This provides access to resources on the local history of Washington, DC., including people, places, and events that are often overlooked by researchers. If you have any questions or need help, please do not hesitate to contact a librarian!
Capital Speculations by Sarah LuriaIn this lively study, Sarah Luria pursues the vital political connection between architecture and literature in the formation in 1791 of America's grand new capital city. City planners believed that designing Washington, D.C. as a physical model of the Constitution and its balance of powers would help citizens bond with the newly created nation. Although wildly ambitious, this design was made feasible through financial speculation. Dazzled by the plans for an "American Rome," citizens would buy up its empty lots and make the nation's capital their home. Luria demonstrates how political and financial speculation combined to build Washington and, once established, how the capital became a stage for the visions of subsequent reformers. Luria examines five political reformers and the Washington sites they used to promote their ideas: George Washington and the design of the "Federal City"; Abraham Lincoln and the enlargement of the Capitol dome during the Civil War; Walt Whitman and the capital's Civil War hospitals; Frederick Douglass and his impressive estate overlooking the Capitol; and Henry Adams and the double house that he built with poet-statesman John Hay on Lafayette Square. Although each author's work describes a different dynamic relationship between text and physical space, all five combine political speculation and marketplace psychology. They construct their visions and attract investment in them through their novelty, boldness, and extravagant scale. Clarifying the dynamic relations among discourse, economics, politics, and the built environment, Luria's book demonstrates how keenly architectural history is interwoven into American literary and political life.
The Historical Society of Washington, D.C., serves the city, its residents and visitors as an educational institution that promotes knowledge of the past for better understanding of the future. The Society collects, preserves and shares the rich history of our nation's capital. You will need to make an appointment to use the research materials.
The American Historical Review (AHR) is the official publication of the American Historical Association (AHA). The AHA was founded in 1884 and chartered by Congress in 1889 to serve the interests of the entire discipline of history. Aligning with the AHA’s mission, the AHR has been the journal of record for the historical profession in the United States since 1895—the only journal that brings together scholarship from every major field of historical study.
The only scholarly journal devoted exclusively to the history of our nation’s capital. Started in 1989, the journal replaced the original Records of the Columbia Historical Society, printed since 1897. Washington History has scholarly articles, reviews, and a rich array of images and is written and edited by distinguished historians and journalists.
An excellent basic collection for undergraduate research needs. Find journals and books in social sciences, humanities, science, medicine, technology and more.
ARTstor is a nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.
Digitized back issues of scholarly journals with a rolling date of five years ago. Covers a wide variety of disciplines. Includes JSTOR Arts and Sciences I, II, III, IV, V, VII, X. Also includes e-books.
Journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.
Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers, providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals. MUSE's online journal collections support a diverse array of research needs at academic, public, special and school libraries worldwide. Our journals are heavily indexed and peer-reviewed, with critically acclaimed articles by the most respected scholars in their fields. MUSE is also the sole source of complete, full-text versions of titles from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies. Currently, MUSE provides full-text access to current content from over 400 titles representing nearly 100 not-for-profit publishers.
From business and political science to literature and psychology, ProQuest Research Library provides one-stop access to a wide range of popular academic subjects. The database includes more than 4,070 titles—nearly 2,800 in full text—from 1971 forward. It features a highly-respected, diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers.