Here are some general guidelines for selecting resources, using the time period in which your Historical Fiction is set:
A) For material on most time periods and geographic regions:
WorldCat Local (or Library Catalog) -- books
ArtStor -- images
B) For the current time period, 1970- forward, most of the article indexes will be helpful, especially:
Academic Search Premier
ProQuest Central
MasterFile Premier
Newspaper Source Plus
America History and Life-- United States and Canada (articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations)
Historical Abstracts--the rest of the world (articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations)
C) For the early twentieth century (1900-1970), these article indexes will be helpful.
Most of these are more comprehensive in their coverage of the United States but other countries are included in some of the news stories
Historical New York Times
Historical Los Angeles Times
Reader's Guide Retrospective
Keesing's Contemporary Archives (print only; D410 .K4, 2nd floor)-- 1931- 2012 -- this one has a British focus
These articles will be comprehensive studies from historians
America History and Life-- United States and Canada (articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations)
Historical Abstracts--the rest of the world (articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations)
D) For earlier than the twentieth century
1881-1900 -- Historical Los Angeles Times
1850-1900 -- Historical New York Times
1736-1780 -- Virginia Gazette (microfilm only)
1700s -- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
1600s-1700s-- 17th and 18th Century Burney Newspapers Collection
1435-1700 -- Early English Books Online (EEBO)
From prehistory to now for the United States and Canada
America History and Life--articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations
From 1450 to now, all of the world except the United States and Canada
Historical Abstracts--articles and book reviews in history journals and dissertations
E) For earlier than 1450 for Europe, Asia, Middle East, India, Africa, Australia and Latin America
Books are the richest sources of information for these historical periods so use WorldCat Local.
Bibliographies are often used in the humanities. A bibliography is a list of items such as books, documents, articles, videos, etc. arranged in a logical order and having something in common such as a subject, the author or producer, or the geographic region. So if your topic is set in ancient Greece or Rome, or during the Medieval or Renaissance time periods, look for a bibliography on your time period or region. Within the bibliography, look through the sources listed for something that might be useful for you, then search to see if the Library has the item. "Bibliography" can be used as a sub heading in LC subject headings.
More challenging resources to use:
C.R.I.S.: the Combined Retrospective Index Set to Journals in History,1838-1974- (print only)- D1 .C7 1977, 2nd floor
Vol. 1-4 cover articles on World History, categorized by country then time period then topic. Note: the 1838-1974 refers to the journal publication dates, not the time periods covered within the articles themselves.
For topics during the Middle ages and the Renaissance -- Iter Bibliography (online)