Subject Guides: War of 1812: Databases & Websites

Museums & Other Historical Sites

This is a listing of physical collections in the area. You can visit these museums and historical societies to view artifacts and primary sources in person.

Concord Point Lighthouse (Havre de Grace)
Provides information about the lighthouse and its original innkeeper, who was a hero in the War of 1812.
Harford County Historical Society (Bel Air)
Building is located in the former Bel Air post office on Main Street.
Hays-Heighe House News & Events
Our own Hays-Heighe House coordinator, Ann Persson, anthropology faculty, provides some tips on conducting historical research.
Maryland Historical Society
Maryland State Archives

Informational Websites

Star Spangled Banner: National Historic Trail
Information about the National Historic Trail events taking place around Maryland. Administered by the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office.

Databases

These databases contain articles and essays related to history topics.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for 4000 academic social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals.
History Reference Source This link opens in a new window
History Reference Center offers full text from more than 2,000 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for more than 120 history periodicals, more than 59,600 historical documents, 49,600 biographies of historical figures, more than 110,200 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.

Issues & Controversies in American History

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the archives of over 390 academic journals in the arts and sciences.
Historical Baltimore Sun (1837-1985) This link opens in a new window
The Historical Baltimore Sun (1837-1985) offers full page and article images with searchable full text dating back to its first issue.

Search Tips

The Basic Search function on most databases is a keyword search. Remember, you can link multiple keywords by the connector terms: AND, OR, NOT.
It helps to put an exact phrase in quotes. Ex: "War of 1812," "Star Spangled Banner", or "Francis Scott Key".
It may be helpful to search by subject as well as by keyword. Most databases provide a searchable subject thesaurus or directory of subject terms.

For any questions about searching in databases, feel free to contact us and we will be glad to assist you!