Home - ENGL 101 - Archuleta - Decolonizing the Story of the Pilgrims - Research Guides at Modesto Junior College Library

Start with Background Reading

Use the Gale eBooks database (link is below) to find short overview articles on topics related to your research.

Some recommended search terms:

William Bradford
Of Plymouth Plantation
Squanto
Puritans
Great Migration (1630-1660)
Thomas Morton

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.

Understanding your class readings

The following articles from the free online World History Encyclopedia will give you background on On Plymouth Plantation and New English Canaan.

Recommended Film for Background Research

The Pilgrims
This 2015 film from PBS explores the forces, circumstances, personalities and events that converged to exile the English group in Holland and eventually propel their crossing to the New World.

Recommended Libraray Databases for Further Research

American Indian History This link opens in a new window
This encyclopedia is especially recommended. For example, see the two articles below.

American Indian Experience This link opens in a new window
Use this database to find both primary sources and brief overview articles.
American History This link opens in a new window
Contains articles, images, primary source documents, timelines, videos, and slideshows.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Full text coverage of over 200 journals and nearly 100 books.
Issues & Controversies in History This link opens in a new window
Includes background, outcomes and contemporary points of view for historical topics. For example, see the article below.

Religious Freedom in Early America (article from Issues & Controversies in History)

Recommended Library eBooks

Often the best information on historical topics is found in books, not articles. Use the table of contents and the index to locate the chapters/sections that are most relevant to your topic.

New World, Known World: Shaping Knowledge in Early Anglo-American Writing by David Read
Publication Date: 2005
Examines William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation (chapter 2) and Thomas Morton's New English Canaan (chapter 3).
A People's History of the United States, 1492-present by Howard Zinn
Publication Date: 2013
See Chapter 1 for an analysis that puts the Pilgrims’ treatment of the native peoples in context with all of Europe’s invasion of the New World.
New England's Crises and Cultural Memory: Literature, Politics, History, Religion, 1620–1860 by John McWilliams
Publication Date: 2004
See Chapter 2, Thomas Morton: Phoenix of New England Memory
Mayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience by Martyn Whittock
Publication Date: 2019
A fresh and revealing history of one of the most seminal events in American history as seen through fourteen diverse and dynamic figures.
The Trials of Thomas Morton: An Anglican Lawyer, His Puritan Foes, and the Battle for a New England by Peter C. Mancall
Publication Date: 2020
A new look at Thomas Morton, his controversial colonial philosophy, and his lengthy feud with the Puritans.

Meet Your Librarian

Susan Cassidy

she, her, hers

Email Me

Contact:

Get research help Mondays through Saturdays via Ask a Librarian.

My Spring 2023 Research Help Schedule:

IN-PERSON (East Campus L&LC) and ONLINE CHAT:
Mondays 9-11 am
Tuesdays 11 am - 2pm
Wednesdays 3-4 pm
Thursdays 9-10 am; 3-5 pm

ZOOM APPOINTMENTS:
Times vary!
Make an appointment by clicking the orange Schedule Appointment button above.

ZOOM OFFICE HOURS (email me for link):
Wednesdays 1-2 pm

EMAIL ME or contact me through the Canvas inbox (if I'm embedded in your class) for a response within 24 hours.

cassidys@mjc.edu
(209) 575-6807 (message only)

Subjects: English

Research 101: Need More Research Help?

If you'd like much more in-depth instruction about the process of conducting research, please check out our guides:

Get Started with Library Research
Use this guide to become a more skillful researcher. Learn how to develop research questions, choose credible sources, evaluate your sources, cite them correctly, and avoid plagiarism

ENGL 101 - Archuleta - Decolonizing the Story of the Pilgrims: Home