HIST 388: The Modern Girl Around the World

The Modern Girl Around the World

Background Sources

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. More importantly, because encyclopedias often cover the major issues surrounding the subject, they can help you narrow your research from a broad “who, what, where, when” topic to a “how or why” question. In addition many encyclopedia articles include short bibliographies that will lead you to the major works on the topic.

The Advertising age encyclopedia of advertising
Suzzallo Reference, Foster Reference - HF5803 .A38 2003
Encyclopedia of American social history
Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - HN57 .E58 1993
Encyclopedia of European social history from 1350 to 2000
Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - HN373 .E63 2000
History of the American cinema
Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - PN1993.5.U6 H55 1990
Routledge international encyclopedia of women
Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - HQ1115 .R69 2000
Women's studies encyclopedia
Suzzallo Reference - HQ1115 .W645 1999

Finding Books

Use the following databases to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through Summit (if available at one of the member libraries) or through Interlibrary Loan.

UW Libraries Catalog
A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries.
Summit
A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available in more than 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Books requested and shipped to the UW for pick-up.
OhioLINK
Use OhioLink to access chapters of recent books, use the "Words" search option.

Finding Articles & Book Reviews

Use indexes (databases) to find articles (from scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers and sometimes books, dissertations, government reports, etc.) on a topic. There are indexes covering all sorts of subjects, use those which best fit your research topic. For a complete list of databases see Research Databases on the UW Libraries Homepage.

Once you identify articles you need make sure you have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year), then look in the UW Libraries Catalog for the journal name (do a title search for the journal name to see if the UW subscribes) to see if and where the journal is kept (library location and call number).

Many of the same databases can be used to find book reviews. For reviews of more current books check Expanded Academic Index and Research Library. For reviews of older books (published before 1990 or so) check America History & Life and JSTOR. To find the reviews simply search for the surname of the author AND a unique word or two from the title. For example, to find reviews of Professor Poiger's book, Jazz, Rock, and Rebels: Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany search Expanded Academic Index for poiger and jazz.

Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server. Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested via Interlibrary loan.

Interdisciplinary Databases

Expanded Academic Index [UW only]
General index to magazine and journal articles in all subjects, includes some full-text. For other interdisciplinary databases see Research Library and the Web of Science.
International bibliography of periodical literature
General index to articles, especially strong in European sources.
JSTOR [UW only]
Searchable collection of back issues of selected journals including the Historical Journal and the Journal of British Studies. For another collection of searchable electronic journals related to history and the humanities see Project Muse.

Specialized Databases

America History & Life [UW only]
Major index to articles in U.S. and Canadian history. Also includes citations to selected books, dissertations and reviews.
Communication Abstracts [UW only]
Index to articles and books dealing with media and communication.
FIAF [UW only]
Index to articles in cinema studies.
Historical Abstracts [UW only]
Major index to articles in world history from the period 1450 onward (excluding US and Canada).
MLA [UW only]
Major index to articles and books in literature.
Viva: A Bibliography of Women's History
ViVa is a current bibliography of articles from 167 journals about women's and gender history.

Finding Published Primary Sources

Using Secondary Sources to Find Primary Sources

Secondary sources, scholarly journal articles and books, are a great source for identifying potential primary sources. Find a few articles, books or dissertations related to your topic and then mine the footnotes and bibliography. You will have the best luck finding published primary sources such as books, government reports, newspapers and magazines within the UW Libraries. Use the UW Libraries Catalog to determine if we have the primary source.

Finding Primary Sources -- Books

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of books that can be considered primary sources for history. These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the 1920s), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material.

In the UW Libraries Catalog:

Limit your search by publication date.
Search for books written by key people.
Browse the shelves in the appropriate subject area.
Use special subject terms that designate primary sources:
sources, personal narratives, diaries, correspondence, interviews
Example:

feminism and united states and sources

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of magazines and journals from the first half of the 20th century. Many of them are in print (either in Suzzallo Periodicals or in a storage area), others are on microfilm and are housed in the Microform & Newspaper Collections on the ground floor of Suzzallo.

Database

Reader's Guide Retrospective [UW only]
General index to American magazines for the period of 1890 to 1980. Also available in print in Suzzallo Reference AI3 .R48.
Magazines for Browsing

A-I-Z, 1927-1936
        Microform & Newspapers - A10353
Berliner illustrirte Zeitung, 1914-1945
        Microform & Newspapers - A10350
Drum (Nigeria), 1962-1982
        Suzzallo Periodicals - DT1 .D75
Drum (South Africa), 1951-1965
        Microform & Newspapers - A9742
Frauenliebe, 1926-1930
        Microform & Newspapers - A10348
Frauenwelt, 1924-1933
        Microform & Newspapers - M-3516
Garconne, 1930-1932
        Microform & Newspapers - A10347
Good Housekeeping, 1916-2004
        Suzzallo Periodicals - 051 GH
Half-Century Magazine, 1916-1925 (an African American women's magazine)
        Microform & Newspapers - A4571
L'illustration: journal universel, 1909-1944
        Special Collections - 054 IL
Illustrirte Zeitung, 1907-1941
        Suzzallo Periodicals - 053 IL
Ling Lung (Shanghai), 1931-1937
        Online from Columbia
Ladies Home Journal, 1920-1959
        Microform & Newspapers - A9652
Die neue Generation, 1908-1932
        Microform & Newspapers - M-3520
Photoplay, 1916-1940
        Microform & Newspapers - A9815
The times of India illustrated weekly, 1906-1929
        Microform & Newspapers - A10352
Variety, 1905-2004
        Microform & Newspapers - A5040
Vogue (London), 1916-1939
        Drama - MB-492
Vogue (NY), 1912-1959
        Special Collections - 051 VO
Die Woche, 1899-1944
        Microform & Newspapers - A10369

Finding Primary Sources -- Misc.

In addition to the other primary sources, some of the following microfilm sets and databases may be useful for some topics. Microfilm collections are housed in the Microform and Newspaper Collections on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library. Guides to the sets are also kept in that area. A list of selected major microfilm collections related to history is available.

D.W. Griffith Papers, 1897-1954 [36 reels]
        Microform & Newspapers - A9794
The Will Hays Papers [78 reels]
        Microform & Newspapers - A9793
British birth control material at the British Library of Political and Economic Sciences [10 reels]
        Microform & Newspapers - A7029
The Margaret Sanger papers [101 reels]
        Microform & Newspapers - A9492
North American women's letters and diaries: colonial to 1950 [UW only]
Searchable collection of over 500 transcribed diaries and collections of letters written by American women from the colonial period to 1950.
American film scripts online [UW only]
Current includes more than 250 scripts of films dating from 1903 to 2002.

Selected Web Sites

For a more complete listing of history-related websites see History on the Web. For tips on evaluating primary sources on the web see Using Primary Sources on the Web.

American Women's History
Extensive list of links to web resources and references to print resources. Also see WWW Virtual Library for Women's History.
Ad*Access
"The Ad*Access Project presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II." For earlier advertising history see Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920.
Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929
Collection of "materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition." Part of American Memory.
Fashion Plate Collection
More than 400 fashion plates from 1806-1914. Also see Flappers and Fashion.
The New Woman
Part of Ohio State University's Clash of cultures in the 1910s and 1920s website.

Image: Chicago Daily News photograph of seven women dancing on the beach, c. 1927. Courtesy of Photographs from the Chicago Daily News: 1902-1933.

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18 October 2004
Theresa Mudrock