History--American West  

3533 AMERICAN WEST
Study of the exploration, conquest, and development of the American West in the 19th century.

The American west was been described as the place where men forged their existence by their wits, and by hard work, and formed the basis of the american character. In this sense the West is not necessarily a geographic place as that place where the American character was formed. Others try to limit the West to a geographic place. In this bibliography, the American West will be considered mainly as the Encyclopedia of the American West defined it, as the area west of the Mississippi River, excepting the State of Louisiana, and also what it terms as the "spill over" areas of Canada and Mexico. This bibliography describes sources held in the Henry G. Bennett Memorial Library on the American West, and are divided by type of material that it is, such as videos, reference books, periodicals.

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The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869; completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. At center left, Samuel S. Montague, Central Pacific Railroad, shakes hands with Grenville M. Dodge, Union Pacific Railroad (center right). Source: Golden Spike

The Encyclopedia of the American West definines the American West as "the area west of the Mississippi and including Alaska Hawaii, and "spill over" areas in Canada and Mexico--that gave birth to something recognizable as a Western experience."

1. Go to the library's main webpage at: http://www.se.edu/lib/

2. Click on Research Guides

3. Scroll down the page until you find History: American West

http://libguides.se.edu/Americanwest