U.S. History

Family History

This is a guide to scholarly research and primary source collections related to United States history. Subpages include Boston history, Indigenous people's histories, Caribbean history, as well as African American History.

What's on This Page

This page has a lot on it. You can use the following anchors (links down the page) to jump straight to a relevant box.

Broad Digital Collections

Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
Interface and most content in English.
Aggregates digital collections from around the U.S. and offers excellent tools to discover and explore them. Contributing institutions provide access to photographs, government documents, newspaper clippings, books, and other forms of ephemera. Focuses on 17th to 21st centuries.
Open Access.
HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Interface in English. Content in English and other languages (e.g., Spanish, French, German, etc.).
A digital repository for the nation's research libraries, HathiTrust brings together the digitized book and serial collections of major universities and other partner institutions. Includes multiple studies of children and families. Best before 1924.
Institutional login required for full-text download.

Library of Congress Digital Collections
Interface in English. Content in English or other languages.
Digitized collections from the Library of Congress, includes manuscripts, books, photos, maps, audio recordings, and more. Strongest between the 17th and 21st centuries. Content dating back to B.C.E.
Open Access.

Data & Statistics

US Census Bureau: Family & Living Arrangements
Detailed tables on living arrangement for children by race/ethnicity. Focuses on the 1990s to the present.

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Social Explorer is a research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to historical census data and demographic information. Excellent for accessing a quick amount of family information regarding age groups, numbers of children, education levels, and more.

Family Law

Hein Online This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is an image-based legal research database with over 50 million pages of legal information in fully-searchable PDF format, comprising over 30 separate collections. Includes a large selection of U.S. family law dating back to the 18th century.

Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni includes thousands of U.S. and non-U.S. news sources; legal materials: case law, statutes and law reviews; and company/business information. Excellent coverage from 1990 onward, some back coverage.

Law Journals

Journal of juvenile & family courts by National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Call Number: HeinOnline
Publication Date: 1949-(two years ago)
Journal of family law by University of Louisville. School of Law
Call Number: HeinOnline
Publication Date: Available from 1961
Whittier journal of child and family advocacy by Whittier Law School
Call Number: Hein Online and Nexis Uni
Publication Date: 2002+

Newspapers and Magazines

Newspaper Collections

Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
Interface in English. Content predominately in English and some Spanish.
Digitized newspapers from 1789-1963 from numerous states. Also includes the U.S. Newspaper Directory with information about American newspapers published between 1690-1965.
Open Access.

Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Covers U.S. ethnic and minority newspapers and other periodicals, many not in library print collections, from the late 1950s to the present. The full text of the article is available from the citation list produced by keyword searches. English and Spanish searching available.
ProQuest Historical U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Combined searching of the historical New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, NY Amsterdam News, and Chicago Defender. Search scanned images of newspapers and other periodicals, including ads, from the mid-19th century to the late 20th.

Magazines

Individual Titles

Ebony Magazine Archive
Ebony is one of the key Afro-American magazines of the 20th century, covering 20th and 21st-century.

Harper's Bazaar This link opens in a new window
Americas first fashion magazine, from 1867 to present.

Life Magazine Archive
The Life Magazine Archive consists of cover to cover processing dating back to issue number one in 1936 of the American variety magazine Life, published by Time Inc. Covers 1936-1972.

Collections

Women's Magazine Archives This link opens in a new window
The full backfiles of leading womens interest consumer magazines. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005.

For historical newspapers and television, visit BC Libraries' Historical News page.

Social Work

Journal of family social work
Call Number: Taylor & Francis
Publication Date: 1997+
Journal of family issues
Publication Date: 1980+
Journal of public child welfare
Call Number: Taylor & Francis
Publication Date: 2006+

Burns Box

In our very own special collections library (Burns), you'll find a selection of material on your topic. Consider visiting the library and seeing history in your hands. To do so, you should start by searching for material through BC Libraries' catalog and then ordering it (if you haven't registered, you'll be prompted). For a guide on the process, check out the "Finding Burns Material" page. You might also check out the following recommendations:

Commander John J. Shea collection.
Call Number: Burns Library: Advance notice needed
Publication Date: 1917-2002, bulk 1942-1961
This collection concerns the life and naval service of Boston College alumnus and Commander John J. Shea, particularly during World War II. Materials include correspondence, publications, press releases, clippings, photographs, artifacts, and ephemera. Commemorations of Shea's life and military service are also included.
Guillermo L. Guitarte letters
Call Number: Burns Library: Advance notice needed
Publication Date: 1962-2000
Collection predominately in Spanish.
The collection primarily consists of Guitarte's correspondence with other linguists, philologists, and academics during the time he taught at Boston College. Also contains letters related to his family life and legal matters.
Visiting Nurse Association of Boston records
Call Number: Burns Library: Advance notice needed
Publication Date: 1886-1969
The collection documents the Boston chapter of the Visiting Nurse Association, previously known as the Instructive District Nursing Association. It includes photographs of nurses, patients, and the association's Mother's Club. It also includes publications by and about the association.
.75 linear ft. (1 box)
Social Welfare Research Institute Records, 1970-1994 by 1970-1994
Call Number: Burns Library: Advance notice needed
Composed of correspondence, memoranda, reports, publications and other materials of the Social Welfare Research Institute. Some of the material relates to the Aid for Families with Dependent Children Program. Includes correspondence and other materials of directors Barry Bluestone and Paul Schervish, as well as letters of the Institute of Human Services and the Office of Research Administration at Boston College.
11 linear ft. (11 boxes).

Topics: Feminism

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
Many important materials from our textual, audiovisual, and artifact collections have been digitized and are now available online. Topics include foreign affairs & national security as well as domestic affairs & politics. Includes a page with linked, digitized resources on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Open Access.

Topics: Black Family

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action by Office of Policy Planning and Research United States Department of Labor
Call Number: U.S. Department of Labor
Publication Date: 1965, March
Moynihan Report. Also available on Black Past.

Topics: Reproductive Rights

The Medical Heritage Library (Internet Archive)
"A digital curation collaborative among some of the world’s leading medical libraries, promotes free and open access to quality historical resources in medicine. Our goal is to provide the means by which readers and scholars across a multitude of disciplines can examine the interrelated nature of medicine and society, both to inform contemporary medicine and strengthen understanding of the world in which we live. The MHL’s growing collection of digitized medic..."
Open Access.
National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine Division
Collects, preserves, makes available, and interprets for diverse audiences one of the world's richest collections of historical material related to human health and disease. The site also includes collections of public health posters and videos from the 20th century.
Open Access.

O'Neill Library

Bapst Library

Burns Library

Educational Resource Center

Law Library

Social Work Library

Theology & Ministry Library

O'Connor Library

Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies

U.S. History

Family History

What's on This Page

Broad Digital Collections

Data & Statistics

Family Law

Law Journals

Newspapers and Magazines

Newspaper Collections

Magazines

Individual Titles

Collections

Social Work

Burns Box

Topics: Feminism

Topics: Black Family

Topics: Reproductive Rights