Costume Design

(for the play, The Glass Menagerie.)

by Chao Chen, Humanities Reference Librarian

email chao.chen@tufts.edu | phone 617.627.2057 | home icon Homepage

Chao Chen

Quick Lookup:The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers


Research Preparation

A. Playscript analysis—extract as much factual material as possible from the script:

  • 1. When: year, season, a special occasion such as a wedding, etc.
  • 2. Where: country, city, place such a home or in an office, etc.
  • 3. Who: the age, social class, and relationships of the characters, etc.
  • —Is there any particular significance to any or some of the above elements?

B. Conduct Historical Research to inform your visual research

  • 1. What kind of clothing such people would wear in such a time period, etc.
  • 2. Do the playwright and/or the characters have anything specific to say about their clothing?
 

A Few General Reference Sources:


Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Ref. GT507 .E53 2005 book cover

v. 1. Academic dress to Eyeglasses -- v. 2. Fads to nylon -- v. 3. Occult dress to Zoran

This is a comprehensive reference source that includes not only definitions, designers, and styles but also historical, psychological, anthropological, sociological, and political approaches to contemporary and historical dress. Steele, the editor is a leader in scholarly study of fashion; the 640 articles, each appended with a brief but useful bibliography are contributions from some 300 reputable academics, journalists, and fashion industry professionals.

Costume in Detail; Women's Dress, 1730-1930. Stack: GT580 .B67 1968

A Pictorial History of Costume; a Survey of Costume of all Periods and Peoples from Antiquity to Modern Times including National Costume in Europe and Non-European Countries. Oversize:  GT513 .B76 1955

 

arrow Course Materials on Course Reserves.

Enter the letter course code, e.g. DR, to search:


arrow WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)



Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.



Essays in Dictionary of Literary Biography

Subject Browse on the Playwright in the Catalog

you will find reference and primary sources such as:

  • Critical Companion to Tennessee Williams. PS3545.I5365 Z675 2005
  • The Tennessee Williams encyclopedia. PS3545.I5365 Z459 2004
  • Conversations with Tennessee Williams. PS3545.I5365 Z463 1986
  • Notebooks. PS3545.I5365 A6 2006
  • Memoirs. PS3545.I5365 Z52
  • Tennessee Williams: a Guide to Research and Performance. PS3545.I5365 Z8452 1998

Research on Social life and customs in the Southern States

Some Titles to Browse Through

  • Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: an Informal History. GT2853.U5 T39 1982
  • Long Journey Home: Folklife in the South. GR108 .L66
  • Place Over Time: the Continuity of Southern Distinctiveness. F209 .D43 1997
  • A Treasury of Southern Folklore; Stories, Ballads, Traditions, and Folkways of the People of the South. GR108 .B6

Browse, in the Catalog, on clothing in America throughout history:

costume united states.

fashion united states.

Clothing And Dress -- United States.

Check out this title: American Decades: 1930 - 1939.
Ref. E169.12 .A419 1994


Volume Four, pp189- 193: American Fashion



Note: use WorldCat to search beyond Tufts Collection of books on your topic.


Browse by the broader subjects in Tufts Catalog:

fashion

fashion history

costume

costume history

clothing and dress

clothing and dress history

Textile fabrics history


Advanced Keyword Searches in the Catalog:
  Material Type:

Click here to see Search results

Note:

  • 1. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;
  • 2. costume* for all forms of the word: costume, costumes, etc.
  • 3. limit search results to books.


Click on the sample search here.
fashion and (pictorial or exhibitions or photography or plates or drawings)


2. Search other libraries beyond Tufts Catalog:

WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)

Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.


3. Search for Art journals with images and photographs

ARTbibliographies Modern
Bibliography of the History of Art  

Enter your search terms:

Additional Database for Journals Articles

Art Abstracts

America: History and Life


Click on the number to pause the slide.

In print: Books with color plates, photographs, ect. are often the official records of the objects:

The Fashion Book. Oversize: TT503 .F37 1998 book cover

Spanning 150 years, the whole industry is represented -- from pioneering designers to influential photographers and the people they photographed. It is an A -- Z guide to 500 clothes and accessory designers, photographers, models and those iconic individuals who instigated or symbolize a whole fashion movement.

Each entry is illustrated with a photograph or drawing which shows a quintessential aspect of their work or style. An accompanying text describes where they fit into the fashion story and includes essential biographical information about the creator. (Publisher)

An Advanced Keyword Search, limiting to print materials:
  Material Type:

Click here to see Search Results

Note:

  • 1. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;
  • 2. photo* search all forms of the word, photo, photographs, photography
  • 3. limit search results to books.

Some titles to get you started

Album of American History. 4 vols. Ref. E178.5 .A48 1981

Picturing the South: 1860 to the Present: Photographers and Writers. Oversize: F215 .P56 1996.

American Costume, 1915-1970 : a Source Book for the Stage Costumer. PN2067 .O3 1982

Common Threads: a Parade of American Clothing. GT605 .H35 1992

Dress Codes: Meanings and Messages in American Culture. GT605 .R835 1995

The Good Old Days; a History of American Morals and Manners as Seen Throug the Sears, Roebuck Catalogs 1905 to the Present. E161 .C68

Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the FindItAtTufts button to these three options:

  • a. link to the full text of the article when available digitally;
  • b. link to a Library Catalog search for the journal in print that contains your article.
  • c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:


Photographs

American Memory

City Gallery

Getty Images Inc. Time & Life Pictures: Defining Visions of an Enduring History

AP Images 1840s - present.

Google LIFE Photo Archive

New York Public Library Picture Collection

New York Public Library Web Gallery of Images

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog


Culture and History Musuems

American Association for State and Local History

Smithsonian Museum

The American Association of Museums

This is the largest and most important museum organization in the world.


Images in Old Newspapers, Magazines and Journals

Nation, The 1865 - (the oldest continuously published weekly journal in America)

New Republic 1914 -

National Review 1955 - (with a conservative viewpoint)

Time Magazine 1923-

JStor 1923-

including earlier years of The Jounral of Southern History.


Note: You might need to identify artists creating art during a certain time period and search for their art works when other types of visual materials are not available.

Art Museums and Art Images

ARTstor

Art Museums (lists for art museums which have web sites)

Art Resource

Bridgeman Art Library

Visual Arts Data Service

World Images

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last updated: 24/07/09