Rutgers University Libraries The 1960s in America

The Basics

Restricted Access

Many of the resources listed in the sections below are marked Restricted Access. You should have no problem connecting to these from any networked computer on campus. However, in order to use these from off-campus, you must log in with your Rutgers NetID. For instructions see the Libraries' Remote Access to Library Resources.

Off-Campus Links

Once you have gone to a Rutgers Libraries page and logged in with your NetID [your pegasus username and password] you can use the "Off-Campus Link" provided for each Rutgers-restricted resource below to connect to that database or article. Use the link embedded in the citation to access these resources on campus.

E-Reserves

To get to readings that your instructor may have placed on Reserve in the Library, click here. Once you get to the Lookup box, the easiest way to get to the right list is to search by the Instructor's name.

IRIS: Find Books

IRIS is the online catalog for all the Rutgers University Libraries except the Newark and Camden Law Libraries. Use IRIS to find out if the Rutgers Libraries have the specific books or journals that you need, or to locate books on topics that you're researching. Show Me How

Getting Books From Other Rutgers Libraries

If a book that you need is not available (not owned/checked out) at the Dana Library, but is available from another Rutgers Library, you can request delivery of that book to Dana by bringing up the record for the book in IRIS and clicking on tbe Deliver/Recall button. Show Me

Book Not Available/Not Owned by the Rutgers Libraries?

The fastest way to get a copy of a book that is not owned or not available (checked out/on Reserve/missing etc.) at the Rutgers Libraries is to request it through E-Z Borrow. E-Z Borrow books are normally received within about five working days. Tell Me More

If a book is not owned by the Rutgers Libraries and is not available via E-Z Borrow, you can place an Interlibrary Loan request. Tell Me More

Becoming an 'Expert' User

Want to maximize your use of Library resources? Check out Searchpath, the Libraries' interactive tutorial.

Citing Your Sources

You will most likely be using Chicago/Turabian style when citing the sources that you use in your research papers. The Chicago Manual of Style and Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations are both available at the Dana Library Reference Desk. The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison also has a nice introduction to Chicago/Turabian Documentation that will give you the basic information you need to create bibliographic citations.

The above site does not, however, cover citing online resources. The Library of Congress has a guide on How to Cite Electronic Sources that show Turabian-style examples; the Bedford/St. Martin's site also offers useful information on Using Chicago Style to Cite and Document Sources

You can also import references from IRIS and many of the electronic databases into RefWorks, a web-based bibliography and database manager. RefWorks will build your bibliography for you based on whatever style sheet you specify (MLA, Chicago, etc.). For information on setting up your (free) RefWorks account see the RefWorks FAQ.

Not sure when you need to cite something? Check out the Plagiarism Guide

Remember that plagerism is a violation of the Rutgers University Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate Students and could result in your dismissal from the University!

Some Basic Resources

 Relevant subject headings that you can use in IRIS include:
The Sixties Project: Archive of Online Resources
Primary and secondary resources.
Generation Without a Cause.[Videorecording]
Narrated by Walter Cronkite. 1963.
"A study of the values and attitudes of the college youth of the sixties who grew up during years of war, nuclear energy, and prosperity. Part 1 focuses on the majority of the college students using students from Rutgers University as examples; part 2 presents a Rutgers student who is opposed to the conformity and apathy of his generation. Special guests include Senator William Fulbright, Dr. Philip E. Jacob, Dr. Richard McCormick, Dr. Selman Waksman, and poets Robert Frost and John Ciardi."
Media (Kilmer) Call Number: VIDEO 2-2436; VIDEO 123
The 1960s
Timoth Maga. New York, N.Y., Facts on File, 2003.
Overviews of the major political, social, and cultural events of the decade illustrated by excerpts from speeches, letters, and newspaper articles.
Dana Call Number: E841.M225 2003
"Takin' It To the Streets: A Sixties Reader
Alexander Bloom and Wini Breines. 2d edition. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Dana Call Number: E841 .T28 2003
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective. 1900- .
Index to the major general interest and popular periodicals from the late 19th century to 1982.

Who Was...?
Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: The 1960s
William L. O'Neill and Kenneth T. Jackson, eds. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 2 vols.

Looking for a full-length biography of someone? Search IRIS using the person's name (last name, first name) as your search term and select "SUBJECT Begins with" from the pull-down menu.

A scholarly biography will often give you information on primary sources (collections of papers, official documents, etc.) that may be available on that individual. So check the bibliography and notes!

If you're looking for works for which that person is responsible for most of the content (an autobiography; photographs; news reports; etc.) search as above, but now select "AUTHOR Begins with" from the pull-down memu.

The Press
Historical New York Times
Allows you to search and display the full image of articles published in the New York Times back to 1851. The two+ most recent years are not included, use Access World News.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.
Historical Washington Post
Search and display the full image of articles published in the Washington Post between 1877 and 1993.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Newark Newspapers

The Star Ledger is available on microfilm back to August 1, 1945 from the Rutgers Alexander Library in New Brunswick. The Newark Public Library also has the Star-Ledger in its entirely (1939 forward) as well as its predecessor, the Newark Star Eagle (1916-1939), available on microfilm.

While there is no complete printed or online index to the pre-1989 Star-Ledger, the New Jersey Information Center at the Newark Public Library has the card file Cummings Index to the Star-Ledger from 1971 to 1996, as well as locally compiled Newark News Indexes, 1916-1970.

The New Jersey Information Center also has a large collection of New Jersey Newspapers on Microfilm.

Ethnic Newspapers

Ethnic newspapers are a valuable source of information on the lives and concerns of immigrant and ethnic groups. You can search for ethnic newspapers held by the Rutgers Libraries in IRIS, our online catalog. As your search terms, use the name of the group in which you are interested followed by the word "newspapers;" search this as a SUBJECT Keyword.

Ethnic NewsWatch
A full-text collection of over 200 newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic (including Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian-American, European, and Jewish), minority, and native press. Complete articles dating back to 1960, in English and Spanish.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

The Popular Press
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective. 1900- .
Index to the major general interest and popular periodicals from the late 19th century to 1982.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

Television and Radio
TV-NewsSearch: The Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Index to material in the collection of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive.The database includes nightly news programs broadcast by the national television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) and a daily news program from CNN.Abstracts of each story within a regular news program are fully searchable. Programs from the 1960s include:

  • ABC Evening News: August 5, 1968 - Present
  • CBS Evening News: August 5, 1968 - Present
  • NBC Evening News: August 5, 1968 - Present

For a fee, the Archive will make copies and lend individuals DVDs of specific broadcasts. You can place an Interlibrary Loan Request for a program. However the Rutgers Libraries will only pay for the first $20 of the fee; the requestor would be responsible for the remaining amount.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

Paley Center for Media Database
The Paley Center (New York City) houses a media collection of nearly 150,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. The database includes synopsis of programs. The Edward John Noble Scholars Room has carrels equipped with an audio/visual monitor for viewing and listening to the Paley Center's collection of programs and computers that access the library's database. Use of the Scholars Room is available to students and others affiliated with educational organizations at a rate of $15 per day; The Scholar's Room is open: Wednesdays to Sundays 12:00 to 6:00 pm, and 12:00 to 8:00 pm on Thursdays.

The View From the Top: Official Sources
Foreign Relations of the United States
U.S. Department of State. Washington, D.C., 1861- .
The 'official' documentary record of U.S. foreign policy. Correspondance, reports, and documents relating to U.S. diplomatic history, published with a delay of approximately 25 years. The most recent volumes (Truman - Nixon/Ford) are available online. The State Department maintains a list of all volumes that have been published.
Dana Call Number: JX233 .A3
Index to 1939-1945 volumes: Ref. JX233 .A3 Suppl.
Foreign Relations of the United States 1861-1958/60
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago Libraries have digitized a large portion of the first hundred years of the FRUS. Volumes can be browsed or searched.
Declassified Documents Reference System
Full-text database of documents that have been declassified by the U.S. government. Includes CIA, FBI, State Department, National Security Agency, and White House documents, among others. Largest coverage beginning after World War II, although some earlier documents are included.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-Rutgers-restricted Access
FBI Electronic Reading Room
Digital documents from the files of the FBI
.

The Vietnam War

 Relevant subject headings that you can use in IRIS include:
Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History
Spencer C. Tucker, editor. Santa Barbara, Calif., ABC-CLIO, 1998.
More than 900 signed entries, most with brief bibliographies. Considers all aspects of the war in historical context, including Vietnam-related literature and film. Extensive collection of historical documents (1920-1995).
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access
Vietnam War Bibliography: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts, Americans, Especially Soldiers.
Compiled by Dr. Edwin Moise (Clemson University). Print resources with online links when available.

Protesting the War

 Relevant subject headings that you can use in IRIS include:
Martin Luther King Jr.: "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam"
Speech delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4th 1967.
Campus Wars: The Peace Movement at American State Universities in the Vietnam Era
Kenneth J. Heineman. New York, New York University Press, 1993.
The history of protest movements at four state universities: Michigan State, Penn State, Kent State, and the State University of New York in Buffalo.
Dana Call Number: DS559.62 .U6H45 1993
Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Richard Stacewicz. New York, Twayne Publishers, 1997.
Dana Call Number: DS559.5 .S72 1997
Inventory to the Records of the Office of Public Information on the Vietnam War Teach-Ins, 1965-1966
Background information and finding aid to a collection of correspondence, newspaper clippings, statements and reports related to the three Vietnam War teach-ins held at Rutgers during this period. Collected located in Special Collections and University Archives (Alexander Library) in New Brunswick.
"Doves in a Hawk's Nest: Vietnam and the American Peace Movement: 1965-1975: Part 1"
Vietnam Generation Journal 4 (3-4), November 1992.
GIs United Against the War in Vietnam: Statement of Aims.
What is the May 2nd Movement? September 1965.
"The May 2nd Movement was formed to fight against a politics of default, specifically by organizing student protest and revolt against our government's savage war on the people of Vietnam."
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: Position Paper On Vietnam
Decade of Protest: Political Posters from the United States, Cuba, and Vietnam 1965-1975.
Exhibit held at Track 16 Gallery, January 19-March 9, 1996.

The War in the Media

 Relevant subject headings that you can use in IRIS include:
Communication and Mass Media Complete
Full-text coverage of more than 280 titles plus citation coverage for many more. Many major journals searchable back to early 1900s.
Walter Cronkite: Changing Attitudes Toward War in Vietnam
In an August 7, 2002 NPR broadcast, Cronkite recalls the gradual change in journalistic approach, and the public attitude, toward the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
David Halberstam's Reporting from Vietnam
Selected New York Times articles. David Halberstam shared the Puliter Prize in 1964 for his coverage of the Vietnam War.
Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism, 1959-1975
New York, Library of America, 2000.
Dana Call Number: DS559.46.R46 2000
Vietnam on Television
David Hallin. Overview with bibliography. From the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Media and the Vietnam War: A Bibliography.
From the Sixties Project.

Communes

 Relevant subject headings that you can use in IRIS include:
The Roots of the 1960s Communal Revival
Timothy Miller. American Studies 33(2), Fall 1992, pp.73-93.
The Farm
Intentional Communiites
The collections on communes at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst Special Collections. Includes a digitized documentary (ca 1973) for the Brotherhood of the Spirit, "the largest commune in the United States," and the digitized New Babylon Times/Green Mountain Post, the countercultural literary magazine produced by members of the Montague Fram commune.

Woodstock
1969 Woodstock Festival & Concert
"A collection of Woodstock Facts, Figures, Stories, Photos, Current Happenings, Memorahilia, Links, and Assorted Tidbits."
Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music
Directed by Michael Wadleigh. Burbank Calif., Warner Home Video, 1997.
Restored director's cut. "This documentary films captures the unique communal experience and many of the performances of the most famous of outdoor rock concerts performed during three days at Bethel, New York."
Dana Media Call Number: DVD 74
Woodstock: The Oral History.
Joel Makower. New York, Doubleday, 1989.
Dana Call Number: ML38 .W66M34 1989

Gay Rights
The Gay Rights Movement:1951-1975: Mattachine Society of New York, Inc.
Woodbridge, Conn., Research Publications, 1998.
24 microfilm reels; archives of the Mattachine Society of New York. Index to the microfilm collection
Alexander Call Number: M-FILM 2789
The Gay Rights Movement: 1970-1983: Gay Activists Alliance.
Woodbridge, Conn., Research Publications, 1998.
21 microfilm reels; archives of the Gay Activiists Alliance. Index to the microfilm collection.

Newark in the Sixties
Newark: The Sixties and Beyond
Part of the extensive Newark Experience site.

Finding Books: Library Catalogs

IRIS The online catalog for the Rutgers University Libraries.

Newark Law
Camden Law
Rutgers Law library materials are not listed in IRIS. Use the same subject headings to find relevant publications in the law collections.

Finding Scholarly Articles

America: History and Life
1964- . The most comprehensive index to American (U.S. and Canada) history. Indexes over 2000 journals worldwide, as well as book reviews and dissertations.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Religion

ATLA Religion Database
1949- . Index to 650 journals representing all the major religious faiths, as well as some 14,000 multi-authored works, relating to Biblical studies, world religions, Church history and religious perspectives on social issues.
Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

Political Science and Public Policy

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
1975- Index to over 1,300 journals in political science, international relations, public policy and related fields.
Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

Public Affairs Information Service
1915- Index to books, reports, government documents, and journals dealing with political, social, and public policy issues.
Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

Can't resist the urge to Google?

  • Google Scholar
    • Use the Google search engine to search specifically for scholarly literature including books, peer-reviewed articles, theses, preprints, and technical reports.

Finding Archival Collections
ArchiveGrid
Index to archival collection descriptions and finding aids.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access
Archival Finding Aids Hosted at New York University
Search across finding aids for collections in the Fales Library & Special Collections (NYU); the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives; New York University Archives; and the New York Historical Society.

Using Films?
MLA International Bibliography
1926- . The most comprehensive index to journal articles, books, dissertations, and other materials relating to literature, folkore, and film studes. Indexes more than 4400 journals.
Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access
Film Literature Index
Index to scholarly and popular film and television periodicals worldwide from 1976 to 2001. Search or browse citations.

Finding Early Film Reviews
  • Film Review Index. 2 vols
    • Patricia King Hanson & Stephen L. Hanson, editors. Phoenix, Ariz., Oryx Press, 1986-
    Dana Call Number: Ref. PN1995 .F513 1986

    One of the best sources for finding early film reviews, the Film Review Index cites reviews to over 7000 feature films released between 1914 and 1985. Vol. 1: 1882-1949; Vol. 2: 1950-1985. In addition to popular magazines, the index also lists reviews in trade publications, newspapers, anthologies, and selected books.

    Once you have the list of sources in which a specific film was reviewed, you will need to go to IRIS, the Rutgers Libraries online catalog, to find out if that source is available at Rutgers. Select Periodical Title Begins with when searching with the journal name or Title Begins with when searching for a book.
  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective. 1900- .
    • Index to the major general interest and popular periodicals from the late 19th century to 1982.
    An excellent source for finding film reviews.

    Race at the Movies

    Bibliographies
    Projecting Ethnicity and Race: An Annotated Bibliography of Studies on Imagery in American Film
    Marsha J. Hamilton and Eleanor S. Block. Westport, Conn., Praeger Publishers, 2003.
    Dana Call Number: PN1995.9 .M56.H36 2003
    African Americans in the Movies: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library
    Partially annotated bibliography of books and articles.

    Filmographies
    The Movies, Race, and Ethnicity: African Americans
    Annotated filmography from the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley. For some films includes selected reviews and articles.

    Finding Films

    Want to know if the Rutgers Libraries own a particular film?

    Select Advanced Search in IRIS, the Libraries' online catalog. Enter the title into the "TITLE" search box, and select Visual Materials from the format pull-down menu.
    Videos/DVDs owned by the Dana Library are available for viewing in the Media Center on the 4th floor of Dana Library.
    Videos that are only available from the Media Center in New Brunswick must be booked BY FACULTY for class viewing. All other users must view materials on-site at the Media Center on the Livingston Campus. Advance reservations for viewing rooms are recommended. Undergraduate students may make reservations no earlier than 24 hours in advance. To make a reservation, call 445-4980 (x155).
    Corrections?
    Natalie Borisovets (natalieb@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
    John Cotton Dana Library
    October 25, 2009
    rev. February 16, 2010