Collins Memorial Library: History 364: American Environmental History: Getting Started

New Resource!

Environmental History: Conservation and Public Policy in America, 1870 to 1980
Access to a large archive of primary source materials, including unpublished manuscripts, government documents, news clippings, and more.

Scholarly Journals for Environmental History

When you are researching a specific topic in the realm of environmental history, it is best to use subject databases. However, when you wish to simply explore the field, it can be very useful to browse through the scholarly literature. Environmental History is the leading journal in the field; there are several other journals, however, that likewise may be valuable to you.

Environmental History
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Environmental History and the Forest History Society. Collins Library provides electronic access to all issues from 1996 forward.

Environment and History
Full text access from 1995 to the present online and in print.
ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment
Available full text from 1993 to the present in print and from 1996 online. Offers a humanities and cultural history focus.
Conservation Biology
(online from 1997 forward; scientific approach, but occasionally includes articles written from a historical perspective)

Reference Resources for Environmental History

These resources provide overviews of topics and suggestions for further reading.

A Companion to American Environmental History by Douglas Cazaux Sackman (Editor)
Call Number: University Print Books (GE195 .C655 2010); also available online.
Publication Date: 2010
Gathers together a comprehensive collection of over 30 essays that examine the evolving and diverse field of American environmental history. Provides a complete historiography of American environmental history. Brings the field up-to-date to reflect the latest trends and encourages new directions for the field.
Encyclopedia of American Environmental History by Kathleen Brosnan (Editor)
Call Number: Click title for online access
ISBN: 9781438132679
Publication Date: 2010
Encyclopedia of Environment and Society by Paul Robbins (Editor)
Call Number: Click on link above for online access
Publication Date: 2007
Brings together multiplying issues, concepts, theories, examples, problems, and policies, with the goal of clearly explicating an emerging way of thinking about people and nature.
The Atlas of U. S. and Canadian Environmental History by Char Miller (Editor)
Call Number: Print Reference GF503 .A84 2003; also online
Publication Date: 2003
This visually dynamic historical atlas chronologically covers American environmental history through the use of four-color maps, photos, and diagrams, and in written entries from well known scholars.
Encyclopedia of the American West by Charles Phillips (Editor); Alan Axelrod (Editor)
Call Number: Print Reference F591 .E485 1996
Publication Date: 1996
Offering biographies, articles on the history of the entire range of Westward Expansion topics and overview entries on complex topics, the 4-vol. Encyclopedia examines events, organizations and social customs that shaped the American West.
American Environmental Leaders by Anne Becher
Call Number: Print Reference GE55 .B43 2000
Publication Date: 2000
A comprehensive and diverse award winning collection of biographies of the most important figures in American environmentalism.
Environmental Issues in American History by Chris J. Magoc
Call Number: Print Reference GE150 .M338 2006
Publication Date: 2006
Controversy surrounding environmental issues is not a recent development in American history. Since the time of the early settlers, issues concerning the environment have plagued certain groups of Americans. In this exhaustively researched study, primary documents support different sides of various questions, such as the use of water as an energy source, deforestation, gold mining in California, and the emergence of wildlife conservation.