History

Materials in the library's collection - including books, e-books, DVDs, and many other formats - can be located through the library catalog. The catalog is not the best tool for locating articles within a journal; to do that use the databases under the Find Articles tab.

Specific call numbers for books are found in the online catalog, but when browsing the shelves, it helps to know something about them. Books about history can be found shelved in the library under the following Library of Congress call numbers:

C -- Auxiliary Sciences of History
For example:

• CC Archaeology
• CS Genealogy
• CT Biography 

D -- World History
For example:

• D History (General)
• DL History of Scandinavia
• DS History of Asia

E and F -- History of the Americas
For example:

• E 151 – E 904 History of the United States
• F 1 – F 975 US Local History
• F 1201 – F 3799 Latin America

The digits in these call numbers are read as counting numbers, not as decimals as in the Dewey Decimal system. This means that DL 1175 is found between DL 1174 and DL 1179, well after DL 117 or DL 118.

This arrangement of books by subject matter makes shelf-browsing convenient. If you find a useful book, the books nearby on the shelf are likely to be closely related in topic.

Search the Olin Library catalog

Find items beyond Olin's collection in libraries near you with Worldcat.org, then submit an Interlibrary Loan request for the needed materials: