History of Education

…a Smorgasboard of Resources

Penfield Library  http://www.oswego.edu/library

Library Catalog:  Connect from the Library homepage to search for books, videos, and much more.  For primary sources, good search terms include: sources, diaries, journals, letters, speeches, etc. – anything that is the original words of the person recording them.  Photographs and documents of the time period are other excellent primary sources.  

Also include search terms like “schools and history” and “education and history” to find relevant materials.   If you are getting too many results, try the specific search “history education United States".The catalog will assume you want AND to join any words you enter in the search box. 

For minority populations, combine "education America" AND "Hispanic", for example.  Also look for materials on "multicultural education" or "diversity education". 

Indexes for articles:

ERIC – education focused articles and documents from 1966 to present

Suggested subject term:  “educational history”  (with the quotes)

Education Research Complete -- more education coverage

Suggested subject term: "education - history"

America: History and Life (covers all aspects of history, so be sure to include “schools” or “education” among your search terms) – start by choosing “United States and Canadian History” from the top of screen menu

New York Times Article Archive – online index from New York Times since 1851 – microfilm scanning available on request

Reader’s Guide Retrospective -- online index of popular magazines, 1890-1982. Continues in paper in the Reference Room.

The New York Times and several education periodicals are available in back issues, most in the 1900s.

For electronic indexes, link to the A-Z list of databases through the library homepage.  

Reference Resources:  Most have excellent indexes in the back or last volume.  Look for “schools”, “education”, or specific topics you have identified as relevant.   Here are some examples:

Album of American History (Ref E178.5 .A48 1981)

Almanac of American Life (Ref E162 P86)

Biography Reference Bank  (online through A-Z list)

The Annals of America (Ref E173 A793) – includes many source documents, found in  Table of Contents

Education in the United States: A Documentary History (Ref LA 205 C53)

Encyclopedia of American Education (Ref LB 17 U54 1996)

**Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society (online)

Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education (Ref LB 1139.25 E53 1992)

**Encyclopedia of Education (online and print at Ref LB15 .E47 2003)

Encyclopedia of Education Statistics (NCES), (http://nces.ed.gov/edstats) – includes

           Projections for 2011 – paper Digest of Education Statistics available from 1966

School, the Story of American Public Education- videos – 1770-present (4 volumes)Media LA212 .S3528 2001

(Instructional Media Center – 2nd floor – library use only)   Supplement:  Public Broadcasting’s teacher resources on this series, including a photo gallery. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/

**For books available electronically (online), find the title in the catalog and choose “link here for full text” on the page of details.  Or search the full Gale Virtual Reference Library, found on the Reference Resources page under “Background Information”. 

Penfield Library Guides:

College History  http://www.oswego.edu/library/archives/CollegeHistory.html

Lists many resources available in our Special Collections area (open Monday 1:30 – 4:30).  Special Collections also has elementary textbooks from c1850s – 1910.

Education Research Guide:  provides access to major databases and Internet resources in the field. Available through Research Guides on the library’s home page.

Select Internet Sources:

History of American Education Web Project  http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/index.html

History of Education:  Selected Moments of the Twentieth Century  http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/research/edu20/moments/

Librarians' Internet Index http://lii.org/   Browse or search this collection of select websites.

Barbara Shaffer, Education Librarian  bshaffer@oswego.edu     EDU 301/501

Or contact our Ask A Librarian service

 Last Updated 3/7/08