What's the difference between websites/web searches and library databases?
1. Generally, websites and library databases both can contain:
NOTE: Researchers should take the time to verify research results by checking several other reliable sources before using it or acting on it. (See more about how to determine what types of sources are credible at Empire State University’s Research Skills Tutorial here.)
2. Library databases do not generally use natural language to search, but use specialized wording and symbols. One of the benefits of using library databases is that they give more precise results than websites or web searches, which may include duplicate or irrelevant results.
3. In addition, library databases contain content that is sometimes only available by paying for it. The library pays for access to that information on behalf of the community it serves.
4. Online web searches often do use natural language, but the results may not be exactly what a researcher is looking for.
5. The order of an online result list is also often based on the priorities of the companies who offer the search (usually at no out-of-pocket cost), rather than the priorities of the researcher.
The story of the exploration and birth of America is told afresh through the unique prism of hand-colored maps and engravings of the period.
Before photography and television, it was printed and hand-colored maps that brought home the thrill of undiscovered lands and the possibilities of exploration, while guiding armies on all sides through the Indian Wars and the clashes of the American Revolution. Only by looking through the prism of these maps, can we truly understand how and why America developed the way it did.
Mapping America illuminates with scene-setting text and more than 150 color images--from the exotic and fanciful maps of Renaissance explorers to the magnificent maps of the Golden Age and the thrilling battle-maps and charts of the American Revolutionary War, in addition to paintings from the masters of eighteenth century art, scores of photographs, and detailed diagrams.
In total, this informative and lushly illustrated volume developed by rare maps collector Neal Asbury, host of "Neal Asbury's Made in America," and National Geographic historian Jean-Pierre Isbouts offers a new and immersive look at the ambition, the struggle, and the glory that attended and defined the exploration and making of America.
A history of the development of world maps during the later medieval period in the centuries leading up to Columbus's journey.
In the two centuries before Columbus, mapmaking was transformed. The World Map, 1300–1492 investigates this important, transitional period of mapmaking. Beginning with a 1436 atlas of ten maps produced by Venetian Andrea Bianco, Evelyn Edson uses maps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to examine how the discoveries of missionaries and merchants affected the content and configuration of world maps.
She finds that both the makers and users of maps struggled with changes brought about by technological innovation: the compass, quadrant, and astrolabe; rediscovery of classical mapmaking approaches; and increased travel. To reconcile the tensions between the conservative and progressive worldviews, mapmakers used a careful blend of the old and the new to depict a world that was changing and growing before their eyes.
This engaging and informative study reveals how the ingenuity, creativity, and adaptability of these craftsmen helped pave the way for an age of discovery.
The graphic history of the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jews of Europe during the Second World War is illustrated in this series of 333 detailed maps.
The maps, and the text and photographs that accompany them, powerfully depict the fate of the Jews between 1933 and 1945, while also setting the chronological story in the wider context of the war itself. The maps include:
* historical background – from the effects of anti-Jewish violence between 1880 and 1933 to the geography of the existing Jewish communities before the advent of the Nazis
* the beginning of the violence – from the destruction of the synagogues in November 1938 to Jewish migrations and deportations, the ghettos, and the establishment of the concentration camps and death camps throughout German-dominated Europe
* the spread of Nazi rule – the fate of the Jews throughout Europe including Germany, Austria, Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Russia, Denmark, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and the Baltic States
* Jewish revolts and resistance – acts of armed resistance, fighting in the forests, individual acts of courage
* Jews in hiding – escape routes, Christians who helped Jews
* the death marches – the advance of the Allies and the liberation of the camps, the survivors, and the final death toll.
This revised edition includes a new section which gives an insight into the layout and organization of some of the most significant places of the Holocaust, including Auschwitz, Treblinka, and the Warsaw ghetto, maps that will be especially useful to those visiting the sites.
Using more than five hundred historical maps from collections around the world, this stunning book is the first to tell the story of America's past from a unique geographical perspective. Covering more than half a millennium in U.S. history--from conception to colonization to Hurricane Katrina--this atlas documents the discoveries and explorations, the intrigue and negotiations, the technology and the will that led the United States to become what it is today. Richly detailed, visually breathtaking maps are accompanied by extended captions that elucidate the stories and personalities behind their creation.
This invaluable reference work provides an account of the development of African society from 175 million years ago, through the first appearance of humans to the complex polity of the twentieth century. Colin McEvedy tracks the development of modern man, the differentiation and spread of languages, the first crossings of the Sahara, the exploration of the Niger, and the search for the 'fountains of the Nile'. Gold and ivory lure traders from far away; Christendom and Islam compete for African attention. Names from the distant past become nation-states with aspirations appropriate to the modern world. With sixty maps and a clear, concise text, this synthesis is especially useful to African studies and history teachers, but is also a fascinating guide for the general reader.
This atlas presents fifty of these wannabe nation states. Each has its own flag and legitimate claim to some territory but, for a variety of reasons, none has quite made the grade, to join the exclusive club of internationally recognized countries.
This beautiful book is a lavishly illustrated look at the most important atlases in history and the cartographers who made them. Atlases are books that changed the course of history. Pored over by rulers, explorers, and adventures these books were used to build empires, wage wars, encourage diplomacy, and nurture trade. Written by Philip Parker, an authority on the history of maps, this book brings these fascinating artefacts to life, offering a unique, lavishly illustrated guide to the history of these incredible books and the cartographers behind them. All key cartographic works from the last half-millennium are covered, including: The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, considered the world's first atlas and produced in 1570 by the Dutch, geographer Abraham Ortelius, The 17th-century Klencke — one of the world's largest books that requires 6 people to carry it, The Rand McNally Atlas of 1881, still in print today and a book that turned its makers, William H Rand and Andrew McNally into cartographic royalty. This beautiful book will engross readers with its detailed, visually stunning illustrations and fascinating story of how map-making has developed throughout human history.
Take a journey back to the uncharted oceans with the most celebrated European explorers! Interest in Southeast Asian history and culture is higher than ever before. Ancient cartography of Oceania holds mysteries as old as time—were these early ocean maps molded as much by fantasy as fact? Early Mapping of the Pacific bravely delves into all the questions surrounding the history of maps. The Pacific Ocean remained a mystery to mapmakers until the latter part of the eighteenth century. This book traces the European exploration and charting of the vast ocean through a cornucopia of beautiful maps stretching from Japan on the northwest, through Juan Fernandez Island on the southeast, with the various islands of Oceania the primary focus.
Towns like Oberlin Village were built by free people of color in the antebellum era. During Reconstruction, the creation of thirteen freedmen's villages defined the racial boundaries of Raleigh. These neighborhoods demonstrate the determination and resilience of formerly enslaved North Carolinians. After World War II, new suburbs sprang up, telling tales of the growth and struggles of the Black community under Jim Crow. Many of these communities endure today. Dozens of never before published pictures and maps illustrate this hidden history.
Local historian Carmen Wimberly Cauthen tells the story of a people who--despite slavery--wanted to learn, grow, and be treated as any others.
PPLD Resource Guide
PPLD Databases
For general history databases, see PPLD's General History Research (click here or on the blue General History Research tab at the top of the screen on mobile devices or at the left of the screen on computers).
Recommended Websites
For general history websites, see PPLD's General History Research (click here or on the blue General History Research tab at the top of the screen on mobile devices or at the left of the screen on computers).