Special Topics in American Literature: Ragtime

This is a list of some of the resources in Paul Robeson Library, and on the Internet, concerning American Culture from 1900 to 1920. For more information please ask a reference librarian.

Reference Works

Locating Books

Appropriate Journal Indexes

Contemporary Journals and Indexes

Selected Internet Resources

Reference Works
American Decades, 1900-1909 / Ref E 169.12 A419 1994
Almanacs of American Life: Victorian America, 1876 to 1913 / Ref E 168 S55 1996
Almanacs of American Life: Modern America, 1914 to 1945 / Ref E 766 G67 1995
A Companion to American Thought / Ref E 169.1 C685 1995
Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Ear, 1890-1920 / Ref E 661 H6 1988
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism / Ref PN 771 G27
Dictionary of Literary Biography / Ref PS 88 D57
Articles on American Literature / Ref Z 1225 L49
U.S. Fiction, 1870-1910 / Ref Z 1225 E35
New Grove Dictionary of American Music / Ref ML 101 U6 N48 1986
Encyclopedia of Popular Music / Ref NL 102 P66 G84 1998
Dictionary of Art / Ref N 31 D5 1996
Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art / Ref N 6490 C5317 1998 Dictionary of the First World War / Ref D 510 P66 1996)

Locating Books

A variety of subject headings would be useful when looking for books in IRIS, the Rutgers Libraries Catalog. Two very general ones are:

American Literature 20th Century
Arts, Modern 20th Century United States

Be aware that items at the Alexander Library in New Brunswick purchased before c. 1970 and not checked out since then are not included in IRIS. We have a copy of their old card catalog from c. 1970 on microfilm. Ask at the Reference Desk for more information.

When using IRIS try using the "search everything" option. If your topic is a particular author or artist enter the name as a keyword search. If you are researching a school of thought or group, enter that as a keyword search, for example "muckrakers."

Two other catalogs may be useful in locating resources for your paper. Both will include some primary sources. You can request items from these catalogs on interlibrary loan.

RLIN -- database of catalogs from research libraries
CRL (Center for Research Libraries)

Appropriate Journal Indexes

The library has several journal indexes available. The best index for you will depend on your topic. Some of the general indexes that are likely to be relevant are:

America: History and Life
MLA International Bibliography

Contemporary Journals and Indexes

To locate primary sources in newspapers or magazines, use the following indexes:

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (on index tables in Reference area)
International Index to Periodicals (on index tables in Reference area)
PAIS (on Index tables in Reference area)
New York Times Index (on index tables in Reference area)

Magazines and Selected Journals for the early 1900's in Paul Robeson Library

Title / Dates

American Journal of Psychology / 1887+
American Journal of Public Health / 1912-1970
American Journal of Science / 1897-1980
American Journal of Sociology / 1895+
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science / 1890+
Atlantic Monthly / 1857+

Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine / 1881-1890, 1908-1925
Crisis / 1910+
Dial (Chicago) / 1880-1929
Harper's New Monthly Magazine / 1850+
Journal of Negro History / 1916+
Ladies' Home Journal / 1889-1970

Messenger, the World's Greatest Negro Monthly / 1917-1928
Nation / 1865+
New Republic / 1914+
New York Times / 1851+
New York Times Magazine / 1896+
North American Review / 1815-1940

Political Science Quarterly / 1886+
Psychological Review / 1894+
Review of Reviews / 1890-1937
School Review / 1893-1979
Scientific American / 1890+
Scribner's Magazine / 1887-1939
Survey (NY) / 1910-1940

Voice of Labor / 1915-1917
Voice of the Negro / 1904-1907
Yale Review / 1892+

Selected Internet Resources

British and American History (http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rulib/socsci/hist/amhist.html)
World War I Document Archive (http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/)
World War I Trenches on the Web(http://www.worldwar1.com)