Library Website : HIST 445: War &amp; Peace in the Balkans -- Professor Babovic: Finding Articles, Books, and Primary Sources

Location Resources and Maps

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Balkans

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans#/media/File:

Balkan_topo_en.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans#/media/File:

Balkan_peninsula_line.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans#/media/File:

Balkans_Animation_1800-2008.gif

Advice on Searching for Primary Sources

Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include:

letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, or autobiographies
manuscripts or speeches
newspaper or magazine articles
interviews or oral histories
documents produced by government agencies (e.g., Congress, Office of the President)
photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings
data
objects or artifacts (e.g., paintings, sculptures, buildings, tools, weapons)

These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research. (American Library Association, Reference and User Services)

You will get limited results if you try to search for "primary sources" in library databases since the Library of Congress does not use that subject heading. Try searching the word "sources" along with your subject terms. The phrase "personal narratives" is useful as well.

Finding Articles Written by Scholars

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window

Some scholarly journals that cover the Balkans:

Balkanistica
Bulgarian Historical Review
Contemporary European History
East European Politics & Societies
Ethnic & Racial Studies
Europe-Asia Studies
European History Quarterly
International Journal of Middle East Studies
International Journal of Turcologia
Journal of Balkan & Near Eastern Studies
Journal of Genocide Research
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs
Journal of Southeast European & Black Sea Studies
Middle Eastern Studies
Nationalism & Ethnic Politics
Nationalities Papers: Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity
Slavic Review
Southeastern Europe
Turkish Studies

Advice on researching the Balkans

You will certainly find books by searching the research databases for "the Balkans" or the "Balkan Peninsula," but because of the geopolitical changes in the area, remember to be specific when you can be.

Countries wholly in the Balkans:

Albania (capital and largest city: Tirana)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (capital and largest city: Sarajevo)
Bulgaria (capital and largest city: Sofia)
Kosovo (capital: Pristina)
Macedonia (capital and largest city: Skopje)
Montenegro (capital: Podgorica)

Countries partly in the Balkans:

Croatia (capital and largest city: Zagreb)
Greece (capital and largest city: Athens)
Romania (capital and largest city: Bucharest)
Serbia (capital and largest city: Belgrade)
Slovenia (capital and largest city: Ljubljana)
Turkey (capital: Ankara; largest city is Istanbul, aka Byzantium and Constantinople)

Official Library of Congress subject headings can be different than the normal names people call things. Note the following subject headings for the wars:

First Balkan War (1912–1913)

Second Balkan War (June 1913)

World War (1914-1919)

World War (1939-1945)

Finding Books

WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
Currently, the library in its Sturges Location has few books available. The best option for research is to order books via IDS

Finding Newspaper & Magazine Articles

Google Newspaper Archive

New York Times This link opens in a new window
Milne Library currently subscribes to the New York Times which grants members of the College community access to New York Times articles from the present day back to 1851. Please visit the following URL for instructions on signing up for an academic pass: https://library.geneseo.edu/accessnytimes
Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States from 1890 - 1982. Reflects the history of 20th century America.
The Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
First published in 1785, The Times of London is widely considered to be the world's 'newspaper of record'. The Times Digital Archive allows users to search over 200 years of this invaluable historical source.