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 228 : The French Revolution (HC)
Finding Background Information:
The following sources provide overviews of ideas, people, and events in the history of the French Revolution. 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.
A critical dictionary of the French Revolution
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989.
Translation of Dictionnaire critique de la Révolution française (Flammarion, 1988). A summary of contemporary scholarship presented as a collection of essays written by leading scholars. Valuable emphasis on historiography.
Encyclopedia of European social history from 1350 to 2000
Publisher: Detroit : Charles Scribner's Sons, c2001.
Essay-length sections address European social issues across time and geographic areas. Very useful for contextualizing your topic.
Online subject encyclopedia for early modern Europe which provides historical background for the French Revolution. The bibliographies at the ends of articles are good places to find more information.
Historical dictionary of the French Revolution 1789-1799
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1985.
Oxford art online
Includes full-text articles on every aspect of the visual arts from prehistory through the present. Contains images and provides links to related sites.
Atlases
Atlas de la Révolution française
Publisher: Paris : Editions de l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, c1987-
This 11-volume set provides in-depth information on many topics including roads, education, and political societies,
Atlas de l'histoire de France.
Publisher: Paris : Autrement, c2006.
Thematic atlas for French history 16th through 19th centuries.
Web Sites
The French Revolution (Section of the Voice of the Shuttle)
A select list of print and image online resources. Includes material on pamphlets, newspapers, and painters.
Links on the French Revolution
David Andress, professor of modern history at the University of Portsmouth, maintians this page of resources which features overviews, primary sources, and full texts of 18th and 19th century histories.
Identifying Relevant Books:
Use the Tripod catalog to look for relevant books owned by Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore.
france history revolution 1789 1799 literature and the revolution [Subject Search]
propaganda (france or french) revolution [keyword search]
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.
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.
france intellectual life 18th century [Subject Search]france history revolution 1789 1799 literature and the revolution [Subject Search]
propaganda (france or french) revolution [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.
Locating Journal Articles:
Journal articles and other periodical publications provide scholarly information on specific aspects of European history. 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 related to your research.
Historical abstracts
Provider: EBSCO
Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, book reviews and dissertations that cover world history (excluding the U. S.) from 1450 to the present. Includes publications from 1953-present.
Searches allow you to specify date ranges. This can save you time.
Searches allow you to specify date ranges. This can save you time.
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.
Using Source Material:
Online Source Collections in Tripod
There are some online collections available for early modern printed texts. They reproduce every page in a book and are searchable by word and phrase.
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.
Gallica
The Bibliothèque nationale in Paris has made thousands of historically important books, journals, images, and sound recordings available in their entirety.
Sources 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. Many of them will be listed in WorldCat under subject terms and the word "sources." For example, the subject search france revolution women sources produces results including:Women's travel writings in revolutionary France. Pickering & Chatto, 2007-.
Among the texts included are: v. 3. Letters containing a sketch of the scenes which passed in various departments of France during the tyranny of Robespierre by Helen Maria Williams (1796) and A ten years' residence in France during the severest part of the revolution, from the year 1787 to 1797 by Charlotte West (1821).
Often books printed in the 18th century are kept in libraries' rare book collections. You can go to Bryn Mawr and other local libraries to see these books.
Selected Titles at Bryn Mawr's Rare Book Library
Librarians Eric Pomroy and Marianne Hansen have put together a short list of titles at Bryn Mawr concerning France with pamphlets, periodicals, and books about the French Revolution:Books Relating to 18th Century France 2006
They welcome researchers from Haverford. E-mail or phone them to tell them your research needs before going over to Special Collections.
Images as Primary Sources
The period of the French Revolution offers many kinds of images for interpretation from David's paintings to popular political prints. Examples of this kind of use of the visual can be found at:
Imaging the French Revolution: Depictions of the French Revolutionary Crowd
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
This site is related to Imaging the French Revolution and includes additional images of political cartoons, material artifacts, and paintings.
French caricature and the French Revolution, 1789-1799.
Publisher: Los Angeles : Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles ; c1988.