American Studies: Selected Resources

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of American Studies: George T. Kurian, general editor. Danbury, CT, Grolier Educational, 2001. 4 vols.; 660 signed articles with bibliographies.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E169.1 .E625 2001

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture: Tom and Sara Pendergast, editors. Detroit, MI, St. James Press, 2000. 5 vols.; 2700 signed entries with bibliographies on all aspects of 20th century U.S. popular culture.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E169.1 .S764 2000

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. New York, Macmillan, 1996. 5 vols plus Supplement (2001).
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas. 2nd edition. Detroit, Macmillan, 2006. 6 vols.: Signed entries covering all aspects of African-American history and life. While the 2d edition expands the scope of the work beyond North America, it has only a little more than half of the number of entries found in the first edition. Many of the U.S.-centered articles (for example, entries on states and major cities) are not available in the 2d edition. About half of the articles that appear in both have been updated in the 2d edition. Bibliographic references.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E185 .E54 1996.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E185 .E54 2006.

Bibliographies

American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography: Jack Salzman, editor. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1986. 3 vols.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E189.1 .A436 1986

American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography, 1984-1988: Jack Salzman, editor. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1990.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E189.1 .S35 1990

Theory & Method in American Cultural Studies: Extensive critical bibliography by Dr. T.V. Reed, Professor of American Studies and English at Washington State University.

Finding Books: Library Catalogs

IRIS
The online catalog for the Rutgers University Libraries.

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

Catalog of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Catalog of the New York Public research library "devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout the world." The Schomburg Center contains over 5,000,000 items held in five divisions: Art and Artifacts Division, General Research and Reference Division, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, and Photographs and Prints Division. [Note: When beginning a search session, select "Schomburg Center" from the pull-down menu on the right.]

Finding Scholarly Articles: Indexes

This is a selected list of databases that you may find useful. There are many other indexes that may focus more specifically on the particular topic that you are researching. Check out the complete list of Rutgers online indexes and databases.

Humanities Full Text: Humanities Full Text is the basic index for finding articles in the humanities disciplines, including history and literature. It indexes over 550 of the core, English language journals in history, literature, art and music, philosophy and religion. It indexes many journals back to 1984 and, beginning with 1995, includes many full-text articles.; Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

American History

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 Restricted Access.

African American Studies

The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986.: From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson, Pub., Inc. 1992. 5 volumes; Unique resource based on the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Over 170,000 citations to journal and newspapers articles, books, pamphlets and reports dealing with black history and culture.; Dana Library Call Number: Ref E185.K25 1992

Literature

MLA International Bibliography 1926-: The premier index to articles, books, and dissertations on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, and film.; 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. Links to the full-text of articles from open access (available without a subscription) journals and preprint repositories.

Film Studies

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. 1900- .: Dana Call Number: Ref. AI3. R48

The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature is an excellent source for finding film reviews published in general and popular magazines. To find reviews of specific films see the subject heading Moving picture plays.

Once you have the list of magazines in which a specific film was reviewed, you will need to go to IRIS, the Rutgers Libraries online catalog, to find out if that journal is available at Rutgers. Select Periodical Title Begins with when searching with the journal name.

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.

Arabs in Film and Television: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library: Annotated bibliography.

Chicanos/Latinos 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.

The Movies, Race, and Ethnicity: Images of Arabs and the Middle East: Annotated filmography from the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley. For some films includes selected reviews and articles.

The Hispanic Image on the Silver Screen: An Interpretive Filmography From Silents into Sound, 1898-1935: Alfred Charles Richard. New York, Greenwood Press, 1992.; Rutgers Call Number: ALEX, ROBESON PN1998 .R54 1992

Censorship and Hollywood's Hispanic Image: An Interpretive Filmography, 1936-1955: Alfred Charles Richard. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1993.; Rutgers Call Number: ALEX PN1995.9 .L37453 1993

Contemporary Hollywood's Negative Hispanic Image: An Interpretive Filmography, 1956-1993: Alfred Charles Richard. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1994.; Rutgers Call Number: ALEX, ROBESON, PN1995.9 .L37R54 1994; KILMER REF PN1995.9 .L37R54 1994

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).

Religion in America

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

Association of Religion Data Archives: Access or download over 450 surveys and other data collections on American and international religion. ARDA also allows you to generate national or regional profiles, GIS maps, and reports on religious congregation memberships down to the county level.

Corrections?
Natalie Borisovets (natalieb@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
John Cotton Dana Library
September 14, 2008

The Basics

Book Not Available/Not Owned by the Rutgers Libraries?