L355: American Fiction, 1800-1900
The resources discussed on this page should be of help in contextualizing American fiction from the Nineteenth Century. Digital resources are listed first simply because it is becoming a natural instinct to use the computer before the book. Links to the digital resources are in the column on the left side of this page. Following the digital resources are several print bibliographies and indexes that will also be useful in locating information to help you develop a context that surrounds the fiction you are researching.
Please feel free to contact the Librarian for English Literatures, Angela Courtney, for further assistance at ancourtn@indiana.edu. If this email generates an “out of office” reply, you can contact the Assistant to the Librarian for English Literatures, Sara Franks, at sfranks@indiana.edu.
Poole, William Frederick. Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1963. (Available online through The Nineteenth Century Masterfile and C: 19 linked on the left side of this page).
Originally published in 1882, Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature was compiled by William Frederick Poole, the librarian for the Newberry Library in Chicago. This index has been updated, reprinted three times, and successfully transferred to the electronic environment. With original coverage from 1802-1882, subsequent supplements have extended the coverage to 1906. Only English language materials are included. For best results when searching for reviews, search for the author’s name as key words.
American Periodicals Series Online. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest, 2000--. (Linked on the left side of this page; also available on C:19
This database comprises digital images of microfilmed newspapers, allowing you as a researcher to contextualize articles, stories, poem, and editorials with their physical surroundings such as advertisements, legal announcements, and illustrations. You can search for the author or the title of a work, and you can also browse the issues of the periodicals. A caveat—it is important to remember that indexing is random because no matter how efficient the OCR is, the fact remains that this type of searching will always retrieve at least a few questionable results.
America’s Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922. Chester, VT: Readex, 2004--.
Based on the collections of the American Antiquarian Society, this database provides access to hundreds of newspapers from 1690 - 1922. In searching this database you can limit by eras, places of publication (states and cities), newspaper titles (you can select from an extensive list that include dates and place of publication), and article types (news, election, letters, poetry, legal, prices, shipping news, advertisements, and birth, death, and marriage notices). This resource is a gold standard in newspaper databases.
African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century
Including more than 100,000 records from seven African American newspapers of the nineteenth century, this database is useful for the immediate chronicle of history it has created, offering a unique point of view into American thought and culture in an active and often contentious century. Coverage extends from wars and national political addresses to local events, advertisements, and even poetry. Beginning in 1827, the goal upon completion is to include the complete text of all major African American papers. Articles are not scanned but rather transcribed, so keyword searching can be more exact but we lose the ability to see the original layout on the page. Because of the order in which these titles have been indexed, one title may be in several different parts of the database, which only means that as a researcher you need to be certain that you are searching the right parts. The opening search screen will list what titles and years of coverage are included in each section of the database.
This is available online in its entirety, 1728-1800. Like the African-American Newspapers product, this title has been transcribed, so there are no images of the original paper. In its day, The Pennsylvania Gazette was the most important paper of its kind, and this resource gives students and scholars an immediate archive of American history as it happened. Included in the complete text are articles, letters, editorials, and advertisements. Geographically, coverage extends from the Canadian provinces, the Americas, and the West Indies. In addition to the paper, this resource also contains the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Letters from a Farmer, Thomas Payne`s Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, and more.
Chielens, Edward E. The Literary Journal in America to 1900: A Guide to Information Resources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1975. Z6951 C533 Wells Library Stacks (11th Floor)
Chapters include, when appropriate, information on general studies, subject concentration such as Unitarianism or Transcendentalism, and studies on individual periodicals. Bibliographic checklists and background studies offer the researcher a convenient series of resources to consult for further information. Appendices include a list of non-literary periodicals that included some literary output and a list of political journals. Annotations include short overviews of the article, book or essay cited.
Chielens, Edward E. American Literary Magazines: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986. Z1231.P45 A43 1986 Wells Library Reference Services Department
The guide is arranged alphabetically by title. Each entry includes, when appropriate and available, a brief history and content scope of the magazine, notes, bibliography, indexing, reprints, locations, and a publication history including title changes, editions, and dates. An appendix includes minor literary magazines and non-literary publications with literary content. A second appendix includes an interesting chronology of journals and literary events and American historical magazines between 1774 and 1900 in which important magazine dates are listed with their parallels in history—for example, American Music was founded by Mathew Cary in Philadelphia in the same year the constitution was signed. An extensive index is useful, and titles are cross-referenced with their other more obscure titles.
Kribbs, Jayne K. An Annotated Bibliography of American Literary Periodicals, 1741-1850. Boston: G. K. Hall and Company, 1977. Z1219 .K75 Wells Library Reference Department
Arranged alphabetically, the entries begin with the first known title of the periodical and title changes follow chronologically. Dates of publication are given as precisely as possible. Entries also include frequency of publication, editors, publisher, and contents. The contents section does not give precise citations, but rather includes a general sketch of the types of content that regularly appears in the title. Following the annotated title list in a chronological index of periodicals starting in 1719, with start and end dates. A geographical index is included, followed by an index of editors and publishers. A name index of literary figures and an index of tales, novels, and drama closes the volume. Poetry is not included.
Partridge, Elinore Hughes. American Prose and Criticism, 1820-1900: A Guide to Information Resources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Z1231.P8 P37 1983 Wells Library Reference Department
- Section 1, “General Resources,” includes guides and bibliographies; periodical and annual publications; cultural, historical, and literary studies; and anthologies that deal with resources in American literature, particularly the prose and criticism. Arranged alphabetically by author, the citations include brief annotations that capture the essence of the volume. This first section offers a wealth of useful background information and potential resources.
- Section 2 deals with prose and is subdivided into the genres including literary theory and criticism; autobiography, memoirs, and diaries; essays and sketches; travel and descriptive writing; educational, religious, philosophical, and scientific writing; and the literature of history and politics. Each of these areas is further subdivided into areas of greater specificity, primary resources, and secondary resources.
- Section 3 covers individual authors. Included in the over 40 sketches, when available and appropriate, are principal writings, letters, editions, bibliographies, biographies, criticism, and related studies. While this book is not an index to periodical literature, it does provide access to other resources for periodical literature as well as to critical and biographical works of frequent contributors to periodicals.
