Google Books and Historical Research

If you are looking for books published before 1924, check Google Books. More than 100,000 books free of copyright are available full-text and can be downloaded as pdfs. Plus you can searchthrough the entire text to find the information you seek.

For example, say that you are looking for letters from World War I published prior to 1924. Go to the Advanced Book Search option on Google Books.


This will find books such as War Letters of an American Woman published in 1916. To find a specific book type in the title or author in the appropriate search boxes.

Current books and books still in copyright are not usually available full-text but you can usually use the search feature to pinpoint the pages you might need. The search the UW Libraries to find a copy of the printed book.

For more information on using Google Books including some problems with the project:

• Google Books Search Tips
  
• A Research Revolution in the Making
  
• Google Books: What's Not to Like