Literary Researching Techniques and Resources

 Ordinarily the most direct way to find out what you need to know about a strictly limited topic is to go to the appropriate one of the two basic bibliographies: the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature or Volume II of the latest edition of Literary History of the United States.

 Standard histories of periods and types of literature are also rich in bibliographical apparatus. The Oxford History of English Literature has copious references to more out-of-the-way items.

 Other resources:
 
 

• MLA "guides to research" -- English Romantic poets and essayists (Frank Jordan, Jr.); Victorian poets (Frederic E. Faverty); Victorian fiction (Lionel Stevenson); and the major Victorian writers of non-fictional prose (David J. DeLaura).

 

 

• MLA International Bibliography

 

 

• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature

 

 

• The Year's Work in English Studies

 

 

• Current lists of articles on American literature appear in each quarterly issue of American Literature.

 

 

• American Literary Scholarship (analogous to The Year's Work in English Studies; supplement to American Literature).

 

 

• Dissertations in English and American Literature (Lawrence F. McNamee) List of dissertations published by H.W. Wilson Co. and the Library of Congress -- all fields.

 

 

 Resources:
 
 

• National Union Catalog: Pre-1956 Imprints (Indexes the holdings of over 2000 libraries across the U.S.)

 

 

• American Library Resources (Robert B. Downs) -- bibliography of printed catalogues, inventories, exhibition lists, and other guides to individual library collections.

 

 

• Short-Title Catalogue (locates copies of the book)

 

 

• Bibliotheca Americana (Joseph Sabin)

 

 

• American Bibliography (Charles Evans)

 

 

• Union List of Serials (reveals which American libraries have files of the periodical you need and how extensive those files are).

 

 

 Resources:
 
 

• Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the U.S. (Philip M. Hamer)

 

 

• National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections

 

 

• American Literary Manuscripts: A Checklist of Boldings in Academic, Historical and Public Libraries in the United States (MLA)

 

 

Resources:
 
 

• Bibliographies in American History (Henry P. Beers)

 

 

• Harvard Guide to American History

 

 

• American sections of the American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature.

 

 

Resources:
 
 

• Dictionary of National Biography (for Great Britain)

 

 

• Dictionary of American Biography

 

 

Resources:
 
 

• Guide to Reference Books (Constance Winchell)

 

 

• Guide to Reference Material (A.J. Walford)


 (These two sources contain selected, well-classified, annotated lists of the best bibliographies, histories, manuals and encyclopedias in every field of learning.)
 
 

• Social Sciences and Humanities Index (contents of many scholarly journals in areas related to literature).

 

 

• Poole's Index (to nineteenth-century English and American periodicals.)

 

 

• World Bibliography of Bibliographies (Theodore Besterman -- third and final edition -- 1955-56. 80,000 bibliographies on every conceivable subject).

 

 

• Bibliographic Index (continuing publication from 1938, this records newly published bibliographies, those appearing separately and those in larger works).

 

 

(Much of the preceding information was derived from The Art of Literary Research, revised edition, by Richard D. Altick.)
 

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