The Modern Girl Around the World:
Comparisons and Connections between South Africa and the United States

This webpage provides resources to help you find more information on the themes and topics of the course.

Most of the databases on this page are restricted to UW students, staff and faculty. These are marked with a lock . To connect to these databases from home you will need to first click on the Off-Campus Access link in the upper-right hand corner and login.

Have questions or need research help? Please contact Theresa Mudrock, the history librarian via email at mudrock@u.washington.edu.

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 Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience         Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - DT14 .A37435 2005 Black women in America         Suzzallo Reference - E185.86 .B542 2005 Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara         Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - DT351 .E53 1997 Encyclopedia of American social history         Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - HN57 .E58 1993 Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion         Drama Reference - GT507 .E53 2005 Encyclopedia of early cinema         Suzzallo Reference - PN1993.45 .E53 2005 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 Joint catalog of more than 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Books can be requested and shipped to the UW for pick-up. Especially useful when the book you need is checked-out for the quarter... OCLC WorldCat Joint catalog of thousands of major libraries in the U.S. and abroad. OhioLINK Use OhioLink to access chapters of recent books, use the "Keywords" search option.

Finding Journal Articles

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.

To find a copy of the article, use the Check for UW Holdings button available on most databases to locate a copy in the library. If there is no button, search the UW Libraries Catalog for the title of the journal to locate a copy. Be sure to have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year) of your article.

Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested via Interlibrary loan.

Interdisciplinary Databases Proquest Databases This is a good general beginning database to find articles on all subjects. Includes some fulltext. Also see a similar database: Expanded Academic Index. JSTOR JSTOR is a collection of more than 40 full-text history-related journals. Earlier material in JSTOR can be considered primary sources. For another collection of searchable electronic journals related to history and the humanities see Project Muse. Women's Studies Databases African Women's Bibliographic Database Index to English language books, documents and articles dealing with African women published since 1986. Contemporary Women's Issues Focuses more on current issues but some historical journals are included. Viva: A Database of Women's History ViVa is a current bibliography of articles from 167 journals about women's and gender history. Discipline-Oriented Databases America History & Life This is the best database to find articles dealing with U.S. and Canadian history. Also includes citations to selected books, dissertations and reviews. Communication Abstracts Index to articles and books dealing with media and communication. Index to Film Periodicals Index to articles in cinema studies. Also see Film literature index . Historical Abstracts This is the best database to find articles dealing with modern world history (1450 onward excluding the US and Canada). MLA Best database for finding books and chapters dealing with literary criticism.

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 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.

Finding Primary Sources -- Articles

In addition to browsing through the magazines and newspapers listed below you can use the following databases to find American articles.

Historic Newspaper Trials [til Nov. 1 only] Links to the trials Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. This page also includes the password info and a link to the evaluation form. American Periodical Series Online Though primarily a collection of fulltext 18 and 19th century American magazines also includes some early 20th century material such as The Living Age, McClures Magazine (the magazine of romance) and Life. Historic New York Times Full-text of the American newspaper from 1851-2001. Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective Index to American, British, German and French journals covering the years 1908-1980. Reader's Guide Retrospective General index to American magazines for the period of 1890 to 1980.

Unit I: Emergence of the Modern Girl

Websites

• Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection
  Full-text collection of books and other artifacts documenting the Association including That Terrible Question, or, a Few Thoughts on Love and Marriage published in 1868 and Lucretia Mott's Discourse on Woman.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930
  Collection of documents established at SUNY Binghamton. Subjects covered include African American women, temperance, labor and suffrage.
• Women Working 1870-1930
  "Women Working, 1870 - 1930 provides access to digitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard's library and museum collections. This collection explores women's roles in the US economy between the Civil War and the Great Depression."

Finding Advertisements

Generally the only way to find print advertisements is to browse through magazines and newspapers. This is a selective list of 20th century magazines that include extensive advertising, for other American and British magazines browse the 051 section of Suzzallo Periodicals (3rd floor).

The Afro-American (Baltimore newspaper), 1915-1970         Microform & Newspapers - A4538 Bantu World (South Africa), 1932-1946         Microform & Newspapers - A10335 Crisis (NAACP magazine)      1910-1948   Microform & Newspapers - A3695      1944-1996   Suzzallo Periodicals - E185.5 .C92 The Designer and the woman's magazine, 1920-1926          Microform & Newspapers - A9677 reel 48-51 Drum (Nigeria), 1962-1982         Suzzallo Periodicals Oversize - DT1 .D75 Drum (South Africa), 1951-1965         Microform & Newspapers - A9742 Good Housekeeping, 1916-2004         Suzzallo Periodicals - 051 GH Harper's bazaar, 1919-1983          Special Collections Oversize - 051 HB Half-Century Magazine, 1916-1925 (an African American women's magazine)         Microform & Newspapers - A4571 Ladies Home Journal, 1920-1959         Microform & Newspapers - A9652 Vogue (NY), 1912-1959         Special Collections - 051 VO Sear's Catalog 1888-1992          Microforms & Newspapers -- Microfilm A2177

Websites

• 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.
• Ivory Project: Advertising Soap in America 1938-1998
  Smithsonian collection of Ivory soap advertisements.

Fan Magazines
Most fan magazines are not indexed so you will need to browse to find articles and photos. If you are looking for items on a specific entertainer be sure to know when they were active in their career -- this will pinpoint a year or two to begin your browsing.

Bona, 1964-1994 (successor to Zonk, incomplete)         Microform & Newspapers - A10558 Motion Picture Daily, 1930-1970         Microform & Newspapers - A10029 Motography, 1911-1918         Microform & Newspapers - A9852 Moving Picture Weekly, 1915-1922         Microform & Newspapers - A9995 Moving Picture World, 1907-1927         Microform & Newspapers - A9878 Photoplay, 1916-1940, 1946-1977         Microform & Newspapers - A9815 & A9816 Photoplay combined with Movie mirror, 1941-1946         Microform & Newspapers - A9816 Zonk, 1951-1964 (incomplete)         Microform & Newspapers - A10557

Finding Films and Filmscripts
The UW Libraries Media Center, located in Odegaard Undergraduate Library, has more than 2000 feature films. These videos/dvds can be checked out for 3 days.

• All Feature Films on VHS
  List of all feature films on video in the Media Center. Also see All Feature Films on DVD. If you know the title of a film, search the UW Libraries Catalog to see if we own a copy.
• Scarecrow Video
  Largest rental collection of videos. Includes many classic movies. The website includes a searchable database of rental videos/dvds.
• American film scripts online
  Currently includes more than 700 scripts of films dating from 1903 to 2002.

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

5 April 2005