Haverford subscribes to several online databases in which you can find primary sources for your project. In addition, there are some free web-related resources sponsored by scholars, universities, and government grants where you can find even more sources. Below are some of the best and how to use them.
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- Michelle Oswell, Humanities Librarian for Music and Literature (HC)
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ENGL 371 : Writing, Sound, and Modernity (HC)
Finding Primary Resources:
Textual Sources (Nespapers, Books, Journals)
Archive of Americana
The Archive of America holds hundreds of thousands of primary source documents from American history, and Haverford subscribes to the Evans Early American Imprints and government documents. Most of these will be too early for your class, but right now we have a trial of America's Historical Newspapers and American Broadsides and Ephemera, both of which have content related to your course. For example, a simple search for Edison and phonograph between the years of 1878 and 1900 returns thousands of results. Try an advanced search, where you can narrow down by era, specific date range, specific newspapers, and article type.
This resource is a trial and will not be available after November 18, so if you find a source here be sure to download it or print it out for future use!
This resource is a trial and will not be available after November 18, so if you find a source here be sure to download it or print it out for future use!
American Memory
Provides information on, and access to, digitized versions of primary-source collections on American history and culture, including photographs, documents, sound recordings, and motion pictures.
Making of America
Hosted by Cornell University, the Making of American web portal provides access to late 19th century texts in areas including science and technology (they even index the advertisements). Like JSTOR, Making of America allows you to view page images of these documents and the collection can be searched or browsed by journal or book title and author. When you find a text you'd like to print, choose to view it as a pdf.
The New York times on the Web
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1851-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1851-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1851-present.
Publisher: [New York, N.Y.] : New York Times.
Musical Sources (sheet music and recordings)
Charles H. Templeton Ragtime Sheet Music Collection, at Mississippi State University
A collection of over 2000 pieces of sheet music from the late 19th and early 20th century. Browse by genre or search the collection by keyword. Music is available in pdf format.
Sheet Music Consortium
The sheet music of the Library of Congress, Duke University, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and Indiana University make up this online collection. Much is accessible online (pre-1923 works in the public domain) and is easily searched. Try the advanced search where you can choose to search only in digitized sheet music. Try searching with keywords like "telegraph" or "electricity" - you'll be surprised by what you find!
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Created by UC Santa Barbara from their collection of early sound recordings, this site provides access to audio files of over 6000 recordings. In addition to the amazing recordings here, try exploring the links page with its links to historical information and other digitization projects on the web.
Finding Secondary Sources:
MLA international bibliography
Provider: ProQuest
The MLA International Bibliography, most often referred to as "the MLA," is the standard, internationally comprehensive index to journal articles, books, essays, and dissertations on literary, folkloric, and linguistic topics. The MLA's coverage, scope, and title have changed over the years and it now indexes significantly more in the fields of cultural studies (including film and theater). Its indexing is retrospective to 1926.
RILM abstracts of music literature
Provider: CSA
RILM is the standard international bibliographic index for music, musicology, music theory, and other music-related fields. It indexes journal articles, dissertations, books, and conference proceedings and its coverage extends from 1969 to the present.
Using Tripod
Don't forget Tripod! Books, titles of journals, and music scores and recordings held in the Trico can be found in Tripod using keyword, author, title, or subject searches.
Finding scores and recordings can be complicated, but with a few quick pointers you can be assured that you're finding everything Tripod has to offer. Searching is an art, not a science, and you'll need to play around with the catalog to see what works best for you. Try some of the following techniques on a score or recording you're looking for and compare the search results.
1. Use the limit "sound recordings" or "music scores" from the drop down menu.
2. For non-unique title names, like Fifth Symphony or Third Piano Concerto, try doing an author search and then browsing to the relevant genre:
A keyword search will work, but because titles on cd cases and scores vary, you may not get a full set of results. For example, searching for "firebird" as a keyword in music scores will get you nine results, but if you search for the uniform title (the Russian title) Zhar-ptitsa, you'll get 12 results. Of course, you're probably not going to remember Zhar-ptitsa which is why using the author search and browse method works so well.
3. Try more complicated keyword searches using AND or OR to combine terms. For example, compare the results between "beethoven AND symphony AND five" and "beethoven AND symphon? AND (five OR fifth OR no. 5)." The question mark is a wildcard character and will search for symphony or symphonies or symphonie in the catalog. Using the parentheses and the OR will widen your search, helping you find every recording we've got of the symphony (notice, however, that your search results will not be as accurate as with an author or title search).
Finding scores and recordings can be complicated, but with a few quick pointers you can be assured that you're finding everything Tripod has to offer. Searching is an art, not a science, and you'll need to play around with the catalog to see what works best for you. Try some of the following techniques on a score or recording you're looking for and compare the search results.
1. Use the limit "sound recordings" or "music scores" from the drop down menu.
2. For non-unique title names, like Fifth Symphony or Third Piano Concerto, try doing an author search and then browsing to the relevant genre:
A keyword search will work, but because titles on cd cases and scores vary, you may not get a full set of results. For example, searching for "firebird" as a keyword in music scores will get you nine results, but if you search for the uniform title (the Russian title) Zhar-ptitsa, you'll get 12 results. Of course, you're probably not going to remember Zhar-ptitsa which is why using the author search and browse method works so well.
3. Try more complicated keyword searches using AND or OR to combine terms. For example, compare the results between "beethoven AND symphony AND five" and "beethoven AND symphon? AND (five OR fifth OR no. 5)." The question mark is a wildcard character and will search for symphony or symphonies or symphonie in the catalog. Using the parentheses and the OR will widen your search, helping you find every recording we've got of the symphony (notice, however, that your search results will not be as accurate as with an author or title search).