Research Guide for: English

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Colonial and Early American Literature

Essential Resources

• Early Americas Digital Archive
       Collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820
  
  
• Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639-1800)
       Definitive resource for information about every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, including literature, music, religion, and much more.
  
  
• Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)
       Primary source collection with full-text access to the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the early years of the 19th century
  
  
• Early English Books Online
       Facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700
  
  
• English Poetry, 600-1900
       Full text of over 160,000 poems written in English 600-1900
  
  
• Library of Congress: American Memory Project
       Full-text from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicling historical events, people, places, and ideas that have shaped America.
  
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• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
       Index to books, articles, reviews, collections, and dissertations in English studies
  
  
• Dissertation Abstracts
       Index to doctoral dissertations and master's theses from North American and European universities.
  
  
• Google
        Very comprehensive index to the web, but use results with caution
  
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• MLA International Bibliography
       Index to books and articles on language, literature, folklore, and linguistics. Includes literary criticism of short stories, plays, poems, poetry, novels
  
  
• WorldCat
       Catalog of books, serials, videos, music, etc. held by libraries worldwide; if it's ever been published, it's probably in here.
  
  

  Additional Resources

• African-American Poetry: 1760-1900
       3000 poems by African-American poets in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
  
  
• America: History & Life
       Index to articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada
  
  
• American Periodical Series (APS) Online
       Full-text of 1,100+ periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900
  
  
• American Poetry 1: 1600-1900
       40,000 poems of American writers from the 17th to the early 20th century
  
  
• American writers before 1800 : a biographical and critical reference guide / Levernier and Wilmes / 3 volumes / INGRAM LIBRARY REFERENCE COLLECTION: PS185 .A4
  
  
• Cambridge History of English & American Literature
       Comprehensive narrative and analysis of writing of various periods
  
  
• Dictionary of British and American women writers, 1660-1800 / Todd / INGRAM LIBRARY REFERENCE COLLECTION: PR113 .D5 1985
  
  
• GALE Literary Databases
       Dictionary of Literary Biography + literature reference database with biographical, bibliographical, and critical content.
  
  
• JSTOR
       Full-text scholarly journals covering Language, Literature, and many other subjects. Includes literary criticism of short stories, plays, poems, poetry, and novels
  
  
• Library of Southern Literature (Univ.of NC)
       Full-text for a wide range of literary works of the American South published before 1924
  
  
• Literature Online Reference Edition
       Criticism and reference works for British and American poetry, drama and prose.
  
  
• Oxford African-American Studies Center
       Comprehensive collection of scholarship available online regarding African American and African history and culture
  
  
• Project MUSE
       Full text of over 220 scholarly journals; covers literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, gender studies, and more
  
  
• Voice of the Shuttle: American Literature / Colonial to 1800
       Links to a variety of web resources for literature of the period.