HST118 The City in History

TMU Libraries Omni Search
For optimum use, sign in. This search engine searches for journal articles (many are available electronically), books, e-books, theses and dissertations, and newspaper articles from some recent and a selection of archival newspapers. It indexes digitized content such as out-of-copyright books and journals that are available from sources such as The Internet Archive and The Hathi Trust. Omni facilitates discovery and borrowing of print books from other universities in Ontario excluding the University of Toronto.

Refine your search using the filters on the left.

For more advanced searching across a more targeted set of resources, you may want to try a discipline specific indexing/abstracting database or collection as listed in the next boxes.

Consider using Omni, Advanced Search, Subject contains:

urban history ontario
diaries toronto
social conditions montreal
social life and customs berlin
everyday rome
quebec province pictorial works

Consider using Omni, Browse Search, Library of Congress Subject Heading:

New York (N.Y.) History
Toronto (Ont.) Pictorial works
London (England) History
los angeles calif. history
Toronto (Ont.) Buildings, structures, etc.

Historic buildings Ontario
City halls
Cities and towns, Ancient
Streets Ontario Toronto
United States History Sources

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

remain useful sources of quick information.  In addition to free sources such as Wikipedia, consider some of our licensed electronic content from publishers such as Oxford University Press, as well as printed items. 

Try using Omni, Advanced Search and Subject contains: [type a topical word or words] and etiher dictionaries, or, encyclopedias

Example Subject contains searches:

• canada biography dictionaries
• cities and towns encyclopedias
• egypt encyclopedias
• europe history chronology
• united states history dictionaries

Biographical information

Consider these resources:

• American National Biography (1999, 24 vols.), and, Supplement (2002-) (for people who are deceased)
• Canadian Who's Who (for living persons; print volumes ended with 2012-13; some versions may be available online)
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography (print for those who died 1930 and earlier; online includes new entries for those who died after 1931 and some are revised entries)
• Dictionary of World Biography. Online 9th ed. (2022)
• Encyclopedia of World Biography (2004) 4 supplementary vols. also availabl
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (United Kingdom; 2004, 61 vols.) Supplements for recently deceased (2001-2004) & (2005-2008)
• Who's Who (Great Britain, for living persons)
• Who's Who in America (for living persons)
• Current Biography (1941-2015) More recent volumes available at the Toronto Pulbic Library.
• Native Peoples A to Z: A Reference Guide to Native Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.  2nd ed. (2009, 8 vols.)
• Abridged Biography and Genealogy Master Index (1988)

Historical Maps and Atlases

Try Omni Browse Search, and Library of Congress Subject Heading:

• Canada Historical geography Maps
• China Maps
• Europe Historical geography Maps
• United States Historical geography Maps
• World history Maps
• World War, 1939-1945 Maps

The W.H. Pugsley Collection of Early Canadian Maps from McGill University Library

The David Rumsey Map Collection makes accessible historic maps of North and South America

The Toronto Public Library (TPL) has ongoing subscriptions to many biographical resources as well other dictionaries and encyclopedias that are not available at TMU. Many of the resources are located at the Toronto Reference Library situated just north of Bloor Street on Yonge Street.