While not technically primary sources, reference guides can help you date or identify an object; with that information, you can run more effective searches in primary source collections like the historical newspapers.
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Good for: Researching design and crafts worldwide.
Contains: Images, encyclopedias, and e-books.
Dates covered: 1500 BCE-present.
Magazines
Good for: Studying changes in American fashion, culture, and society.
Contains: Harper's Bazaar magazine.
Dates covered: 1867-present.
Good for: Magazine articles about 20th century celebrities and the popular music and film industries.
Contains: Film industry and fan publications.
Dates covered: 1903-1995.
Good for: Researching fashion and culture.
Contains: Images and text from Vogue Magazine.
Dates covered: 1892-present.
Good for: Studying fashion industry history and trends.
Contains: Trade publication Women’s Wear Daily.
Dates covered: 1910-present.
Good for: Searching North American women's magazines and their historical context.
Contains: Women's magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents Magazine, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Essence.
Dates covered: 1887-2005.
Good for: Exploring British and American fiction, current affairs, arts, fashion, and culture.
Contains: Magazines.
Dates covered: 1920-1930.
Collections
Good for: Exploring contemporary fashion history and clothing designers.
Contains: Photos, essays, and videos.
Dates covered: 1980-present.
Good for: Studying popular culture in the US and Britain through music and alternative publications.
Contains: Primary sources.
Dates covered: 1950-1975.
Good for: Studying consumer advertising, marketing, and life in America.
Contains: Catalogs, price lists, and brochures.
Dates covered: 1850-1950.
Good for: Examining primary sources about the history of department stores in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Contains: Company archives, union records, trade journals, advertisements, catalogs.
Dates covered: 1830-1994
Good for: Searching historical product catalogs and exploring advertising and marketing campaigns.
Contains: Archival records of ad agencies, marketing campaigns and catalogs.
Dates covered: 1850-1990s.
Newspapers
Good for: Searching all ProQuest U.S. historical newspaper collections simultaneously.
Contains: Newspapers.
Dates covered: 1841-2014.
Magazines and periodicals
Good for: Searching American magazines and journals published mostly before 1900.
Contains: Magazines and journals.
Dates covered: 1740-1940.
Good for: Searching articles published in popular 19th century magazines, newspapers, and journals in the United States.
Contains: Periodicals.
Dates covered: 1684-1912.
Good for: Searching articles in magazines about British culture and society.
Contains: Popular British periodicals, mostly from the 19th century.
Dates covered: 1681-1920.
Good for: Reading firsthand accounts of 19th-century American society, history and culture.
Contains: PDF images and scanned text of articles from the popular magazine.
Dates covered: 1830-1898.
Good for: Magazine articles about 20th century celebrities and the popular music and film industries.
Contains: Film industry and fan publications.
Dates covered: 1903-1995.
Good for: Gaining insights into British home life and leisure reading in the Victorian age.
Contains: Magazines.
Dates covered: 1800-1900.
Archival collections that will include images and/or magazines
Good for: Exploring printed menus, advertisements, cards, playbills, poems, and other ephemeral items from the past.
Contains: Printed ephemera.
Dates covered: 1749-1900.
Good for: Exploring 19th-century controversies through published advice and opinions.
Contains: Pamphlets.
Dates covered: 1820-1922.
Good for: Evidence of changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
Contains: Primary sources like correspondence, advice literature, periodicals, ephemera and government documents.
Dates covered: 1500s-1920.
Good for: Studying American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Contains: Primary sources like periodicals, pamphlets and books.
Dates covered: 1800-1920.
Digitized Objects
Museum collections can help you build context around the item you are researching.
Good for: Researching design and crafts worldwide.
Contains: Images, encyclopedias, and e-books.
Dates covered: 1500 BCE-present.
Museums - search across multiple collections
Catalogs and Magazines
Clothing and fashion
