English and American Literature

Facts and Background Information
Selected print and electronic encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.
Books
Locate items in the library catalog and other libraries.
Articles
Use indexes to search for articles in journals, proceedings, etc.
Primary Sources
Websites
Recommended academic, professional, and learned societies sites, and more.
Contact a Librarian

Below are a few major, frequently used sources for the study of English and American Literature. See also the research guides to General Humanities, Drama & Dance, Film, and Classics.

Please consult with a reference librarian for directions to many more sources in your topic. Internet resources require a Tufts I.D. number for off-campus access (authorized users statement).

 

Facts and Background Information     [back to top]

Guides

Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: English and American Literature
[PRINT. Tisch Reference PR56 .B34 1995]

A Reference Guide for English Studies
[PRINT. Tisch Reference PR83 .Z99 H34]

Handbooks, Encyclopedias, Histories, Biographical Works

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Provides nearly 10,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world’s most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
[PRINT. Tisch reference desk LB2369 .G53]

Oxford Companion to American Literature
[PRINT Tisch Reference PS21 .H3]

Oxford Companion to English Literature
[PRINT. Tisch Reference PR19 .D73]

Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary 1972-

Bibliography

American Literary Scholarship
[PRINT. Tisch Book Stacks PS3 .A47]

Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry
[CD-ROM. Request at Tisch reference desk]

New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature
[PRINT. Tisch Reference Z2011 .N45]

Wing Short-Title Catalogue, 1641-1700
[CD-ROM. Request at Tisch reference desk]
Short-title catalog of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700.

The Year’s Work in English Studies
[PRINT. Tisch Book Stacks PE58 .E6 -- v. 1 (1917) - ]

Find Books     [back to top]

These databases use Library of Congress subject headings:

Library Catalog How To Use

Boston Library Consortium Catalogs How To Use

Worldcat How To Use
Catalog records from thousands of North American libraries.

For more on how to find articles, see Database Searching Tips (also available in PDF).

Genres

Below are listed a few major indexes. Consult a reference librarian for help with other indexes to poetry, short stories, and plays.

Columbia Granger's World of Poetry
[CD-ROM. Request at Tisch reference desk]
Incorporates Granger's Index to Poetry, Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry, Columbia Granger's Dictionary of Poetry, and Columbia Granger's Guide to Poetry Anthologies.

Short Story Index
[PRINT Tisch Reference Z5917.S5 C6 with supplements]

Play Index
[PRINT Tisch Reference Z5781 .P53 (year)]

For more on how to find books and search subjects, click here.

Find Articles     [back to top]

MLA International Bibliography 1963- How To Use
An international index to books and journals on the modern languages and literatures, including linguistics and folklore. Publications from 1921 to 1962 are covered in printed volumes at Tisch Reference Indexes [HUM] Z7006 .M64.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index 1974- How To Use
Provides author, subject and citation access to journal articles and book reviews in the arts and humanities. Coverage from 1974. Part of Web of Science.

International Medieval Bibliography. Brepols, 1967-
An international index to medieval topics (400-1500) in literature, language, history, archaeology, art, music, theater, Arabic and Islamic studies, and religion and philosophy. IMB covers 4,500 journals and over 5,000 miscellany volumes in 30 languages.

World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
Provides annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare and published or produced since 1971.

Electronic journals

Periodicals are listed in the library catalog. Holdings in all formats are unified in one record, and most entries for journals held in electronic format contain a hyperlink to the source; searches in the web-based catalog enable one to follow these links directly. A complete list of electronic journals is on the Tisch homepage under Electronic Journals.

Many humanities journals held in digital format are parts of Project Muse or JSTOR. Although these databases include search engines for the journals they contain, the indexes listed above are the most comprehensive and authoritative sources for the literature of the discipline, and frequently link directly to our electronic journals.

For more on how to find articles, see Database Searching Tips (also available in PDF).

Primary Sources     [back to top]

General

ArchivesUSA How To Use
Information about primary source materials from U.S. manuscript repositories, with detailed indexes of manuscript and other special collections.

Early English Books Online How To Use
Over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661), comprising all known English-language books from the beginning of printing to 1700. Years 1474-1640 are available also in microform, TISCH MICROFORMS R484.

Early American Imprints 1639-1819
An online collection reproducing every extant book, pamphlet, and broadside published in America from 1639 to 1819 - the complete printed, non-serial source materials of American culture for the 17th and 18th centuries. Covers titles in the Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker bibliographies. Available also in microform: TISCH MICROFORMS F700.

Early American Newspapers 1690-1876
Contains hundreds of historic newspapers listed in Clarence Brigham's authoritative bibliography and in additional subsequent bibliographies with an emphasis on newspapers that began publication before 1820.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online
ECCO aims to deliver every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the Enghteenth Century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas: books, directories, Bibles, scientific treatises, almanacs, laws, court cases, sheet music, sermons, advertisements, speeches, handbills, parish registers, pool books, cookbooks, etc.

Women Writers Online
A full-text collection of works written by women, in English or in English translation, before 1850.

American Poetry How To Use
Over 40,000 poems by more than 200 American poets from the Colonial period to the early 20th century.

African-American

African- American Poetry
Nearly 3,000 poems written by African-American poets in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Black Literature 1872-1940
[MICROFICHE. Tisch Microforms MICRO. F589]
Reproduces articles by African-American authors originally published in newspapers and periodicals between 1827 and 1940. The microfiches entitled Black Fiction also include poetry, book reviews and literary notices discussing particular authors. Accompanied by guide with same title.

Black Literature 1872-1940. Chadwyck-Healey Inc.
[CD-ROM. Request at Tisch reference desk]
Electronic index to microtext set of the same name (see above).

Shakespeare

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare How To Use
Eleven major editions from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, 24 separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than 100 adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Websites     [back to top]

Tufts Department of English

Voice of the Shuttle: English Literature
Comprehensive links in English studies.

Children's Literature Web Guide

Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia

Literary Resources on the Net

Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Search the Collected Works of Shakespeare

For more on how to find and evaluate websites, see How to Evaluate Web Sources.

Contact a Librarian     [back to top]

Christopher Barbour. Contact for questions about library collections.
Chao Chen (interim). Contact for reference questions and instruction requests.

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Featured Resource

Eighteenth-Century Collections Online

ECCO aims to deliver every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the Eighteenth Century...

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