Home - Honors 201 - Social Movements - LibGuides at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Getting started

Databases for Researching Social Movements

Secondary Sources

Discovery Search
Find articles across a large number of library resources with just one search! Begin your generalized research here.

Free to use for anyone to find records. Some results, and detailed information such as PDFs and full text links, are available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Google Scholar
Use to access many UMass online journal subscriptions.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

You can access Google Scholar with UMLinks buttons from outside the UMass Amherst IP range ("off campus") by two methods:

1. Access Google Scholar through the Library web site by using this link.
2. Go to generic Google Scholar.
a. Click on "Settings."
b. Click on Library links.
c. Type in "University of Massachusetts" or "UMass Amherst" (or a few other variations).
d. Check "University of Massachusetts Amherst - UMass Check for Full Text" and Save.
e. You will be asked to authenticate somewhere along the way to full text.
America: History & Life
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Journal articles, dissertations, and book reviews, many in full text, relating to United States and Canadian history and prehistory, 1954-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Black Studies Center
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Combines key indices (Schomburg, IIBP, etc) to scholarship and primary sources in Afro-American studies.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Sociological Abstracts
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References to scholarly journal articles, dissertations, and conference papers on sociology and related disciplines, 1960-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
ProQuest Political Science
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Full text political science periodical articles. Dates vary by title.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Sociology Database
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Articles from over 300 journals in full text in sociology and social work.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Primary sources, mostly historical

ProQuest History Vault
Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle Features records of NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, CORE, and federal records on the black freedom struggle

Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000
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Primary and secondary sources on women's involvement in historical events in the United States. Includes books, pamphlets, papers, and articles.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Women and Social Movements International
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Women activists' letters and diaries, conference proceedings, and other primary and secondary sources 1840-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
African American Newspapers
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Seven nineteenth-century African American newspapers in full text, including advertising, 1827-1902.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History & Culture since 1940
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Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals; publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. Also contains personal correspondence and interviews with LGBTQ individuals; gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries, reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health; materials tracing LGBTQ activism in Britain from 1950 through 1980, and more. Documents span from 1940 to 2014, with the bulk from 1950 to 1990.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
HistoryMakers Digital Archive
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The HistoryMakers is a national 501 (c)(3) non-profit video oral history archive headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The HistoryMakers is dedicated to preserving African American history as the missing link in American history. Focused on American history, oral history and education in general and more specifically on African American history, education, music, law, the arts, science, technology, media, medicine, entertainment, fashion & beauty, business, the military, politics and sports, The History Makers is a combination archive, library, museum, stock footage collection, on-line educator and educational PBS/TV programming. Its topics include but are not limited to African American organizations and associations, slavery, reconstruction, the labor movement, the civil rights movement and black authors."

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Contemporary Newspapers and News Sources

Western Massachusetts Newspapers
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Ten newspapers from Western Massachusetts, including the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Amherst Bulletin, The Republican and the Valley Advocate.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Ethnic NewsWatch
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Full-text articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of ethnic communities in the United States. In several languages, 1965-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Left Index
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Citations to articles in leftist periodicals, on labor, ecology & environment, race, social & cultural theory, 1982-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Ethnic NewsWatch
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Full-text articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of ethnic communities in the United States. In several languages, 1965-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
LGBTQ+ Source
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References, and some full text, of articles in about 120 LGBT-specific core periodicals, as well as selective articles from 1,600 more periodicals, 1950-present.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Middle East Newsstand
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More than 30 current, full text newspaper French and English language newspapers from the Arab world, Israel, and the subcontinent.

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Citation Management

Use a citation manager, such as Zotero to keep track of your research.

Put all your references in one place, create quick and easy bibliographies, build your knowledgebase for the rest of your career. For help, check out the online guides and webinars or Ask a Librarian.

Some tips on using Chicago notation style with Zotero.

Spotlight on: W.E.B. Du Bois Papers & W.E.B. Du Bois Center

W.E.B. Du Bois Papers

Search and view correspondence, writings, and photographs in the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers online.

And/ or visit the Special Collections and University Archives department of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, located on the 25th floor.

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., during the academic year, except major holidays.

During semester breaks, on certain holidays, and in the summer, Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) is open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

W.E.B. Du Bois Center

Located on the 22nd floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, the W. E. B. Du Bois Center was established in 2009 to engage the nation and the world in discussion and scholarship about the global issues involving race, labor and social justice.

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Spotlight on: Social change special collections at Du Bois Library

Social Change Primary Source Collections, 25th floor

Anti-war sit-in, Whitmore Hall, ca.1971

Building upon the activist legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, the Department of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) collects primary materials relating to individuals and groups devoted to the political, economic, spiritual, and social transformation of American society. The intent in taking such a broad collecting scope is to view social change as a totality, rather than as isolated movements and to document how ideas about one set of social issues informs other issues, and how social causes cross-pollinate, organizationally and conceptually. By preserving a record of these activities, SCUA makes it possible for future scholars, activists, and members of the community to continue to engage with the ideas that have motivated so many.

Although our interests extend to any endeavors that reflect the efforts of individuals and groups promote social change, the collections in SCUA provide particularly valuable documentation of the movements for peace, social justice, and racial equality, environmentalism, labor activism, intentional communities, and gay rights.