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Encyclopedias and Guides to Resources

These encyclopedias focus on the Harlem Renaissance, the Lost Generation and the 1920s-1930s:

America in the 20th Century. Volume 3 covers the 1920s; Volume 4 covers the 1930s. Reference E169.1 A471872 1995

American Decades. Volume 3 covers the 1920s; Volume 4 covers the 1930s.Reference E169.12 .A419

Dictionary of Literary Biography Reference PS 21 .D5
v. 51: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940
v. 210: Ernest Hemingway: A Documentary Volume
v. 219: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Documentary Volume
v. 273: F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night: A Documentary Volume
v. 274: John Dos Passo's U.S.A.: A Documentary Volume
v. 308: Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms: A Documentary Volume
v. 315: Langston Hughes: A Documentary Volume

Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. (2 volumes) Reference NX512.3 .A35 E53 2004

Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. (1 volume) Reference PS153 .N5 A24 2003

Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion. (3 volumes) Reference PS 153 .N5 H245 2003

This Fabulous Century. Volume 3 covers the 1920s; Volume 4 covers the 1930s.Reference E161 .T55

This bibliography lists key resources to look for:

The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Reference Guide for Student Research. Reference NX512.3 .A35 R62 1998 (Also available in NetLibrary ebook format.)

Several authors of the period have book-length bibliographies published about them and their work. For instance, there are nine bibliographies about Ernest Hemingway. A subject search on the author's name will retrieve these.

Finding Books and More

Randall Library Online Catalog: (Click on Search Catalog)

For access to materials in Randall Library: includes sophisticated search capabilities like limiting by language and format or combining subject headings. Also allows users to send search results to their email addresses.

WorldCat : From the Library Home Page, choose the "Database& Article Searching" link, then choose the "WorldCat" link.

WorldCat is the union catalog of books, web resources, and other material located worldwide cataloged by OCLC member libraries (approximately 26,000 libraries.) Books in the catalog are generally available via Interlibrary Loan, and many of the websites are freely available.

Search Tips:

• Case does not matter. Punctuation marks are not needed.
• Keyword searches will likely retrieve something on your subject. This type of search looks in practically all parts of the catalog record, and is the only way to access the data in the Contents Notes field of records. However, if you are not using the terms catalogers use to identify a subject, keyword searches may actually retrieve fewer items than a subject search.
• Subject searches use a controlled vocabulary, bring more consistency to searches and organizing records by subtopics. Library of Congress Subject Headings are used in both the local catalog and in WorldCat. Some subject headings for the 1960s include:
  Expatriate [occupation] (However, not all the items deal with 1920s-1930s Americans)
  Exiles writings
  Harlem Renaissance
  Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
  African American authors
  Authors, American -- 20th century
  
  France -- Civilization -- 20th century
  Paris -- Intellectual life -- 20th century
  Paris -- Manners and customs-- 20th century
  
  Nineteen twenties
  Nineteen thirties
  United States -- History --1919-1933
  United States -- Social history -- 1918-1932
  United States --Manners and customs-- 1918-1945
  
  Or try a heading for a specific event or person:
  Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 (browse the subheadings under Hemingway and you will find Homes and Haunts -- France -- Paris)
• Primary Source Subheadings: There are several subject subheadings used to identify books or other resources that are compilations of primary source material. Look for:

correspondence* diaries* interviews* literary collections personal narratives pictorial works

posters songs and music sources speeches, addresses, etc.* treaties

*These subheadings are typically used under Subject Headings for individuals, e.g., Hurston, Zora Neale or terms describing groups of people, e.g., African American authors.

More on Subject Searching:

• Catalogers use the most precise subject heading to describe a publication. For instance, a book on France will have France in the subject heading, but not Europe. A book on Europe which contains substantial information on France will have the subject heading Europe, but may not have France as a subject heading.
• Just because an item's subject heading does not include "History" as a subdivision does not mean it has no history in it. In particular, look at the publication date. It may be a source contemporary to the period, i. e., a primary source.
• After finding some sources through searching the online catalog, be sure to browse the shelves near these times. The call numbers are devised to place materials on the same subject together on the shelf. In the catalog, the call number is presented as a link, so you can even browse the shelves when searching the catalog.
• You may also wish to browse the Reference Collection to see what special sources are available. A basic outline of the Library of Congress Classification scheme is at http://www.loc.gov/catdir.cosi.lcco.html

Journal Databases & Indexes

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

• America: History & Life Indexes and summarizes articles and reviews published since 1954 in over 2,000 history journals.
• Historical Abstracts Indexes and summarizes article and reviews about world history since 1450 published since 1954 in over 1, 700 journals.
• Humanities International Index Indexes journals and books in the humanities, published 1975-present.
• 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.
• PAIS Archive Public Affairs Information Service contains references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, and analytics. Indexes publications issued between 1915 and 1976.

FOR NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS PUBLISHED DURING THE PERIOD

• International Index to Periodical Literature (1907-1965) INDEX AI3 .R5
• Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1890-2001) INDEX AI3. R48
• New York Times Archive Full image online access to the NYT from 1851-2001.
• The Times (London). The newspaper is available on microfilm. The Official Index to the Times is in INDEX AI21 .T46.

USEFUL FREE WEB SITES

American Memory Project The Library of Congress provides thousands of digital texts, images, etc. from this site.

American Cultural History Kingwood College Library (TX) has assembled this guide to each decade of the 20th century with lots of links to related material.

Artsedge: Drop Me Off in Harlem This web site on the Harlem Renaissance was created by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Black Renaissance in Washington D. C. This online exhibit was created by the Washington Public Library to highlight that the Black Renaissance was not limited to Harlem.

Digital History: 1920s U.S. history, with readings, primary sources, teaching resources, and audio and image resources, and other related links.

Paris in the 1920s and 1930s This is a selective bibliography of books recommended by a tourism site.

Rhapsodies in Black A companion web site for an art exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London.

Last Update: August 27, 2007

Page maintained by Sue Cody codys@uncw.edu