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History: Historiography and Historiographical Essays/Literature Reviews

This Guide is designed to help all library users (undergraduate and graduate students, researchers/scholars, faculty, and others identify librarians and library resources who can support them in their work.

Strategy to Search for Historiographical Sources

In addition to using the sources identified below, a useful strategy to search for historiographical literature in library catalogs and article databases is to search for:

 historiograph* (historiography OR historiographical) AND particular subject area(s) 

What is Historiography

History is a classical intellectual/research discipline with roots stretching back for centuries.  As such, History has its own, complex tradition of literature review called "historiography."  Simply defined, Historiography is the History of History -- that is, the study of the History produced and written on a given project, including:

  • Approaches/angles to studying that history
  • Subthemes beneath a broader/wider historical umbrella theme
  • Different historical traditions, including Social History, Cultural History, Diplomatic and Political History, the History of Science, Intellectual History, and much more
  • Theoretical Frameworks used to shape that history
  • Genres of and particular existing used and unused primary sources to research particular histories

There are also many books dedicated to historiography, both as a discipline (that is, books dedicated to the general theory, philosophy, and practice of historiography) as well as books reviewing historiographies of scholarship in particular areas of history. 

The Oxford Handbooks on ... is an excellent suite of books providing cutting edge overviews and literature (often historiographical) reviews on a very wide range of fields of inquiry (many of them historical).  To search for relevant titles, enter your keywords in the search box on the upper right.  After you complete this step, narrow the results using the options (such as subject or series) in the faceting menu on the left.

The following reference titles identify key historians and key works in particular fields (whether subject, temporal, or geographically based).  These may also be helpful in preparing for qualifying exams as they provide overviews of the historiography on given topics as well as the frameworks and theoretical orientations associated and/or applied with/to them.  Unfortunately the print works below are dated; much new history has been written since their publication!  Nonetheless, they are very useful for tracing the development of certain schools of history and identifying seminal historians.

Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing

Also available in print: Geisel Floor 5: D14 .E58 1999

A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing (V. II Only available electronically)

Both volumes are available in print: Geisel Floor 5: D13 .G47 1998

The AHA Guide to Historical Literature -- this provides bibliographies in different fields more than Historical Essays, but regardless, is very useful to identifying seminal works and overviews on particular themes.

The American Historical Review is the seminal journal published in the United States dedicated to Historiography on all (not just U.S.) historical topics.

Methods and Tools to Trace Historiography

As with research to find any kind of source (primary, secondary, reference/tertiary) for a scholarly project, developing an understanding of the historiography on a given topic requires mining the citations in the footnotes or endnotes and bibliographies to identify more sources another name for this is seed research, as the original source you begin with is a seed and you follow its roots or branches to other sources).  As you identify the entire body of literature written on a given topic and read sources related to your topic, you will get a sense of the questions asked about the subject over time, the scholarly methods used to answer these questions, and areas in need of more attention.  Thus, historiographical review is essential to developing and completing your own research.    

Two incredibly useful resources focus on identifying seminal works in different subject areas via Annotated bibligraphies:

Oxford Bibliographies: Annotated bibliographies and bibliographic essays on a wide range of subjects which not only point to excellent, seminal publications in a wide range of fields (including history), but also provide examples of bibliographic essays, which are closely related to historiographical essays and literature reviews.  

Topical Essays in Print and Online Reference sources (Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Handbooks, etc. -- including, but not limited to, those above) can also help you identify key publications and resources on your topic.  Some key online reference packages are identified on the "Beginning Your Research" tab on this Guide.

 

Searching in Catalogs and Databases for historiographical literature:

In addition to following citations to new sources and using the particular platforms and resources outlined above, it is also helpful to search for historiographical literature in library catalogs (including UC Library Search) and article databases (particularly America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts) with a search string combining:

 historiograph* (historiography OR historiographical) AND particular subject area(s)