Library Guides: Historical Fiction: Home

Introduction

As you write your work of historical fiction, you will want to place your story within the actual events of the time, use descriptions of places and settings that are historically accurate, and refer to notable people of that day and age. This guide directs you to various sources that will help you find such information. What you find useful in this guide will depend on your story and your time period. Please note the tabs on the left side of this guide: Subjects, News / Events, People / Daily Life, Places / Settings, Other Resources.

Background Information

The Find Books box below refers to the resources used to search for books on your topic. You might also search more specifically for a specialized encyclopedia on your time period. These can be incredible treasures of background information. I've listed a few print examples below. Notice that some have narrower topics than others, so if you don't find an encyclopedia on your event, consider how your event might be within a larger topic. For example, you can't find an encyclopedia on the shootout at the OK Corral? Try the Encyclopedia of the West.

Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, McCain F592.7 .W68 2004, 2nd floor
American Eras…various subtitles and call numbers, browse at ref E164 .A474, 1st floor
American Decades, E169.12 .A419 1994b, 3rd floor
also electronic through Gale eBooks

Also, try your topic in one of these online reference databases:

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
A collection of encyclopedias and reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Oxford Reference Online Premium This link opens in a new window
Online reference resources spanning 25 different subject areas.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Wiley publications include eBooks and online journals that cover a wide range of subjects from life sciences, health sciences, social and physical sciences, and humanities.
Note: Boise State does not subscribe to all content.

Find Books... and more books

Books are very useful sources of background information. Try a search in WorldCat Local for your historical topic. And Google Books lets you search within the content of books that have been digitized... that can sometimes identify useful books that aren't retrieved in a regular book database.

WorldCat Discovery
WorldCat Discovery is a great place to start searching for books, articles and media located at the Boise State University Albertsons Library. This database ALSO searches for books, articles and media available at thousands of libraries worldwide. Use the Interlibrary Loan service to request those items that are not available at Boise State University Albertsons Library.
Library Catalog
Search for books and media located at the Boise State University Albertsons Library--this is the database from which WorldCat Local obtains the availability and location information for books, journals and media. This database does NOT include books, journals and media from other libraries, nor does it include articles. It does include some electronic and audio books. Why search this resource? You can explore Library of Congress Subject Headings in a different way in this resource--you can browse subject headings or search subject headings with specific words. See the LC Subjects page for more information--at the bottom of the LC Subjects page is a short description of how to search subject headings in this catalog.
Google Books
Search the contents of thousands of books that have been digitized through a cooperative agreement between Google and selected university libraries. Some content is available online, but not all.

Searching by Subject for Background Information

To find background information in encyclopedias or dictionaries in the library collection, use Subject Headings similar to:

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)—Encyclopedias
United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Encyclopedias
Vikings—Dictionaries