Check out the Course Reserves.

Oxford Music Online

A Chronology of American Musical Theater Ref. ML1711.8.N3 N67 2002

Film it with Music: an Encyclopedic Guide to the American Movie Musical. Bookstacks: PN1995.9.M86 H57 2001

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre

Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia

Show Tunes: the Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers. Bookstacks: ML128.M78 S86 2010

The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television. Ref. ML102.M88 H593 2008

Broadway Musicals: a Hundred Year History. Bookstacks. ML2054 .L48 2002

The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. Ref. ML102.M88 G3 2001

The Musical: a Research and Information Guide. Music Stack: ML128.M78 E84 2011  

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)

Sample subject browses:

Musicals (in general)

 

Musicals -- United States. (a particular country)

-- 20th Century -- History And Criticism.

-- Analysis, Appreciation.

-- Bibliography.

-- Dictionaries.

-- Exhibitions.

-- Foreign Influences.

-- History And Criticism.

-- Stories, Plots, Etc.

 

Musical Theater (in general)

 

Musical Theater -- United States (a particular country)

-- Dictionaries

-- History.

-- History -- 18th Century.

-- History -- 19th Century.

-- History And Criticism.

-- Pictorial Works.

 

Musical films (in general)

Musical Films -- United States -- History And Criticism. (a particular country)

 

On Dominant Figures

Porter, Cole

Stream Videos

Dance in Video

Opera in video

blinkx

Hulu

Digital Images

ARTstor

Image Quest (rights-cleared images)

American Memory

Google LIFE Photo Archive 1750s -

New York Public Library Picture Collection

New York Public Library Web Gallery of Images

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

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.

A. 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. Academic OneFile
All subjects; a convenient Quick Start. Here are some sample findings:

 

4. Film, Music and Cultural History

Limit Your Results

Peer Reviewed

*Databases included: Film & Television Literature Index, Mass Media, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, , Music Index Online  and RILM Abstracts of Music Literature.

 

5. Literature, Performing Arts, Business

 

 

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

B. Diversity of Scholarship and Sources

In the study of popular musical theater, you can choose to focus on your topic from a variety of perspectives, and you will need to consult diverse publications in theater scholarship, musical scholarship (and, perhaps, sociological and economic scholarship) as well as the popular press.

For example, from the perspective of performance studies, you may engage in describing how a musical uses some dramatic conventions to offer social commentaries. You will be offering your own analysis of their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in conveying the message to the audience.

C. Search Tips

C. Start with "names" of the composers, lyricists, librettists, directors, designers, choreographers, performers and producers, and, titles of the shows.

2. Examine search results to learn what and how critics and scholars have written about your potential topics.

3. Think of "evidence". For example, when research on the question, "Why do musicals continue to be popular?", you may consider using analysis of evidence such as "box office", "attendance", duration of productions to prove its popularity.

A. Current:

Book, Movie, Music, Play, And Video Reviews (in LexisNexis)

Factiva (more international coverage)

Alt-PressWatch (1970 -present)

Ethnic NewsWatch (1959-present)

 

B. Historical

Times Digital Archive  (1785 - 1985)

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

Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)

African American Newspapers - 19th Century

American Newspapers (1690 - 1922)

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (1860-1922)

American Periodicals (1740 - 1940)

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

 

OpinionArchives

     Some of the oldest continuously published magazines in America, including American Spectator, Commentary, Commonweal, Dissent, Harpers Magazine, NACLA, The Nation, The National Review, The New Republic, New York Review, and The New Yorker.

 

In print:

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. (1944 to 1994)
Ref. PN1601 .N4
(Continued by National Theatre Critics Reviews.
Ref. PN 2000 .N3)

Tip: Use the Year End Index, either in the front or in the back page in the binder.

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.

MLA Style (for citing sources)

RefWorks