Research Guides: U.S. History: American West

Primary Source Databases for the American West

Archives Unbound: Overland Journeys: Travels in the West 1800-1880 [Gale] This link opens in a new window
Non-peer reviewed. Full-text content.
This digital collection provides a unique window on western U.S. history. Comprised of historical documents and images from microfilm collections.
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America [Adam Matthew Collection] This link opens in a new window
Non-peer reviewed. Full-text content.
Explores interactions between American Indigenous peoples and Europeans. Contains archival material and spans early contact, the American Civil War, government legislation, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Indigenous Newspapers in North America [Adam Matthew Collection] This link opens in a new window
Non-peer reviewed. Full-text content.
Offers a robust collection of print journalism from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada. Contains national, local, and student publications, as well as bilingual and Indigenous-language editions.

Native American Resources from the Rare Book & Special Collections Division
This guide is a compilation of many of the resources on the Indians of North America available at the Library of Congress as well as selected resources outside the Library.

Mountain West Digital Library [MWDL] This link opens in a new window
Non-peer reviewed. Full-text content. Open access.
Indexes digital resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, and Hawaii. Includes photos, maps, art, oral histories, books, and more.

Scholarly Article Databases for the American West

America: History and Life [EBSCO] This link opens in a new window
Peer reviewed. Some full-text content.
Covers American and Canadian history from the Neolithic era to the present. Includes articles from hundreds of journals.
JSTOR [ITHAKA] This link opens in a new window
Partially peer reviewed. Some full-text content.
This multidisciplinary database includes subjects like literature, history, art, sociology, psychology, mathematics, communication, and science. Contains ebooks, articles, and journals.
GreenFILE [EBSCO] This link opens in a new window
Partially peer reviewed. Some full-text content.
Environmental sciences database with articles from journals, magazines, newsletters and reports.

Journals for the American West

Western Historical Quarterly
Presents original articles dealing with the North American West: expansion & colonization, indigenous histories, regional studies (including western Canada, northern Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii), and transnational, comparative, and borderland histories.
Journal of the West
Publishes articles on the history, culture and other facets of the development of the American West.
American Indian Quarterly
The American Indian Quarterly is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering studies on the indigenous peoples of North and South America.
Oregon Historical Quarterly
The Oregon Historical Quarterly, a peer-reviewed, public history journal, has been published continuously since 1900 by the Oregon Historical Society.

Books for the American West

Oxford History of the American West (Print Book) by Clyde A. Milner, Carol A. O'Connor, and Martha A. Sandweiss (Editors)
Publication Date: 1994
When we think of the American West, we tend to conjure up images that are known the world over: bearded forty-niners leading pack mules up a mountain trail, the Oklahoma land stampede, Custer's Last Stand, and especially the range-riding, quick-shooting cowboy. But these familiar images are only a small part of western history.
A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West (Print Book) by Nicolas S. Witschi (Editor)
Publication Date: 2011
This book presents a series of essays that explore the historic and contemporary cultural expressions rooted in America's western states. Offers a comprehensive approach to the wide range of cultural expressions originating in the west. Focuses on the intersections, complexities, and challenges found within and between the different historical and cultural groups that define the west's various distinctive regions.
Major Problems in the History of the American West (Print Book) by Clyde Milner, Anne Butler, and David Lewis
Publication Date: 1997
This unique collection of essays and documents brings to life the major topics in American western and frontier history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
With Golden Visions Bright Before Them (Print Book) by Will Bagley
Publication Date: 2012
During the mid-nineteenth century, a quarter of a million travelers—men, women, and children—followed the "road across the plains" to gold rush California. This magnificent chronicle captures the danger, excitement, and heartbreak of America's first great rush for riches and its enduring consequences. This is volume 2 of Overland West.
Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier (Print Book) by Will Bagley (Editor)
Publication Date: 1997
The official journal of the Brigham Young pioneer company is made available for the first time in this book. The arrival of Latter-day Saints in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake is one of the major events in the history of the LDS church and the West. Thomas Bullock, the author of this account, was the official journal keeper of that party of pioneers. With maps, illustrations, bibliography and index, this work is a major contribution to the history of overland migration, the LDS church, and the wider West. The book provides insight into the impressions of a devout European immigrant of the great American West.
El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America (Print Book) by Carrie Gibson
Publication Date: 2019
El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present—from Ponce de Leon's initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico.
Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (Print Book) by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Publication Date: 2014
The United States is still typically conceived of as an offshoot of England, with our history unfolding east to west beginning with the first English settlers in Jamestown. This view overlooks the significance of America's Hispanic past. With the profile of the United States increasingly Hispanic, the importance of recovering the Hispanic dimension to our national story has never been greater. This absorbing narrative begins with the explorers and conquistadores who planted Spain's first colonies in Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Southwest.
A Documentary History of the United States (Print Book) by Richard D. Heffner
Publication Date: 1965
Here, in a single volume, are the documents, speeches, and letters that have forged American history, accompanied by interpretations of their significance by noted historian and broadcaster Richard D. Heffner with online journalist Alexander Heffner.

Web Resources for the American West

American Journeys
Contains 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
History of the American West, 1860-1920
Digitized photographs from the Denver Public Library's collections showing the settlement and growth of the American West.
U.S. West: Photographs, Manuscripts and Imprints
Includes hundreds of digitized items from Southern Methodist University's collections related to the U.S. West.
Princeton Collections of the American West
Princeton University's collection of photographs of Indians of the Americas and views of the American West, primarily from the 19th century.
Indigenous Digital Archive Treaties Explorer
Searchable collection of 374 digitized treaties between the Native nations and the U.S. government from the U.S. National Archives. Database can be searched or browsed by treaty, cession, tribe, or place.
National Museum of the American Indian
Landing page to search the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian.
Discovering American Women's History Online
Database maintained at Middle Tennessee University that provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States.
Native Places Atlas
Native Places is a spatial humanities project that consists of an interactive, layered map centered on Utah that encompasses the homelands of the state’s traditionally associated tribes. The map records and restores indigenous place names to major landscape features and selected historical and cultural sites.

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