Search Everything
Some suggested keywords for searching are listed below.
These links bring you to the library's discovery portal, which searches books, ebooks, articles, journals, and more. To narrow down your search, use the tools on the left-hand side of your results screen.
Or create your own search
Essential Databases
- Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new windowAcademic OneFile is offers extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowAcademic Search Complete is the library's most popular database. It includes multi-disciplinary coverage,full-text access to journal articles and other scholarly materials not typically available through web searches.
- Biography (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new windowFind biographical information on over one million people, current and historic.
- Black American on JSTOR This link opens in a new windowThe Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an important milestone in the effort to achieve equality and autonomy for African Americans. In the decades that followed, Black Power, the Black Arts Movement, Black Nationalism, Separatism, and Black Feminism emerged as movements and grew in influence. This database provides scholars access to writings and thoughts of those who led and participated in these diverse movements.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, general science and social sciences dating back to the late 17th century. JSTOR is great for historical research but not for current research.
MCLA's access to JSTOR is made possible by support from the Hardman Family Endowment. - U.S. History (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new windowContextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History - full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted website.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new window
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WorldCat searches all material in the MCLA Freel Library collection (books, ebooks, videos, and articles) as well as material in libraries nationwide (delivery in 2-3 weeks). Use the interlibrary loan button to place a request for items not owned by MCLA.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is another resource for finding research articles. Look on the right hand side of the screen for the "Check MCLA Full-Text" links that will bring you to the article in one of our databases. You can also look for the free PDFs listed on the right hand side. If you are off-campus, use these instructions to set it up for full access to library resources.
Google Scholar
Primary Documents
- African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection(Library of Congress)"African American Perspectives" gives a panoramic and eclectic review of African American history and culture and is primarily comprised of two collections in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division: the African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection with a date range of 1822 through 1909.
- Umbra Searchumbrasearch.org preserves and makes accessible online hundreds of thousands of pieces of African American history and culture from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.
- American Slave NarrativesBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).