Library Resources - History

Marquette’s Raynor Memorial Libraries contain over 1.6 million books, bound journals, and microforms relating to the Humanities and Social Sciences.  Researchers can pursue legally related topics at Marquette’s Law Library.  The Libraries' cooperative arrangements permit researchers to utilize the collections of other libraries in the city and state, plus the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago.  The Interlibrary Loan program provides access to collections across the country and abroad.  The Libraries' collection development policy commits them to enhancing their considerable strengths, including acquiring the latest electronic research resources.

Collection Strengths

The collections concentrate on modern American and European history, while acquisitions in medieval history are substantial.  Ancient Greek and Roman history is collected to support select classes.  Raynor Memorial Libraries also collect in Latin American, African, Asian, and Russian history.  Collections on areas outside North America and Europe are being upgraded to support increased undergraduate instruction in these fields.

The core of the historical monograph collection consists of over 48,500 volumes in the Library of Congress's C through F classifications, which are located on the second and third floors of Memorial Library.  Thirty percent of these volumes pertain to the history of the United States.  Substantial related materials are in the Social Sciences, particularly the H classification on the third and forth floors.  The Libraries have begun to purchase access to books available electronically, and it expects this part of its history collection to grow substantially.

The Library maintains current subscriptions to over 850 journals related to history.  Most of these journals are now accessible online.  The Interlibrary Loan Department will obtain copies of articles in journals unavailable through our libraries at no cost to the user.

The Libraries' Special Collections Department has notable strengths in the histories of Native Americans and Catholic social action.  The first concentrates on relations between Native Americans and the Catholic Church, with the bulk of the records from the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions.  The records on Catholic social action focus on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement.  Notable among the other collections are documents from the FBI.  See the Libraries' Web site for extensive finding aids to the holdings of Special Collections.

Research Resources

Marquette’s online catalog, MARQCAT, covers both Raynor Memorial and the Law libraries with Internet access 24 hours a day.  Marquette participates in the Federal Depository program, acquiring a wide variety of state and federal documents.   The library also aids researchers with guides to resources on the Internet, organized by academic subject; these guides are available on the Libraries' website, under Selected Internet Sites.

The Libraries maintain a wide range of indexes and full text services.  For a full list of history related electronic resources see the Libraries' home page and click on the drop down menu under "Articles, Databases, and Other E-Resources . . ."  The following selected list of electronic resources provides a sense of the range of our online holdings; unless otherwise noted these online services are available off campus to valid Marquette ID Card holders:

19th Century Masterfile

America: History and Life 

American National Biography

American Periodical Series

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Bibliography of Native North Americans

Black Literature Index

Black Studies Center

Defining Gender, 1450-1910

Early American Imprints Series 1: Evans, 1639-1800

Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)

Empire On-line

English Short Title Catalog

Handbook of Latin American Studies

Historical Abstracts

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers--19th Century

International Medieval Bibliography

JSTOR

New York Times 1851 to 2001 (Full Text)

Periodicals Archive Online

Periodicals Index Online

Times (London) Index 1790-1980

Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824 to 1900 (Available on Raynor Memorial PC workstations only.)

Special Services

This brief listing may be explored further in other areas of the Web site, but an enumeration of key privileges and services includes:

Semester long borrowing of monographic material.

Raynor Library open 24/7 during regular semesters.

Reference staff available for walk-up or appointment consultation.

Free interlibrary borrowing of books and articles.

Easy access to nearby research libraries and in-person borrowing via InfoPass program.

Self-service photocopiers with key card convenience.

Private study carrels for graduate students by application.

Modern teaching labs available for groups or classes by appointment.