HST118 The City in History

TMU Library Catalogue searches for books, e-books, dvds, and other resources. It is a good place to look for known books, or when using the keyword search to find some relevant titles for an assignment. When you find a good title, open the catalogue record in order to identify the assigned Library of Congress subject headings that can be used to identify similar works.

Some sample keyword searches:

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

Sample Library of Congress subject headings:

New York (N.Y.)--History
Toronto (Ont.)--Pictorial works
London (England)--History
Toronto (Ont.)--Buildings, structures, etc.

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

TMU Library Search Everything This search engine searches for books and audio-visual materials that are also listed in the library's catalogue, as well as journal articles (chiefly those that are available electronically), theses and dissertations, newspaper coverage from some recent and a selection of archival newspapers, and digitized content such as out-of-copyright books and journals that are available from sources such as The Internet Archive and The Hathi Trust.

Refine your search by content type or other criteria including listing in the library catalogue.

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 keyword searches in the main catalogue using subject or topical terms and either dictionaries, or, encyclopedias

Example keyword 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)
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography (print for those who died 1930 and earlier; online includes new entries for those who died after 1931 and some and revised entries)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (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)
• Native Peoples A to Z: A Reference Guide to Native Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.  2nd ed. (2009, 8 vols.)
• Current Biography (1941-2015)
• Abridged Biography and Genealogy Master Index (1988)

Historical Maps and Atlases

Try Library of Congress subject headings such as:

• Canada -- Historical geography -- Maps
• China -- Maps
• Europe -- Historical geography -- Maps
• Toronto (Ont.) -- Maps
• United States -- Historical geography -- Maps
• World history -- Maps

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.