Please feel free to contact Joe Bourneuf via e-mail or the Widener Reference Desk staff in person or by phone 617-495-2411, with questions about effective use of the following resources, or advice on library research methodology.
Indexes to journal articles
MLA
(Modern Language Association) Bibliography.
Provides references to scholarly articles in over 3,000 literature journals
and books of collected essays from 1926 to the present.
(Does not include book reviews. The next index, ABELL,
does include them.)
Annual
Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL)
Beginning in 1920, this index lists monographs,
periodical articles, book reviews, and critical editions of literary works
in English Literature - including poetry, prose, fiction, films, biography,
travel writing, literary theory and studies of individual authors. Many
recent citations link to full-text articles.
Historical
Abstracts and America: History and life
Historical Abstracts and America History and Life may be searched as a single database indexing over 1,700 historical journals with worldwide scope. Optionally, they may be searched separately as world history, excluding the United States and Canada, or as the United States and Canada only. Citations can be "expanded" to include abstracts.
International
Medieval Bibliography
Indexes journal articles, essay collections, and conference proceedings
and includes virtually all disciplines within medieval studies.
Royal
Historical Society Bibliography
A comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources dealing
with the British Isles, British Empire and Commonwealth from 55 BC to
the present. Includes all references cited from 1901 – 2002 in the Annual
Bibliographies of British and Irish History and its predecessor, Writings
on British History, as well as pre-1901 citations from Oxford’s Bibliography
of British History series. Post- 2002 citations are added on a continuing
and timely basis.
Francis
An index published by the Centre Nationale de Recherches Scientifiques
(Paris), strong on books and articles in the humanities and social sciences
published in western europe.
IBZ:
Internationale Bibliographie der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen
Zeitschriftenliteratur.
An international and interdisciplinary bibliography of academic periodical
literature focusing on the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts. It contains
over 2.550.000 journal articles from about 10.785 journals covering the
years to the present.
International Index to Black Periodicals
The International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP) includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers, and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. Many recent articles link to full text.
HAPI,
Hispanic American periodicals index.
The Hispanic American Periodicals Index contains citations
to articles in more than 400 scholarly journals published in Latin America
or treating Latin American and U.S. Hispanic topics. Dates of coverage:
1970 to present.
Handbook
of Latin American Studies
The Handbook of Latin American Studies contains records describing books,
book chapters, articles, and conference papers published in the field
of Latin American studies. Coverage includes relevant books as well as
over 800 social science and 550 humanities journals and volumes of conference
papers from 1990 to the present.
Periodicals
Index Online
An index to the contents of thousands of journals in the humanities and
social sciences, from their first issues to 1990/1991. The journals are
primarily american and british, but include many european language publications.
Nineteenth
Century Masterfile (Poole's)
Primarily useful as an online version of Poole's Index, the
major contemporary index to American, and too some extent, British periodical
literature from 1802 - 1906. Also provides access to a variety of other
indexes to journal articles, newspapers and government documents.
American
Periodical Series 1740-1900
Indexes and links to digitized page images, of American magazines
and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford's American
Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched, and 1900.
The bulk of the collection dates from the 19th-century; periodicals that
began publication before 1900 and continued into the 20th century are
included through 1940.
Academic
Search Premier (Ebsco)
A general-purpose index to both popular and academic articles, a majority
of which are full text. Particularly useful for book and film reviews.
Indexes for film studies
FIAF
International FilmArchive Database (1972-)
The main database, the International Index to Film Periodicals contains
over 230,000 article references from more than 300 academic and popular
film journals from 1972 to the present.
Film
Index International
Lists about 100,000 films from 170 countries with cast and production
information. Also offers references to periodical articles about each
film, many of which are not included in FIAF, and biographical data for
40,000 film industry figures.
Full text resources
English and American literary texts
Literature
Online (LION)
Primary texts include among other genres: English poetry from 600 to the
present, American and African-American poetry from 1600 to the present,
Eighteenth and nineteenth century english fiction, Early american fiction,
etc. Secondary sources include the Annual Bibliography of English Language
and Literature and the New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics
(see both above), also the King James Bible, Webster's third International
Dictionary, the Routledge encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in
english, and similar titles, also numerous links to other Web resources,
and biographical information for over 1000 prominent authors.
NEW World Literature Online: Primary Texts in Postcolonial, Black, Gender, and Regional Literatures.
The 14 collections in World Literature Online currently include: Black Short Fiction, Black Women Writers, Caribbean Literature, Latino Literature, Latin American Women Writers, Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period, Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period, South and Southeast Asian Literature in English, Black Drama, Twentieth Century North American Drama, North American Indian Drama, North American Women’s Drama, Asian American Drama, American Film Scripts, and Asian American Drama.
Early
English Books Online (EEBO)
Facsimiles of the complete texts of over 100,000 books listed in the Short-Title
Catalogues (STC) of Books Printed in Great Britain, British America, and
of English Books Printed in Other Countries from 1475-1700. (Pollard &
Redgrave and Wing). Virtually the entire body of work published in English
before 1700.
Eighteenth
Century Collections Online
Provides full text searching of over 33 million original page images from
over 150,000 books, described by the database publisher as "in essence,
every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed
in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the
Americas."
Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice, 1490-2007
A"portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today."
Defining
Gender; 1450 - 1910
A collection of books and pamphlets advising women, men, and children
on etiquette, accomplishments, and behavior conducive to worldly success.
Early
American Imprints, Series 1 (1639-1800)
Books, pamphlets and broadsides issued in America from 1639 to 1800,
recorded in Charles Evans' American Bibliography, which, although somewhat
incomplete, attempted to be a comprehensive catalog of American publishing.
Includes material on virtually every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century
America.
Making
of America (Cornell University)
Offers facsimile pages with full text searchability from over 100,000
journal articles and 267 books published during the 19th century.
See also: Making
of America (University of Michigan)
American
Memory
A gateway to the Library of Congress’s vast resources of digitized
American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that
document U.S. history and culture, organized into more than 100 thematic
collections.
Nineteenth
Century Short Title Catalog (NSTC)
Not full text, but provides citations and
major research library holdings data on all print materials published
in the United States and the British Empire from 1801 to 1919, all books
in English, wherever published, during that same time, as well as translations
from English.
Romance language literary texts:
Biblioteca
Miguel Cervantes de las culturas hispánicas
Full text facsimiles of the works of major Spanish and Latin
American Authors provided by the Universidad de Alicante, Spain
ARTFL
The primary ARTFL collection, FRANTEXTconsists of nearly 2000 texts, ranging
from classic works of French literature to various kinds of non-fiction
prose and technical writing. The eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth
centuries are about equally represented, with a smaller selection of seventeenth
century texts as well as some from the medieval and Renaissance periods.
ARTFL offers sophisticated tools for analyzing the texts offered. Also
important are its Reference Collection of French and English dictionaries
and other resources, including the Trésor de la Langue Française
dictionary. Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie is a seperate
database within ARTFL.
Gallica
Full text access to the classics of French literature and a tremendous
array of books, journals and other documents, presented by the Bibliotheque
Nationale de France.
Newspapers
(London)
Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)
Provides fully searchable indexing to all issues of the (London) Times,
1785-1985, , with results displayed as original page images. Includes
all news, features, editorials and commentary, advertising, pictures and
illustrations.
New
York Times. 1851 –
All issues of the New York Times, 1851-2003, in full text,
full image forms, including news, illustrations, editorial matter, and
advertising.
Early
American Newspapers (1690-1876)
Searchable, full-text database of early American newspapers,
based on collection published in microform by Readex. The majority were
published between 1690 and 1820, although issues of newspapers that continued
publication beyond these dates are included, through 1876.
Pennsylvania
Gazette, 1728-1800
Considered The New York Times of the 18th century.
African-American
Newspapers: The 19th Century
The searchable full text of:
Freedom's Journal, New York, New York (March 16, 1827 - March 28 1829)
The Colored American (Weekly Advocate), New York, New York (January 7,
1837 - December 25, 1841)
The North Star, Rochester, New York (December 3, 1847 - April 17,1851)
The National Era, Washington, D.C. (January 7, 1847 - March 22, 1860)
Provincial Freeman, Chatham, Canada West (1854-1857)
Frederick Douglass' Paper, Rochester, New York (1851-1859) (Completed
through December 1852)
The Christian Recorder (1861-1902)
Civil
War: A Newspaper Perspective
The New York Herald, the Charleston Mercury, and the Richmond
Enquirer, published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865
American
Periodical Series 1740-1900
Searchable, full-text database, with digitized page images, of American
magazines and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford's
American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched,
and 1900. The bulk of the collection dates from the 19th-century; periodicals
that began publication before 1900 and continued into the 20th century
are included through 1940. Based on the American Periodical Series (APS
I, II, and III) microfilm collections.
British Periodicals
When completed in 2008, British Periodicals Collection I and II together "will offer facsimile page images and searchable full text for nearly 500 British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th centuries." Topics covered in the various titles include literature, philosophy, history, science, fine arts, social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology, and architecture.
18th Century Journals
A selection of rare journals printed between 1714 and 1799 illuminating all aspects of eighteenth century social, political and literary life. Many are ephemeral, lasting only for a handful of issues, others run for several years.
Internet Library of Early British Journals
Includes six eigteenth and nineteenth century journal not available in British Periodicals Online:
Annual Register (1758-78)
Gentleman's Magazine (1731-50)
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1757-77)
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1843-63)
Notes and Queries (1849-69)
The Builder (1843-52)
HarpWeek
(Harper’s Weekly) 1857 - 1912
HarpWeek is an electronic edition of Harper's Weekly, the
leading American illustrated magazine of its day, which covered the political,
military, social, and cultural stories of its day; each issue also included
editorial comment, literature, humor, with extensive illustrations
Godey's
Lady's Book
One of the most significant American periodicals of the 19th
century, that published a wide variety of fiction, poetry, essays, reviews,
music, and includes illustrations, and fashion plates.
Primary sources: letters, diaries and a variety of original documents
Archive of Americana
Full-text collection of source material documenting the history and culture of the United States, including: Early American Imprints, Series I and II; America’s Historical Newspapers (Early American Newspapers, Series I, II, III); American State Papers, 1789-1838; U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980; and American Broadsides and Ephemera.
Making of the Modern World
Provides full-text searching of more than 61,000 works of literature on commerce, finance, social conditions, politics, trade and transport,1450 through 1850, from the vast collection of material in the Kress Collection of Business and Economics at the Baker Library, Harvard Business School and the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature at the University of London Library.
American
Civil War: Letters and Diaries.
North
American Women's Letters and Diaries. Colonial period - 1950
Women
and Social Movements in the United States: 1600-2000
Books, documents, images, scholarly essays, commentaries and bibliographies,
documenting aspects of American women's public lives and political activities.
North
American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories. 1800 - 1950
Early
Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment. Letters,
diaries, memoirs, 1534-1860.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries. Colonial period - 1950
Biographical sources
American
National Biography Online.
A standard source for U.S. historical biography with over 17,000
individual entries. The ANB Online is fully searchable and includes illustrations,
cross-references, and links to external web sites.
Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography
The electronic version of the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography published in 2004, the sixty volumes of which include
50,000 biographies and some 10,000 images of deceased "men and women
who have shaped all aspects of the British past." Enhancements available
online include the ability to view articles from the earlier edition of
the DNB; a "Themes" section that provides access to "reference
lists" of individuals who have held particular offices (e.g., Archbishops
of Canterbury) and to essays on various topics (e.g., The General Election
of 1964: Forty Years On), and links to relevant web sites.
Biography
and genealogy master index
The best place to begin a search for biographical information,
indexing 13.5 million references in almost 3,000 print biographical dictionaries
and reference works
World
Biographical Information System
Provides brief identifying information, primarily on pre-20th
century figures, with references to entries in biographical dictionaries,
which are reproduced on microfiche available in the Widener Reference
Room. Many of these sources are also in the Widener stacks in their original
paper format.
Many countries have major, standard biographical dictionaries, examples:
Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie
Widener | RR 1786.5
Dictionnaire de biographie française
Widener | RR 1771.4
Dizionario biografico degli Italiani
Widener | RR 1781.5
Literary Guides and Dictionaries
These can be invaluable tools for decoding sometimes obscure terminology and complex concepts.
Johns
Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
This online Guide is an alphabetically arranged survey of literary
criticism and theory, with entries for individuals, critical topics, movements,
theories, and contributions of specific countries and periods. Includes
bibliographies and indexes to related entries at the end of each article.
International in scope, with emphasis on western critical theory.
Also available in print format:
Widener | RR 3005.31.13
Lamont | PN81 .J554 2005
Dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. J.A. Cuddon
Widener: RR 3005.31.9
The Edinburgh encyclopaedia of modern criticism and theory. edited
by Julian Wolfreys.
Widener | RR 3005.31.15
The new Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics / Alex
Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan.
Despite the title, this is an excellent resource for literature
in general, and is available as one of the full-text reference works via
LION
(see Full Text Colllections, above)
Child Memorial | ChM 1007.19
Hilles | REF.DESK | PN1021 .N39 1993
Lamont | PN1021 .N39 1993
Lamont | REF.ROOM | PN1021 .N39 1993 (circulating copy)
Widener | RR 3063.5.2
Encyclopedia of rhetoric and composition : communication from ancient
times to the information age. edited by Theresa Enos.
Widener | RR 3005.31.27
Dictionary of concepts in literary criticism and theory. Wendell
V. Harris.
Lamont | REF.ROOM | PN41 .H36 1992
Widener | RR 3005.31.8
General research aids
Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
Fully searchable online version of the 15th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Also includes Chicago Manual Q & A, online tools, and a Chicago Style Citation Quick Guide.
Oxford
Reference Collection Online
Offers online access to over 100 dictionary, language and
subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, among them:
the Oxford Companions to English, and to American Literature, the Oxford
Dictionary of English, the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and a broad
selection of bilingual dictionaries. These can be searched by keyword
as individual titles, or across the entire collection.
A research guide for undergraduate students : English and
American literature. Nancy L. Baker and Nancy Huling.
An excellent general introduction to research strategies
and processes
Widener RR 3101.13
Searching the HOLLIS Online Catalog
RefWorks
Simplifies the creation of footnotes and bibliographic citations
within a Word document. Formats citations in the MLA, or virtually any
other standard reference style. See:
Using RefWorks at Harvard.
Lastly, two excellent, publicly accessible, internet sites with resource
links for the history and literature:
Voice
of the Shuttle (VoS)
"provides a structured and briefly annotated guide to online resources
that at once respects the established humanities disciplines … (and)
points toward the transformation of those disciplines as they interact
with the sciences and social sciences and with new digital media. (See
such pages as Cultural Studies, Sci-Tech and Culture, Cyberculture, and
Technology of Writing.) VoS emphasizes both primary and secondary (or
theoretical) resources …"
Literary
Resources on the Net
A site maintained at Rutgers University with well organized links
to a broad array of scholarly web pages from around the world.