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Author Background Sources and Finding Aids

 

Library Catalogs

Randall Library Catalog = Local holdings of library's books, videos, government documents, manuscript collections and journal holdings. (Note that the journal information in the catalog tells what issues we have but does not index individual articles.) Some web sites are also cataloged.

WorldCat = Cataloged holdings of over 9,000 libraries.

Personal Name Searching

• Using the Keyword Search option, you can enter the name in any order. This search retrieves records where the name appears in the contents notes as well as the author and subject fields. If your author has a common name, it may retrieve a lot of irrelevant records, e.g., Henry James. Relevancy ranking in the Randall Library Catalog will put the closest matches first.
  
• When searching names as authors or subjects, put the last name first. When there is a lot written about your author, the subject search helps you sort through the works, with a hierarchical display. Try a subject search on Twain, Mark for an example.
  
• As with all history topics where you are looking for primary resources, look for these sub-divisions in subject searches.
  
  • correspondence
  • diaries
  • interviews
  • personal narratives
  • pictorial works
  • sources
  • speeches, addresses, etc.

Literary/Biographical Databases

Literature Resource Center. This source compiles the heavily used reference sources on literature published by Gale, e.g., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism. It does not include the Documentary Series of DLB, however, which you will find in the Reference Collection PS21. D523.

Biography & Genealogy Master Index. This resource indexes hundreds of print biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias, as well as the Biography Index.

HeritageQuest The Books section provides full-text access to hundreds of local history titles. You may find biographical sketches on your author written during his/her lifetime here.

Article Databases & Indexes

Use these databases and journal indexes to search for articles in journals and magazines.

America: History and Life Indexes and summarizes article and reviews about U.S. and Canadian history published since 1957.

EbscoHost Academic Search Premier is a multidisciplinary periodical index to over 8,000 journals and magazines, 4,700 of which are full-text online.

JSTOR Full-text searching of an archive of over 40 history and 25 political science journals. Typically excludes the latest 3-5 years of publication.

Project MUSE Full-text access to over 300 humanities journals.

Literary Reference Center Full-text journal articles and reference sources on literature and author biographies.

MLA International Bibliography Citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews on literature, language, linguistics and folklore, 1926-.

Humanities International Index Citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews, 1975-.

 

Book Review Sources

Book-length author bibliographies will often provide an exhaustive list of book reviews. Beyond that, look for reviews with these sources.

Book Review Digest. Index Collection Z1219 .C95 1905-

Book Review Index. Index Collection Z1219 B6 1965-

New York Times Archive  Full-image online access for the NYT back to 1851.

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective 1890-1982

Making of America Cornell Site. Full-text for 22 journals and 267 books from the 19th century.

Making of America University of Michigan Site. Full text for 13 journals and 10,000 books from the 19th century.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1841-1902.

HarpWeek Full text of Harper's Weekly Magazine, 1857-1876.

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. Index Collection AI3 .P7. 1802-1907.

 

Last Update: August 26, 2009