History of Education in the United States Research Guide

This guide provides an introduction the resources relating to the history of education in the United States.  Below you will find a list of print, online, and internet resources with descriptions as to the type of information each contains.  Please contact the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor of Mitchell Memorial Library,  (662) 325-7667, or Email a Librarian for further assistance with any of these resources or with any questions.

Related Research Guides: Comparative Education, Education Administration & Educational Leadership, Educational Philosophy, Tests and Measurements.

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Reference Resources	Online Indexes and Databases	Print Indexes
Archives and Manuscripts	Internet Resources	Professional Organizations

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Research Tutorial

Want a quick overview of how to find research materials in the library? The How to Use Your Library tutorial (http://library.msstate.edu/content/li/htuyl/index.htm) will provide you with the key information you need to get started.

 

Reference Resources

Blank, Carla. (2003) Rediscovering America: the Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Ref E 741 .R327 2003

This book highlights the multicultural nature of American history.

Cayton, Mary K. and Peter W. Williams, eds. (2001) Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History. New York: Scribner.
Ref E 169.1 .E624 2001

The first two volumes of this encyclopedia provide chronological coverage of America's culture and intellectual history, while the third volume provides coverage by topic.

Cohen, Sol, ed. (1973) Education in the United States: A Documentary History. New York: Random House.
Ref LA 205 .C53

These five volumes contain documents related to American education from colonial times to the latter half of the 20th century.

Franck, Irene M. and David Brownstone. (1995) Women's World: a Timeline of Women in History.. New York: Harper Perenniel.
Ref HQ 1122 .F69 1995

This book provides a chronology of world history with an emphasis on women.

Guthrie, James W., ed. (2003) Encyclopedia of Education. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
Ref LB 15 .E47 2003

This eight-volume set covers all topics related to education, including the history of education.

Hornsby, Alton, Jr. (1991) Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research.
Ref E 185 .H64 1991

This chronology highlights the African-American experience from colonial times to the late 1980s.

Hudson, Robert V. (1995) Mass Media: a Chronological Encyclopedia of Television, Radio, Motion Pictures, Magazines, Newspapers, and Books in the United States. New York: Garland Pub.
Ref P 92 .U5 H77 1987

With coverage from colonial times to the mid-1980s, this book provides a chronology of the American mass media.

Kutler, Stanley I., ed. (2003) Dictionary of American History, 3rd ed. New York: Thomson Learning.
Ref E 174 .D52 2003

Though called a dictionary, the Dictionary of American History is a ten-volume set that covers all aspectis of American history, including the development of an educational system.

Mellersh, H.E.L. (1999) Chronology of World History, vol. 4. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio.
Ref D 11 .M39 1999 v.4

This is the last of a four-volume set, and it provides a year by year account of world events from 1901 to 1998.

Morris, Richard B. and Jeffrey B. Morris. (1996) Encyclopedia of American History. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Ref E 174.5 .E52 1996

This volume contains a basic chronology followed by a number of topical chronologies..

Pearson, Jim B. and Edgar Fuller, eds. Education in the States. Washington: National Education Association of the United States.  2nd ed.
Ref LA 205 .C58

This work comes in two volumes and provides an overview of the development of education in the United States, including a historical sketch of the educational system in each of the fifty states.  In addition to the reference department, copies are also available in the circulating collection and in Special Collections.

Snyder, Thomas D., ed. (1993) 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait. Washington: National Center for Education Statistics.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf

This online publication by the National Center for Education Statistics contains a wealth of statistics from the period 1870 to 1990.

 

Online Indexes and Databases

Academic Search Premier
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

This general index provides indexing, abstracting, and some full-text access to articles on all subjects, including scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers. 

America: History & Life
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

Covers every area of the history of the United States and Canada, including education. Indexing for periodicals goes back to 1954, and book reviews, dissertations, and media reviews are also indexed. An online tutorial for this database is available at http://library.msstate.edu/content/?z=30&a=877.

Dissertations & Theses (Proquest)
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

This database allows users to access bibliographic records and abstracts of thousands of masters theses and doctoral dissertations in all fields. Most theses and dissertations from 1997 to the present are available in full-text as (very large) pdf files.

ERIC
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

The Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC) database indexes articles and other materials related to all aspects of education.

JSTOR
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

JSTOR is a digital archive of scholarly journals with holdings for some titles going back into the 19th century.  Searches may be limited by categories of journals, such as the subject categories "history" and "education".  Issues from the last three to five years are not available.

netLibrary
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

This collection of electronic books includes over 25,000 titles.  Some of the titles are related to the history of education in America.

World Cat
Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.** 

World Cat provides access to the catalog records of libraries throughout the world.  Books found on World Cat that are not owned by the MSU Libraries can often be obtained via Interlibrary Loan.

 

Print Indexes

Education Index. New York: H. W. Wilson Co.
Ref L Z5813 .E23

This print resource indexes education-related articles back to 1929.

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co.
Ref AI 3. P7

Poole's indexes periodical literature from 1802 to 1906.

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. New York: H. W. Wilson Co.
Ref AI 3. R47 [Low Shelves]

The Readers' Guide indexes popular magazines and some scholarly journals from 1890 to the present.

 

Archives and Manuscripts

MSU Libraries Special Collection Department
http://library.msstate.edu/sc/index.asp

The Special Collections Department, located on the third floor of the Mitchell Memorial Library, includes the University Archives.  The archives collection includes MSU administrative records, publications, photographs, and more.  The Special Collections Department also houses several manuscripts collections and a large collection of published materials pertaining to Mississippi.

 

Internet Resources

19th Century Schoolbooks
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/nietz/

This online collection contains over one hundred digitized school textbooks from the Nietz Old Textbook Collection at the University of Pittsburgh.

American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html

Maintained by the Library of Congress, this site provides access to thousands of documents, photographs, and even movies.  Most items are from the 19th or early 20th century. Among the many collections are African American Perspectives and Nineteenth Century Periodicals.

 

Brown v. Board of Education Digital Archive
http://www.lib.umich.edu/exhibits/brownarchive/

This site contains links to texts and images pertaining to this historic case and related events.

 

Professional Organizations

History of Education Society
http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/hes/INDEX.htm

This organization holds an annual conference and produces the History of Education Quarterly.

Society for the Study of Curriculum History (SSCH)
http://www3.baylor.edu/~Wesley_Null/ssch.html

SSCH publishes Curriculum History and hosts a listserv that is open to everyone.

 

 

This page created and maintained by Brad Brazzeal, Assistant Professor/Instructional Services Librarian.
Created 6/9/04. Last updated 6/12/07.