MORE THAN FIVE CENTURIES OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
K-12 Schools & Districts
Public Libraries
Universities & Colleges
American History is a comprehensive resource that spans our nation’s history, with a user-friendly interface and award-winning content. The home page offers many ways to begin exploring the material, from the videos, slideshow overviews, and Topic Centers to the lists of key content handpicked by our editors to help users find a starting point for their research. By providing the most comprehensive range of information in one complete resource—subject entries, biographies, primary sources, videos and slideshows, images, timelines, and maps and graphs, plus full cross-searchability across all the Infobase history databases—American History offers a virtual library of American history for educators, students, and researchers.
Comprehensive Coverage: With American History, researchers can delve deep into their topics or examine different perspectives through event and topic entries, primary sources, images, videos, general and topic-specific timelines, biographies, original maps and charts, and more.
Easy Access to Content: Featured content in American History is handpicked by our editors to inform research and provide guided entryways into the database, plus convenient links to key areas are at the top of every page.
Editorially Curated Topic Centers:American History features specially selected content on different eras, themes, and milestone events of history—including articles, shareable slideshows, videos, primary sources, and more—that provides a starting point for research.
Topic Centers include:
America at War:
Revolutionary War Battles
War of 1812
U.S.-Mexican War
American Civil War
Plains Indian Wars
Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II in Europe and the Pacific
Korean War
Vietnam War
Persian Gulf War
Iraq War
Afghanistan War
Daily Life in America:
Daily Life in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era
Daily Life in the Early National Period
Daily Life in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era
Daily Life in the Gilded Age
Daily Life in the Age of Reform
Daily Life in the Roaring Twenties
Daily Life in the Great Depression and World War II
Daily Life in Postwar America
Daily Life in Contemporary America
Decades and Eras:
The Twenties: 1920–1929
The Thirties: 1930–1939
The Forties: 1940–1949
The Fifties: 1950–1959
The Sixties: 1960–1969
The Seventies: 1970–1979
The Eighties: 1980–1989
The Nineties: 1990–1999
The 21st Century: 2000–Present
Early America:
Colonial Settlements
Exploration of America
Thirteen Colonies
Salem Witch Trials
Foreign Affairs and U.S. Government:
Landmark Supreme Court Cases
New Deal
U.S. Government
Multicultural America:
African-American History
Arab-American History
Asian-American History
Jewish-American History
Latino-American History
Native-American History
Society and Social Issues:
American Women’s History
Civil Rights Movement
Industrial Revolution
Manifest Destiny
Progressive Era
Suggested Research Topics: Each Topic Center in American History includes handpicked selections showcasing the best resources for each topic—including in-depth overview essays—and providing guidance for research.
Primary Sources:American History includes more than 10,000 primary sources, many with introductions that provide context and background—perfect for strengthening critical-thinking skills.
Videos, Images, Maps, and Slideshows:American History’s videos, images, original maps, and original, interactive whiteboard-friendly slideshows offer a fascinating visual introduction to key topics and themes, stimulating interest and providing convenient overviews and “lecture launcher” material.
Biographies: Under “Featured People,” American History includes helpful lists of award-winning writers, U.S. presidents, U.S. vice presidents, early explorers, First Ladies, Chief Justices of the U.S., great military leaders, Supreme Court justices, and Founding Fathers. Each list includes dates of birth and death, a brief descriptor of the person’s achievements, and a link to relevant search results.
Themes in U.S. History:American History‘s Themes in U.S. History section explores 26 major themes in American history century by century. Organized around such critical subjects as agriculture, demographics, economics, daily life, government, religion, science and technology, war, and women, the essays trace the progress of human history since the 1500s in what would become the United States, fostering critical conceptual thinking and allowing students to focus on a particular theme in one era and then examine that theme across the full reach of American history. Discussion questions for each theme encourage students to think critically.
Controversies in History: Editorially selected pro/con articles on many high-interest controversies in U.S. history can be found in American History, enabling researchers to grasp the essence and importance of every conflict and the reasons Americans debated them.
Overview Essays:American History includes substantial and thorough overview essays giving extensive background on relevant historical topics and eras.
Book Chapters: Chapters from authoritative print titles written by noted historians complement the thousands of encyclopedia entries, biographies, definitions, and other resources American History provides. Book Chapters allow for original thinking and are ideal for an in-depth study of a topic.
Authoritative Source List:American History features a complete inventory, by type, of the extraordinary amount of expertly researched and written content in the database, including articles from a wealth of award-winning proprietary and distinguished print titles (including the new edition of the award-winning Encyclopedia of American History), primary sources, images, videos, timelines, and a list of contributors to the database—information researchers can trust.
Curriculum Tools: This section of American History features writing and research tips for students and educators, including:
Advice on analyzing and understanding editorial cartoons, primary sources, and online sources
Guides for presenting research, including avoiding plagiarism, citing sources, completing a primary source worksheet, summarizing articles, and writing research papers
Educator tools, including advice on preventing plagiarism and using editorial cartoons in class.
Full Cross-Searchability:American History is fully cross-searchable with any combination of the other Infobase History Research Center databases to which your institution subscribes.
Election-Related Content:American History includes rich historical content ideal for election-related studies and lesson plans, allowing users to research past elections, political parties, key figures, and important terms through essays, primary source documents, images, videos, tables, charts, and maps that put the 2016 election into perspective.
Convenient A-to-Z topic lists can be filtered by Topic Center
Tag “clouds” for all content, linking to related material
Searchable timelines, including a detailed general timeline, updated monthly, plus numerous subject-specific and era-specific timelines
“National History Day” feature, with suggested searches in accordance with the theme of the NHD competition
Maps and graphs with descriptions
Real-time, searchable Reuters® newsfeed
Save content directly to Google Drive
Single sign-on with Google or Microsoft
Google Sign-In allows users to easily access content with their Google credentials
A variety of integration options and partners, including Canvas and D2L (Desire2Learn)
Dynamic citations in MLA, Chicago, APA, and Harvard formats, with EasyBib and NoodleTools export functionality
List of contributors to the database
Read Aloud tool
Ability for users to set preferences for default language, citation format, and number of search results
Persistent record links
Search Assist technology
Searchable Support Center with valuable help materials, how-to tips, tutorials, and live help chat
Google Translate for 100+ languages.
Credo Social Media Posts for July 2022
At Credo we understand the need for libraries to write interesting social media content to engage your users and raise awareness of valuable resources and services. That’s why we’ve created this monthly blog post with social media posts featuring interesting observances, trivia, this-day-in-history, and humor that your library can copy/paste to its own feed with no attribution necessary. P.S.: the images here are all in the public domain (mostly from Pixabay and Wikimedia Commons), so feel free to take advantage of them when you post! Table of Contents1 July 12 July 33 July 44 July 65 July 76 July 97 July 118 July 129 July 1310 July 1411 July 1612 July 1813 July 1814 July 1915 July 2016 July 2117 July 2318 July 2419 July 2520 July 2721 July 2822 July 2923 July 3024 July 31 July 1 Happy birthday to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who remains a beloved figure more than 20 years after her tragic death. Born #onthisday in 1961. Learn more about Lady Di at Credo Reference. https://search.credoreference.com/search/all?searchPhrase=Diana%20Spencer July 3 Happy birthday to Top Gun Tom Cruise, born #onthisday in 1962 in Syracuse, NY. Learn more about the film actor, producer, and Scientologist at Credo […]
How to Make Instruction More Interesting with Multimedia
Whether you’re a teacher or a student, you know from experience that lessons with more dynamic, visual elements are more likely to stick in your mind. Research shows that we learn better when our materials include a mixture of both graphics and text, and that’s where multimedia instruction comes in. Table of Contents1 What Is Multimedia Instruction? 2 Why Use Multimedia Instruction? 2.1 Short-term and long-term memory2.2 Three principles2.3 Types of cognitive processing3 Effective Multimedia Instruction3.1 Use evidence-based learning strategies3.2 Define outcomes using constructive alignment4 Multimedia Instruction: The “Do’s” and “Don’ts”4.1 Do use technology4.2 Don’t rely solely on rapid e-learning programs4.3 Do practice “chunking”4.4 Don’t include unnecessary detail4.5 Do use animation4.6 Don’t use animation and written text simultaneously4.7 Do present the same information in a variety of ways4.8 Do keep it chatty5 Summing Up What Is Multimedia Instruction? Multimedia instruction is simply a lesson containing both words and pictures. The words can be either read or spoken aloud. The pictures can be moving images like video or animation, or stationary. The vast majority of contemporary classrooms incorporate multimedia learning. Multimedia instruction can refer to e-learning tools, video lessons, or PowerPoint presentations. If you teach online, maybe you use a cloud-based phone service […]
Managing Students’ Cognitive Load with Instructional Objects
Teachers, at any level, are often undervalued and face constant challenges to connect and communicate with their students. With so many different approaches that “guarantee” success, how does a teacher or lecturer choose the one that best suits them and that will let students achieve the objectives set out in a particular course? There are multiple educational theories out there, some of them with tried-and-tested histories, others that exist on the fringe of evidence-based practice. You may want to look into things such as convolutional neural networks as part of your own learning process. These many theories may deal both with teaching methods and learning methods. The potential road to success may lie in finding a marriage of sorts, a route where students can make recognizable progress due to the methods used by their teacher. One theory that’s central to many learning patterns is cognitive load theory. Just what is cognitive load theory, and how do teachers, lecturers, and instructors ensure that they can manage students’ cognitive load within the context of their teaching plans and how they use and present materials in any sort of classroom environment? Table of Contents1 What Is Cognitive Load Theory? 2 What Is Cognitive Load?3 […]
“American History Online is a good starting point for…undergraduate researchers…The interface is simple and easy to use; the internal and external links are generous…Recommended…”
Library Journal
“…very useful for students, teachers, and librarians.”
American Reference Books Annual
“…[an] outstanding database…A user-friendly interface, solidly written articles, and a wide range of other features make this source highly recommended….”