Alex

Here are some keywords you might use to search the Digital Tradition (the database referred to above): history/historical (but most of the entries are British, rather than American), 1812, airplane, civil (as in civil war), confederate, disaster, flood, IWW, gold, mill, mine/mining, murder, NJ, NY, pirate, political, prohibition, railroad, rescue, revolution, WWI, WWII, wreck, train, submarine, shipwreck. Not all songs that come up from these searches will be what you are looking for, but some will be. Also, you can do regular, not keyword, searches for famous people, such as JFK* or Lincoln.