When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.
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- Margaret Schaus, Reference Librarian and Bibliographer (HC)
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Hist 350 : Courtly Science in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (HC)
Finding Background Information:
The following sources provide overviews of ideas, people, and branches of study in the early history of science and medicine. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and current points of debate.
When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.
When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.
Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic scienceThis three volume set features essay-length chapters rather than short encyclopedia articles. The authors are leading scholars who write insightful, lively analyses that help readers understand the importance of the issues.
In this subject encyclopedia over 180 scholars have written articles on 16th and 17th century European science. Topics of interest include patronage, scientific societies, education, political theory, and biographies of scientists. Brief bibliographies accompany each article.
This new subject encyclopedia includes articles on topics as well as important figures. Bibliographies at the ends of articles are often extensive. Note the cross references that refer to related articles for additional information.
This collection of short bibliographic essays addresses questions of historiography and the most reliable secondary sources. While many of the articles address topics from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, others focus on the Middle Ages or early modern period. This guide is useful for sorting out the most significant scholarly writings on an issue.
This set addresses the varied social impacts of science, medicine, and technology. Volume Two focuses on the Middle Ages and Volume Three covers 1450-1699. Both volumes are divided into broad science categories with relevant biographical sketches for each section.
Encyclopedias for History
Online subject encyclopedia for early modern Europe with an emphasis on cultural history. The bibliographies at the ends of articles are good places to find more information.
This is one in a fourteen volume series for encyclopedias of the Middle Ages. Other volumes cover countries (including England and Italy) or topics (travel and women's studies).
Identifying Relevant Books:
Use the Tripod Catalog to look for relevant books owned by Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore.
astrology early works to 1800 [Subject Search]
court*+scien*+history+ital*[keyword search]
The following subject searches are a sampling of possibilities. To find materials on a topic, try doing a keyword search in the Tripod Catalog to find relevant materials and then using the subject headings assigned to those titles to find more material.
science france history 17th century [Subject Search]astrology early works to 1800 [Subject Search]
court*+scien*+history+ital*[keyword search]
Tripod - For locating books, journals, and other materials held in the Tri-College libraries. Deliveries within the Trico usually arrive in one or two days. Use the "Request" button. You can mark and then email or print records for multiple items.
WorldCat - An important place to look for many materials not owned by the Tri-College Libraries. This combined library catalog contains more than 62 million records describing items owned by libraries around the world. Many of these items are available to you though interlibrary loan.
Using Journal Articles:
Journal articles and other periodical publications provide scholarly information on specific aspects of history and the history of science. Since articles are generally published on a shorter schedule than books, they can be more-up-to-date. The following indexes are the best ways for you to identify journal articles.
History of science, technology, and medicine
Provides citations and some brief abstracts to journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology and medicine and allied historical fields from prehistory to the present.
Historical abstracts
Provider: EBSCO
Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, book reviews and dissertations that cover world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the U.S. and Canada which are covered in "America: History and Life"). Includes publications from 1953-present.
International medieval bibliography-online.
Provides abstracts and citations to articles on medieval subjects in journals, Festschriften, conference proceedings, and collected essays. Covers all aspects of medieval studies within the period 450 to 1500 for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
There are also indexes devoted to literary history, philosophy and art history that may be of use for specific topics:
Bibliography of the history of art
Provider: CSA
Offers abstracts of journal articles, books, conference proceedings, dissertations and exhibition and dealer's catalogs. Includes European and American art from late antiquity to the present. Covers 1973-present.
MLA international bibliography
Provider: ProQuest
Provides citations to journal articles, books, working papers, conference proceedings, bibliographies, and other materials. Areas covered include literature, language, linguistics, film, theatre and folklore. Covers 1926-present.
Philosopher's index
Holdings:
Coverage from: 1940-
Publisher: Bowling Green, OH : Philosopher's Information Center ;
Provider: CSA
Provides citations and abstracts of journal articles, books, anthology contributions and book reviews published worldwide. Topics covered include: ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language. Covers 1940-present.
Recent Journals for Browsing
Watch for these authoritative journal titles when you are searching indexes and scanning footnotes. You can also browse the latest issues online or in paper because it takes some time for indexes to add newly published articles.
Early science and medicine
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 2005-present, 1996-2002.
(Haverford College) Available from 1996-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 2005-present, 1996-2002.
Publisher: Leiden [Netherlands] : E.J. Brill,
Isis (Chicago, Ill. : Online)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1913-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1913-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1913-present.
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Published by the University of Chicago Press for the History of Science Society,
Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1996-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 2000-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 2000-present.
Publisher: Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press.
Finding Primary Sources:
There are some online collections available for early modern printed texts. Haverford has access to both Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO):
Early English books online.
Contains digital images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. Includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts and newspapers.
Eighteenth Century collections online.
Offers full-text access to English-language titles and editions published between 1701 and 1800 including books, pamphlets, almanacs, Bibles and treatises. Subjects covered include history, geography, fine arts, medicine, science, literature, language, religion, philosophy and law.
Other primary source collections like Gallica from France's Bibliothèque national are open access on the Web. This list of Web links from the Society for Court Studies gathers together archives and libraries by country.
Archives, Major Libraries and Online Guides to Sources
Still other sources are available in printed form.
Those that have been edited, reprinted in facsimiles, or transferred to microfilm can be borrowed through E Z Borrow or interlibrary loan if they are not in Tripod. Haverford has a large collection of early science books on microcard in the Landmarks of Science series.
Books printed in the 16th or 17th century are kept in libraries' rare book collections. You can go to Bryn Mawr, the University of Pennsylvania, and other local libraries to see these books.
Those that have been edited, reprinted in facsimiles, or transferred to microfilm can be borrowed through E Z Borrow or interlibrary loan if they are not in Tripod. Haverford has a large collection of early science books on microcard in the Landmarks of Science series.
Books printed in the 16th or 17th century are kept in libraries' rare book collections. You can go to Bryn Mawr, the University of Pennsylvania, and other local libraries to see these books.