This guide will help you locate information on topics related to African American history and race relations, especially in Pennsylvania.

Keep in mind, you may not find articles or information about the specific person you've chosen to study, but we can still learn more about the context of their situation and experience.

Where to Search

• Book/Background

  • Books are the single best type of source for identifying historical context. In history research, much of the information you find will come from here.

• Articles/Databases

  • Find information from experts and researchers on a given topic here. Often, you will visit articles and databases after looking at book sources in order to find more analysis on a specific event.

• Historical Newspapers

  • Contains first-hand accounts of events. See transcripts and scans of original articles reporting on the issues of the day. Visit here if you know a specific date or event to research.

• Primary Sources

  • A wide collection of documents including newspapers, photographs, sound recordings, and more from the people who where present at the time. Requires specific knowledge of a theme, event, or a date in order to help locate relevant materials.

Summon is a tool to help you locate articles, ebooks, and more. Begin your research here! Use this search to limit your results to just information from the field of history.
 

Why use Summon before Google Scholar?

Summon lets you limit your searches to specific kinds of sources (books, journals, magazines, etc) and provides options to filter results by both subject and discipline.