Check out the Course Reserves.

Dictionary of Literary Biography

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays. PN1625 .P38 2005

The Cambridge Guide to Theatre

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance

Neoclassical Theatre: a Historiographical Handbook / Ronald W. Vince.

A. Use Library Catalogs to find books

1. Tufts Libraries Catalog

2. WorldCat (beyond Tufts)

B. Use Subject Databases for 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.

 

Expand your search into more databases and from various perspectives

3. 18thConnect (Eighteenth-Century Scholarship Online)

4. Academic OneFile
All subjects; a convenient Quick Start. Here are some sample findings.)

5. MLA

For drama criticism and theatre history

6. IIPA (International Index to Performing Arts

For theater reviews

7. Historical Abstracts  1450  

8. Dissertations & Theses

9. Europe E-theses portal    

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

C. Sample Searches in the Catalog:

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

Dramatists (any dramatist of your choice)

Schiller, Friedrich.

 

Voltaire, 1694-1778.

 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816.

 

Plays (on a play of your choice)

"The Servant of Two Masters"

"The London Merchant"

"She Stoops to Conquer"

 

a Theme

theater and s: society and s: England

 

(s: searches for the words in the subject index)

 

Follow the path in the Catalog
—Pay attention to relevant subject headings in your search results. Follow that link to more contents and broader contexts.

Author	Shepherd, Simon.
Title	English Drama: a Cultural History
Publisher	Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
Subject	English drama -- History and criticism.
	National characteristics, English, in literature.
	Literature and history -- England -- History.
	Theater and society -- England

 

More Subject Browses in the Catalog:

English Drama -- 18th Century.

French Drama -- 18th Century.  

German Drama -- 18th Century.

European Drama -- 18th Century -- History And Criticism.

 

Dramatic criticism -- Great Britain

Dramatic criticism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.

Dramatic criticism France

Dramatic criticism Germany

 

Performing arts -- England -- History.

 

Theater -- Europe -- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- England -- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- Great Britain-- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- Germany -- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- France -- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- France -- Paris -- History -- 18th Century.

Theater -- Spain -- Madrid -- History -- 18th century

 

 

Theater And Society -- France.

Theater And Society -- Germany

Theater And Society -- Great Britain

 

Theater and society -- England.

Theater and society Europe

 

English Drama -- Restoration, 1660-1700.

Politics And Literature -- England -- History -- 18th Century.

Literature And Society -- England -- History -- 18th Century.

 

Spanish Drama -- Classical Period, 1500-1700.

 

Acting -- History -- 18th century.

Actresses -- Great Britain

Actors -- Great Britain

Actors -- France

Actresses -- France

Actresses -- Germany

Actors -- Germany

A. Search the Tufts Libraries Catalog for primary sources:

1. Here is a sample title in the Tisch collections:

The London Stage, 1660-1800; a Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment. Compiled from the Playbills, Newspapers and Theatrical Diaries of the Period.

2. Search the Catalog with the keyword "sources" for primary sources at Tisch:

Theater -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.

Theater and England and Sources and 18th

Theater -- France -- History -- Sources.

Theater -- Germany -- History -- Sources.

Theater and Germany and Sources and 18th

3. Search the Tufts Libraries Catalog by a Play and Find Primary Sources:

e.g.,           ("george Barnwell" or "london merchant") and lillo

Sample findings:

The British theatre: or, A collection of plays, which are acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Haymarket... With biographical and critical remarks, by Mrs. Inchbald... London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1808.

 

Worcester Dramatic Museum. ... 17th week of the second season. ... Jan. 21st, [1853] ... (One of many historical playbills.)

 

British theatre. [London: J. Bell, 1791-1797.]
140 plays, issued separately, each with special title-page, engraved general title-page, representing a scene from the play, and front. showing an actor in a leading part. Most of the plays are preceded by biographical sketches of the authors, criticism of the play, etc. and dramatis personae, giving the names of the players.

 

The London apprentice; or, The melancholy history of George Barnwell: showing the evil effects of bad company; with the untimely end and execution of this deluded young man, who was induced by an infamous prostitute, named Mary Millwood, to rob his master and murder his uncle. (a chapbook/pamphlet)

 

Covent Garden prompt books, [1710-1824].

B. E-Texts

Eighteenth Century Collections Online  (1701-1800)

Every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the Eighteenth 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.

Eighteenth-Century E-Texts maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers

John Johnson Collection:  An Archive of Printed Ephemera (includes historical playbills)

Early English Books Online  (1473-1700)

The Making of the Modern World (books from the 1460-1850)

 

Some of the items found in the Catalog are also included in the above sources.

 

e.g.

Lillo, George. The London merchant: or the history of George Barnwell. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. By His Majesty's servants. by Mr. ...
The eighth edition .. with several additions and improvements, by the author. London, M.DCC.XLIII. [1743]. 71pp

 

——. The works of Mr. George Lillo; with some account of his life. ... . Containing, Silvia; or, The Country Burial. A Ballad Opera. George Barnwell, ...
London, MDCCLXXV. [1775]. 363pp.

 

——. The London merchant: or the history of George Barnwell. A tragedy, written by Mr. Lillo. Marked with the vriations in the manager's book, at ...

London, 1776. 61pp

 

Hitchcock, Robert. An historical view of the Irish stage; from the earliest period down to the close of the season 1788. Interspersed with theatrical anecdotes, and ...

Dublin, M,DCC,LXXXVIII. [1788]-94. 348pp.

 

Lillo, George. The London merchant: or the history of George Barnwell. A tragedy, written by Mr. Lillo. Distinguishing also the variations of the theatre, as ...

Glasgow, M,DCC,XC. [1790]. 55pp.

 

 

C. Contemporaneous Newspapers and Periodicals

British Periodicals (1680s - 1930s)

Times Digital Archive  (1785 - 1985)

17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (British)

Appendix I. Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the 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.

Appendix II. 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.

ARTstor Digital Library

New York Public Library Digital Gallery

"Penny Plains" and "Two-pence Coloured:" English Theatrical Portraits 1799-1847 in the William Appleton Collection

 

Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia

MLA Style (for citing sources)

RefWorks