chao chen, research librarianChao Chen, Research Librarian; Home
email: chao.chen@tufts.edu; phone: 617.627.2057.
Tisch Library, Tufts University

The American Suburb

related page: Built in Boston

Research Sources & Tips

 

Reserves | A Few Titles at Tisch | More Books | Terms & Definitions | Journal Articles | Full Text | Popular Press | Request Articles | Images | Citing

 

I. Course Reserves

Course Reserves


II. Some Textbooks and Readers at Tisch and Web Sites

American Masterworks: Houses of the 20th and 21st.
Oversize: NA7208 .F67 2008

USA: Modern Architectures in History.
Oversize: NA712.5.M63 W75 2008

Writing Urbanism: a Design Reader / edited by Douglas Kelbaugh and Kit Krankel McCullough.
Oversize: NA9105 .W75 2008

All American: Innovation in American Architecture.
Oversize: NA712 .C35 2002

Architecture in the United States, 1800-1850.
Oversize: NA710 .M39 2002

 

American Institute of Architects: Blueprint for America Initiatives


III. Architects, Buildings, and Architectural History

A. Use Library Catalogs to find books

1. Tufts Libraries Catalog


2. WorldCat (beyond Tufts)


B. Searches & Results

(note the search pattern; modify to your own needs)


 

1. Topics/ Issues:

"united states" and suburb* and architect*

"united states" and urban* and architect*

*architect* searches for architect, architecture, etc.

 

Country Homes

Suburban homes -- United States

New towns -- United States

 

Housing -- United States -- History.

 

suburbs united states

cities and towns united states

Metropolitan areas -- United States

Urban beautification

Architecture in films

Cities and towns in films

Architecture in literature

Cities and towns in literature

Sample findings:

What Americans Build and Why: Psychological Perspectives. / Ann Sloan Devlin.

 

Major Problems in American Urban History: Documents and Essays. / edited by Howard P. Chudacoff.

 

Modern American Houses: Fifty Years of Design in Architectural Record. / edited by Clifford A. Pearson; with essays by Thomas Hine ... [et al.].

 

 

su:architect* and (gender or women or feminis*) and "united states"

su:architect* and (race or racial or ethnic*) and "united states"

2. in the contexts of building types/Styles/Periods:

Architecture domestic

Dwellings

Historic buildings

Public architecture

sustainable architecture

 

3. Plans, Sections and Elevations

architectural drawing and united states

architectural drawing and wright

architecture details and (modern or 19th century)

architectural rendering

architecture designs and plans and (modern or 20th century)

sample finding:

Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations. / Richard Weston.



Appendix II. Terms & Definitions

The Oxford Companion to Architecture

Oxford Art Online

Dictionary of Architecture & Construction / edited by Cyril M. Harris.

Time-saver Standards for Urban Design / editors, Donald Watson, Alan Plattus, Robert G. Shibley.

Building Types Study (in Architectural Record)

American Institute of Architects: Practicing Architecture


Appendix III. Citing Sources

Chicago Style Manual


RefWorks


IV. More Specific and Current Discussions

A. Use the subject databases to find journal articles.

1 & 2. JSTOR and Project Muse
JSTOR is a favorite with its full texts in core journals of all disciplines. Project Muse does not include exactly the same JSTOR journals, but it has more recent and current articles on many topics.


3. Architecture (the Avery Index)

(the principal database)

4. America: History and Life

5. Film & Television Literature Index  

6. MLA International Bibliography  (Literature)

7. When use GoogleScholar, set your Library Links to access Tufts full texts.

 

B. Variety of Keywords to cover all aspects

Search with a whole range of keywords: the building, its type, its locale, the city or the country, its period or style; its client/patron, its materials, its setting/site, the architect and his/her theory and ideals, etc.


C. Learn the Language of the Source

In Avery citations on the fairly recent project "the Big Dig House in Lexington, Massachusetts" you will find such subject terms as "Adaptive reuse", "Construction and demolition debris"

The search on the "Wellesley College Library" in Avery finds few articles on the building itself at this point. However, a search on the architect discovers articles on their past and related works University and College Libraries. You place your specific question in a larger context--the study of a type of buildings.


D. Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the findIt@tufts button button in your search results screen to a window of three sequential options:

a. link to the digital full text when available;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the print journal;

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a. Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)

b. Electronic journals list

c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

E. Request Articles/Books

Set up for your ILliad account


Use ILLiad, our Interlibrary Loan Service, to request articles, books and other materials that are not available at Tufts.


V. Popular Press

Current:

LexisNexis Academic

Factiva (more international coverage)

 

Boston News (Boston Globe and Local Newspapers)


Historical

Boston Globe (1872-1979)

New York Times Online Archive
(1851 - 3 years before current date)

Times Digital Archive  (1785 - 1985)


Art Index Retrospective   (1929- 1982)

 

Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)


American Periodicals (1740 - 1940)

British Humanities Index (1962- )
British Periodicals (1680s - 1930s)


Appendix I. Images

Digital

ARTstor (including SAHARA Project by the Society of Architectural Historians)

Artifact (Tufts University)

Great Buildings Collection (from the magazine Architecture Week, a vast collection of current and historical "photographic images, architectural drawings, maps, timelines, 3D building models, commentaries, bibliographies, and web links.)

Art Project (museums from around the world by Google)

Image Quest (two million rights-cleared images)

City of Chicago Landmarks

American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920

A Digital Archive of American Architecture

 

Books with images at Tisch

(architect* or building*) and united states and pictorial works

monuments and pictorial works

architect* and photo*

architect* and exhibition*