History

Having problems requesting items via Summit? Please contact the JFK Circulation Desk at 509.359.7888, circulation@ewu.edu, or in person on the main level. 

In order to find materials on Spokane area history, try searching the EWU catalog using the following terms: 

• Buildings   Washington (State)   Spokane
• Historic buildings   Washington (State)   Spokane
• Spokane   History
• Spokane   History   Pictorial works
• Spokane   Social Conditions
• Spokane    Economic conditions
• Spokane  County    History
• Cheney (Wash.)   History
• Inland  Empire (Pacific  Northwest)  History

You can find historical materials by following this basic formula (as a keyword or subject term search):

[region you're researching] Spokane AND history

[topic you're interested in] railroads AND Spokane AND history

To find materials on regional history, try searching the EWU catalog using the following terms: 

• Pacific Northwest History
• Pacific Northwest Social Conditions
• Washington (State) History

Call #                     Subject

D 1-2027               World History (excluding the Americas)

D1-24.5                  General History

D 111-203              Medieval history, 476 AD-

D 204-475              Modern history, 1453-

D 501-680              World War I (1914-1918)

D 731-838              World War II (1939-1945)

D 900-2009            Europe (General)

 *Most history books can be found in these call number ranges on the top floor of the JFK Library.  Use our floor map to find the exact shelf location.

See also call numbers DA-DX for history by specific regions or countries of the world.

 For a more detailed breakdown of Library of Congress Subject Headings, click here.

Call #                     Subject

E-F                          History (Americas)

E 11-143        America

E 151-904      United States

E 186-199     Colonial history (1607-1775)

E 201-298     Revolution (1775-1783)

E 300-453     Revolution to the Civil War (1775/1783-1861)

E 441-453        Slavery in the U.S. Antislavery movements.

E 456-655     Civil War period (1861-1865)

E 660-738     Late 19th century (1865-1900)

E 740-837     20th century

E 838-889     Later 20th century (1961-2000)

E 895-904     21st century

 F 1-975              U.S. local history

F 1001-1145     British America (Including Canada)

F 1170                French America

 *Most history books can be found in these call number ranges on the top floor of the JFK Library.  Use our floor map to find the exact shelf location.

For a more detailed breakdown of Library of Congress Subject Headings, click here.

To find books that reproduce primary sources on your topic, you need to enter the topic (or person) you are researching and one of the following subjects:

Archives, correspondence, diaries, interviews, letters, manuscripts, maps, memoirs, narratives (personal, slave, etc.), photographs, propaganda, sources, speeches.

If you want to find reproductions of important primary sources from U.S. history, then you can do a subject search for United States History Sources in the EWU catalog.

Another way of finding primary sources written by a specific historical figure is to enter the person's name into one search box and then the term author in another search box (do it as a Subject search).  It should return materials that were written by that person.