Chronologies

Brakeman, Lynne, and Susan Gall, eds. Chronology of Women Worldwide: People, Places and Events that Shaped Women's History. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. 605p.

Coppens, Linda Miles. What American Women Did, 1789-1920: A Year-by-Year Reference. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. 259p.

Weatherford, Doris. Milestones: A Chronology of American Women's History. New York: Facts On File, 1997. 394p.
Online review from Reference Books Bulletin: http://www.ala.org/booklist/v93/44milest.html.

Zilboorg, Caroline, and Susan B. Gall, eds. Women's Firsts. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. 564p.

Encyclopedias

American Women's History: An On-Line Encyclopedia [online]. New York: Facts On File, 2000- . This commercial encyclopedia includes 1100 biographies, 225 topical entries, 200 primary source documents, 300 photos and other images, and 140 maps/charts.

Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn. The Encyclopedia of Women's History in America. New York: Facts On File, 1996. 339p.

Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth. The ABC-Clio Companion to Women's Progress in America. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 1994.

Mankiller, Wilma, et al., eds. The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 696p.

Tierney, Helen, ed. Women's Studies Encyclopedia. Vol. III: History, Philosophy, and Religion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991. 531p.
This Encyclopedia provides good introductions to such broad topics as "Immigrant Women," "Antislavery Associations," and "Women's Rights Movements." Volumes I and II of this set cover "Views from the Sciences" and "Literature, Arts, and Learning," respectively.

Weatherford, Doris. American Women's History. New York: Prentice Hall Reference, 1994.

Zophy, Angela Howard, ed. Handbook of American Women's History. New York: Garland, 1990. 763p.
An excellent place to begin when one is new to a topic in the field. It includes "...summary definitions with focused bibliography for crucial concepts, events, organizations and various historical persons" (from the Introduction).