Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800 - ELECTRONIC

  An important collection of primary source documents that includes the books, pamphlets, broadsides and other imprints listed in the renowned bibliography by Charles Evans.  Full-text searchable and also browsable by document type, printer, and even bookseller.  Useful for early American history, literature, political science, and the history of printing.  A seven minute tutorial can be found on youtube here. Often refered to as the Evans Collection.

• NARA: US National Archives and Records Administration — ELECTRONIC
  NARA is a good source for finding government records and archival materials. Note the Online Databases and Tools section on the lower right-hand corner of their homepage. The NARA Mid-Atlantic Region Archives Facility is located at 900 Market Street in Philadelphia.
• NUCMC: National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections — PRINT
  Hagerty Oversize Z6620.U5 N3 Z6620.U5 N3 Index 1959-1969
  Contains manuscript records entered by libraries from 1959 forward. Hagerty’s holdings cover an eleven-year period from 1959-1969. For coverage closing the gap between 1969 and the electronic coverage begun in 1986 (see electronic NUCMC above), see the NUCMC hard copy held in the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks.
• NUCMC: National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections — ELECTRONIC
  NUCMC is a free-of-charge,online cooperative cataloging program operated by the Library of Congress. Please note: For a more complete search, you must search both the RLG Union Catalog and the OCLC Catalog. Contains only those records entered after 1985. For records cataloged prior to 1986, please see the print version of the NUCMC (below).
• PACSCL: Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries — WWW
  Find links to a number of archives, special collections, and specialized research libraries in the greater Philadelphia area. Many of the organizations provide links to their library catalogs and online finding aids.
• WorldCat.org — ELECTRONIC
  Search for archival materials in WorldCat by selecting the “Archival Materials” from the “Format” list on the Advanced Search page.  Duplicates materials in OCLC section of online NUCMC (above) but has a more user-friendly search interface and record display.  Also available as an iPhone/Android app.

Selected Web Resources

This list includes only a small fraction of useful web resources for this field. More web sites, which have undergone the same selection process, as available in my Pinboard tags on the right-hand side of this research guide.

• American Memory — WWW
  From the Library of Congress. Provides access to more than seven million digital items from more than 100 historical collections, including written & spoken word, sound recordings, still & moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
• Center for the Study of Science and Technology — WWW
  A non-profit think tank located in Washington, D.C. Provides news and analysis of issues related to technology, education, and other topics.  Weekly updates available.
• ECHO: Exploring and Collecting History Online — ELECTRONIC
  A project focusing on the history of science, technology, and industry from the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Site includes reviews of related websites, a directory of online collections, and a guide to producing online history.
• H-Sci-Med-Tech — WWW
  Part of the H-Net network, this site features an active discussion list as well as reviews, job listings, and announcements.  Focus is interdisciplinary for scholars who study science, medicine, and technology across a wide variety of periods and regions of the world.
• Historical Indexes on American Engineering Topics — WWW
  Online indexes to American Engineering publications. Mostly 19th century to early 20th century. From Linda-Hall Library.
• History of Science Society — WWW
  The world’s largest society dedicated to understanding science, technology, medicine, and their interactions with society in historical context. Has over 3,000 individual and institutional members from around the world.
• Popular Mechanics – Google Book Search — WWW
  Popular Mechanics magazine digitized and searchable in Google Book Search. From 1900 to last year. Includes advertisements. Good source for views of new technologies as they were first unveiled to the public.
• International Association for Science, Technology, and Society — WWW
  An organization of special interest for interdisciplinary thinkers concerned about the interrelationships among science, technology and society (STS), with a particular emphasis on the impact of science and technology on society. Interested parties may include teachers and educators, scientists and engineers, ethicists, environmentalists, and business leaders among others.
• Society for the History of Technology — WWW
  Formed in 1958 to encourage the study of the development of technology and its relations with society and culture. An interdisciplinary organization, SHOT is concerned not only with the history of technological devices and processes, but also with the relations of technology to science, politics, social change, the arts and humanities, and economics.