Cabrillo College Library 
 
            When You Were Born -- Researching Events
        A Library Research Guide
 

Chronologies
America in the 20th Century, ed. by Janet McDonnell. 10 vols. Location: ref E169.1.A471872 1995
American Chronicle: Seven Decades in American Life: 1920-1989, by Lois Gordon and Alan Gordon.
   Location: ref E169.1.G664 1990
American Decades, 1960-1969. Location: ref E169.12.A419 1994 v. 7
Chronicle of America, ed. by Clifton Daniel. Location: ref E174.5.C55 1997
Chronicle of American Music, 1700-1995, by Charles J. Hall. Location: ref ML200.H15 1996
Chronicle of the Cinema, Robyn Karney, ed. Location: ref PN1993.5.C5 1995
Chronology of World History. Location: ref D11.F75 1978
Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates, by Gorton Carruth. Location: ref E 174.5.C3 1997
The People's Almanac Presents the Twentieth Century, by David Wallechinsky. Location: ref AY64.W28 1995
The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present,
   ed. by James Trager. Location: ref D11.T83 1992
Timetables of Science, by Alexander Hellemans. Location: ref Q125.H557 1988
The Women's Chronology : A Year-by-Year Record from Prehistory to the Present, by James Trager
   Location: ref HQ1122 .T73 1994

 Chronologies on the Internet
Anyday: Today in History (www.scopesys.com/anyday/) Historic events & birthdates
On This Day (news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/) Search any day's events, from the BBC
This Day in History (www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do)
Today in History (lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/archive.html) from Library of Congress
World History Chronology (www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html)
    Click on Events (on the left); then select a sequence of years (on the right)

Specialized chronologies:
German-American Chronology (www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/adams/chrono.html) 1608 to 1990
A Short Chronology of Japanese American History (www.janet.org/janet_history/niiya_chron.html) 1868 to 1988
Timeline of San Francisco History 1950+ (www.zpub.com/sf/history/sfh-3.html)

Biography
Alamac of Famous People. Location: ref CT104.B56 2001
Born This Day. Location: ref PN6084.B5N69 1996

 Biographical Information about Famous People on the Internet (see also Biography Resource Center database)
   Biography.com (www.biography.com) Rich source of current & historical information
  Famous Birthdays (www.famousbirthdays.com/) Find out what famous people were born on your birthday
 
Yearbooks
Consult a yearbook for the year you were born:
Britannica Book of the Year. Library has: 1940-2007. Location: ref AE5.E364
World Almanac.  Library has 1923- current. Location: ref AY67.N5W7

Special Days and Anniversaries
The American Book of Days. Location: ref GT4803.D6 1948
Chase's Calendar of Events. Published annually. Location: ref GT4803.C48

Newspaper Backfiles -- Online and on Microfilm
Consult backfiles of newspapers to identify events associated with when you were born. 

Online: The Historical New York Times database, covering 1851 to 2001, is an excellent database to use for research on events of a specific day. From the Library home page (libwww.cabrillo.edu), click on Fulltext Articles, then Historical New York Times (you'll need a Cabrillo library card if connecting from off-campus). To search for a specific date, enter your date (in the format mm/dd/yyyy) in the "on this date" box and click on the Search button.

Microfilm (located in cabinets near the microfilm machines):
New York Times: 1939-2003 on microfilm (latest 3 months in paper).
The Register-Pajaronion: 1868-1946 (latest 3 months in paper).
The Santa Cruz Sentinel: 1855- current (latest 3 months in paper).
 

tns; gr rev. 8/09