History

Purpose: History materials at Washington State University support teaching and research at the undergraduate level, the graduate level through the Ph.D., and post-doctoral and faculty research. The department offers courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in History, Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies, Master of Arts in History, and Doctor of Philosophy. In cooperation with the Departments of English and Speech, the department also participates in the interdisciplinary program in American Studies leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Offerings in the field of history may be classified as American, Asian, European, and Latin American. The History Department offers courses in all aspects of history: political, economic, diplomatic, military, social, cultural, intellectual, women’s, public, and environmental. In addition, history is interdisciplinary in that a degree or research in history may require work in other disciplines, such as Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. Also other programs on campus, such as African American Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, Native American Studies, and Women's Studies, offer courses in the history of each of these groups.

This statement is not specifically concerned with historical treatments of disciplines offered by departments other than History, for example, the history of architecture, musicology, science, etc.

Please note: Some links below are only accessible in the WSU Library or by WSU Faculty, Staff, and Students.

1. Languages: English is the most commonly collected language, followed by French and German, with emphases on Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian where appropriate. The intensity of collection in these latter languages should roughly reflect the geographical divisions inherent in the field, for example, French and English would be the first languages of collection for French History, German and English for German History, English and the western European languages for European diplomatic history, etc. Spanish and Portuguese materials originating in Latin America are more intensely collected than materials in the same languages originating in Spain and Portugal. Works published in languages other than those mentioned above are, for the most part, only purchased in English translation.
2. Chronological Guidelines: No period is excluded.
3. Geographical Guidelines: As specified under subject subdivisions. Note on local histories: publications of local historical societies are purchased only when originating in an area of particular interest to the Washington State University Libraries, for example, Washington, the Inland Empire, the Pacific Northwest, etc.
4. Treatment of the Subject: Juvenile materials and introductory textbooks are not ordinarily purchased.
5. Types of Material: Most materials acquired are in the form of books (including numbered monographs) and serials. Reference materials, such as historical encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, directories, handbooks, etc., are collected extensively, as are the transactions and proceedings of conferences and society publications. Microfilm, microfiche, microcard, and microprint material are selectively purchased. Microforms should provide primary source material that is either unavailable or too expensive in "hard copy," such as papers of historically important figures, government documents, periodical backfiles. etc. The American Culture Series, American Periodical Series, Pre-1900 Canadiana, and Western Americana collections are examples of extensive collections of primary source material available on microfilm or microfiche. More and more material is appearing in digital format, including the U.S. Congressional Serials Set and the Digital Sanborn Maps for the state of Washington.
   WSU Libraries provides electronic access to the two major indexes to history journals : America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts. These provide quick indexing to history journal articles from 1954 to the present. JSTOR provides archival access to over 40 major history journals and Project Muse provides full text coverage for over 30 titles. References to history material can also be found in a number of the library’s full-text databases, as well as searching a wide range of History sites on the World Wide Web, such as the World Wide Virtual Library History: Central Catalogue. There are also a number of electronic history journals available full text on the World Wide Web.
6. Date of Publication: The emphasis is on current books, with selective purchasing of out-of-print materials. In retrospective purchasing, generally no preference is given to original printings over reprints.
7. Other General Considerations: Collections in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections supplement the general collections. These include extensive manuscript collections relating to the exploration, settlement, and development of the Palouse Country, the Inland Empire, and the Pacific Northwest. For example, the DeSmet Papers reflect the activities of a nineteenth-century missionary priest in the region.
   Also included are the Pacific Northwest Agricultural History Archives, the University Archives, which contain the personal papers and records generated by Washington State University's faculty, academic departments, and administrative offices, and an extensive Historical Photographs Collection, containing a wealth of visual documentation for studying the university campus, Pullman, the Palouse, the Inland Empire, and the Pacific Northwest. Material in these collections and finding aids for searching for material are available through the MASC web site through Digital Collections. In Latin American History, the Archives contain the Regla Papers, which cover three centuries of Mexican history.
   It should be mentioned that there is strong cooperation between WSU Libraries and the University of Idaho in terms of access to materials in their collection. In addition, WSU has a large collection of U.S., foreign, and international documents and the University of Idaho is a regional library for U.S. documents.
   WSU Libraries has access to the collections of the Center for Research Libraries, and its Foreign Newspaper Project, which provides faculty with access through interlibrary loan to a wide range of additional research materials. The WSU Libraries has electronic access through an online system called World Cat to the holdings of major university libraries throughout the United States and the world, making these research resources searchable for the historian. Individual university library online catalogs are also searchable through an Internet address. The WSU Libraries also provides access to Summit, a union catalog of the holdings of almost thirty academic libraries in Washington and Oregon. Books can be electronically requested and borrowed from any of these Summit libraries. Other electronic resources such as American National Biography, Archives USA, and Digital Dissertations also provide quick electronic access to a wealth of material for the historian.