George and Sherry Middlemas
Arts and Humanities Library
Languages and Literatures

This Site People Department Penn State

• Penn State Resources
• Literature, Metapages Guides
• Primary Works
• Critical and secondary works
• Reference works and compilations
• Biograhpical compilations and indexes
• Guides to Archives and Manuscripts

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Research Resources for Literatures in English

Penn State resources

• The CAT: Penn State University Libraries Catalog
• Microfinder: Index of Collections Available in Microforms
• Theatre Research Guide
• Zembla...Vladimir Nabokov
• English Department

Guides, metapages, general resources

• Literature Online
• Oxford Reference Online
• The Labyrinth: Sources for Medieval Studies
• Anglistik Guide at the State and University Library at Göttingen, Germany
• Harner, James L.Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. 4th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2002.
  Z2011.H34 2002 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference

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Primary works

General catalogs of books and other materials

• WorldCat
• COPAC
• English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
• The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints: A Cumulative Author List Representing Library of Congress Printed Cards and Titles Reported by Other American Libraries. [London]: Mansell, 1968-76.
  Z881.A1N2 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor, Paterno Humanities Reading Room
  

Literary bibliographies

• A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500. New Haven: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967-98.
  PR255.M3 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1969-77.
  Z2011.B313 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection [3rd ed., 1999 -, PR83.N45 1999 v.4 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Blanck, Jacob. Bibliography of American Literature. New Haven: Yale UP, 1955.
  Z1225.B55 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Howard-Hill, T. H. Index to British Literary Bibliography. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1987-.
  Z2011.I5 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection. Supplement

Full-text literary databases

• African-American Poetry
• American Drama 1714-1915
• American Poetry
• American Verse Project
• The Bible in English (990-1970)
• Black Drama--1850 to Present
• British Women Romantic Poets, 1789-1832
• Canadian Poetry
• Dictionary of Old English/ Old English Corpus
• Early American Fiction 1789-1875
• Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800
• Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819
• Early American Imprints Text Creation Partnership
• Early English Prose Fiction (1500-1700)
• Early English Books Online
• Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership
• Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online Text Creation Partnership
• Eighteenth-Century Fiction
• English Drama (1280-1915)
• English Poetry, Second Edition
• Literary Theory
• Middle English Compendium (Dictionary, HyperBibliography, and Corpus)
• Modern English Collection
• Nineteenth-Century Fiction
• Past Masters English Letters Series
• Renascence Editions: An Online Repository of Works Printed in English Between...1477 and 1799
• Representative Poetry On-Line
• TEAMS Middle English Texts
• Twentieth-Century African American Poetry
• Twentieth-Century American Poetry
• Twentieth-Century English Poetry
• Victorian Women Writers Project
• W.B. Yeats Collection
• Women Writers Project
• Wright American Fiction 1851-1875

Indexes to short works: poetry, stories, plays

• Columbia Granger's World of Poetry
• Index of American Periodical Verse. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1971-.
  Z1231.P7I47 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Play Index. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1949-.
  Z5781.P53 / Arts and Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Inter-play
• Short Story Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1953-.
  Z5917.S5C61 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference

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Critical and secondary works

Electronic journals and newspapers

• American Periodicals Series 1740-1900
• British Newspapers 1600-1900
• British Periodicals
• Eighteenth Century Journals
• JSTOR
• Literature Online Full-Text Journals
• Periodicals Archive Online
• Project MUSE
• New York Times Historical (1851-2004)
• Times [London] Digital Archive 1785-1985

Indexes to articles and current literature

• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
• Web of Science
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Index to Theses...Great Britain and Ireland
• FIAF International Film Archive Database
• MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures
• Chaucer Bibliography Online
• World Shakespeare Bibliography
• James Joyce Checklist Online
• Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
• International Medieval Bibliography
• Periodicals Index Online
• The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1966-89.
  Z2005.H6 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection (New ed. on CD-ROM, AI3.W452 1999 / Arts & Humanities Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference)

Surveys of criticism

• American Literary Scholarship. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1963-.
  PS3.A47 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography. Philadelphia: American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, 1978-.
  Z5579.E38 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Year's Work in English Studies. London: Blackwell, 1919/20-.
  Z7036.E53 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, for the English Association, 1994-.
  PN80.Y43 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection

Book reviews

• Book Review Digest. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1905-.
  Z1219.C96 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Abstracts & Indexes
• Book Review Index
• ChoiceReviews.online
• TLS Centenary Archive

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Reference works and compilations

Dictionaries of terminology

• Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 8th ed. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005.
  PN41.A184 2005 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2005.
  PN81.J554 2005 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Harmon, William. A Handbook to Literature. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.
  PN41.H355 2003 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Cuddon, J.A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 4th ed., rev. C.E. Preston. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998.
  PN41.C83 1998 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.
  PN1021.N39 1993 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Glossary of Poetic Terms

Encyclopedias and handbooks

• The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 6th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.
  PS21.H3 1995 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
  PR19.O94 2000 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
  PR471.O94 1996 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.
  PS147.O94 1995 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
  PS21.E537 2004 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006.
  PR19.O95 2006 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. London and New York: Routledge, 2005.
  PR9080.A52E53 2005 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Dictionary of Native American Literature. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994.
  PM155.D53 1994 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998.
  PS316.E63 1998 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.
  PS323.5.E53 2001 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
  PS153.N5O96 1997 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Dictionary of Irish Literature. Rev. and expanded ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996.
  PR8706.D5 1996 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003.
  DE5.O9 2003 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference

Dictionaries and language resources

• yourDictionary.com
• The Oxford English Dictionary
• Webster's Third New International Dictionary of The English Language Unabridged
• Middle English Dictionary
• Dictionary of Old English
• Dictionary of the Scots Language
• The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1992.
  PE31.O94 1992 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.
  PE1072.C68 1995 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Garner's Modern American Usage . 2nd ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2003.
  PE2827.G37 2003 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference

Histories and chronologies

• The Chronology of American Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
  PS94.C48 2004 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• The Cambridge History of American Literature . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994-.
  PS92.C34 1994 / Pattee - Stacks 3
• The Oxford English Literary History . Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2002-.
  PR85.O96 2002 / Pattee - Stacks 3
• The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2002.
  PR87.O95 2002 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection

Directories

• AcqWeb's Directory of Publishers and Vendors
• Libweb: Library Servers via WWW
• MLA Directory of Periodicals
• PMLA [annual Directory issue]. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1922-.
  PB6.M6 / Pattee, Stacks 2A
• WATCH: Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders
• A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers

Style manuals

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003.
  Z253.C5701 15th.ed. 2003 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003.
  LB2369.G53 2003 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2008.
  PN147.G444 2008 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
• Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style

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Biographical compilations and indexes

• Biography and Genealogy Master Index
• Contemporary Authors
• Dictionary of Literary Biography
• American National Biography
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Academy of American Poets
• American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present
• The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. New Haven: Yale UP, 1990.
  PR113.F45 1990 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Contemporary Novelists
• Contemporary Poets

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Guides to archives and manuscripts

• ArchiveGrid
• Archive Finder
• National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
• A2A: Access to Archives
• Archives Hub
• British Library Manuscripts Catalogue
• Index of English Literary Manuscripts. London: Mansell; New York: R.R. Bowker, 1980-.
  Z6611.L7I5 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. London: British Library, 1995.
  Z6611.L7L625 1995 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
• Location Register of Twentieth-Century English Literary Manuscripts and Letters: A Union List of Papers of Modern English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh Authors in the British Isles. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1988.
  Z6611.L7L63 1988 / Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection

 

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William S. Brockman
Paterno Family Librarian for Literature
W329 Pattee Library
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
uxb5@psu.edu
814-865-9718

Send comments to William S. Brockman, Paterno Family Librarian for Literature, at uxb5@psu.edu
last updated: 8/27/08
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