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Library Catalogs
Useful terms and search tips
You have two useful options when looking for subject-related material in the library catalog. First, you may conduct a subject search which requires the use of exact Library of Congress subject headings. The second option is a word search. Your search words are matched against title words and contents notes.
A very common and recommended search strategy:
- Perform a word search
- Select the relevant items
- Examine the actual subject headings assigned to the relevant items found through the keyword search; search on those headings that look promising. (Subject headings are listed below the bibliographic information in the catalog record).
Some useful Library of Congress subject headings:
Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Books, videos, government documents, etc. in Bowdoin's library.
NExpress
A combined catalog containing the library holdings of Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley,
Williams, Middlebury, and Northeastern. Requests take 2-3 days.
MaineCat
Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. Requests take 2-5 days
WorldCat
A combined database of many library catalogs worldwide. Request items found in WorldCat through our Interlibrary Loan service.
Articles & Videos
Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Articles
Art Abstracts
1984 to present
This index cites articles from more than 290 key international periodicals; coverage includes English-language arts publications, periodicals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, competition and award notices, exhibition listings, interviews, film reviews, and more. Indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Also covers periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish.
Arts and Humanities Search
1980 to present (updated weekly)
The Arts & Humanities Search!, the online equivalent of the Arts and Humanities Citation Index includes over 1.4 million records referencing more than 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
BHA - Bibliography of the History of Art
1973 to present
Published by Getty Information Institute, Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Indexes art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals. Updated quarterly.
Ethnic Newswatch
1992 to present
CD-ROM, H-L Library
Index to major ethnic newspapers (with full-text) in the U.S.
Academic Search Premier:
1980 to present
Premier selectively indexes the varying years of over 2500 periodicals and newspapers. It is an excellent place to start a search on almost any topic. Premier selectively provides full-text of over 500 journals.
Locating Videos
On the library's home page, from the drop down menu above the search box, select "Videos/DVDs." Then enter the search terms into the dialog box.
Locating Reproductions
250 years of Afro-American art : an annotated bibliography
Lynn Moody Igoe with James Igoe, New York : Bowker, 1981
Main Ref Z5956.A47 I38
Art Abstracts
Online index to journal literature, catalogs and other publications.
ARTstor
As of October 2005 ARTstor has a limited number of modern and contemporary African American artists. This number may increase as the database continues to grow
The Black Artist in America: an index to reproductions
Dennis Thomison, Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1991
Main Ref N6538.N5 T46 1991
Collecting African American art : works on paper and canvas Halima Taha, New York: Crown, c1998
Art N6538.N5 T34 1998
Images of 19th Century African Americans: A selection of visual
resources (from NYPL Schomburg Collection)
http://149.123.1.8/cgi-shl/vsc30b.exe/schomburg/images_aa19/toc.html?E+nyplbeta
Journals
Be sure to consider Ethnic NewsWatch, 1992-present) which has several years of searchable full-text articles from community and national African American newspapers and magazines.
African American Review
Online through Jstor, 1992-
Terre Haute, Ind. : Department of English, Indiana State University, c1992-
As the official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association, the quarterly journal African American Review promotes a lively exchange among writers and scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences who hold diverse perspectives on African American literature and culture
Main Periodical v.26:no.3- 1992:Fall-
African-American Issues
http://www.black-collegian.com
Black American Literature Forum (Now African American Review)
Terre Haute, Ind. : Department of English, Indiana State University, c1992-
Main Periodical v.26:no.3- 1992:Fall-
Black Art (Now International Review of Africian American Art)
Claremont, CA, etc., Black Art Quarterly, Ltd., 1975-c1984
Russwurm, v. 4-5 1981-1984
Black Enterprise
Academic Search Premier: 1992-
Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire
Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press
Ethnic Newswatch October 1996 -
Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire publishes essays, fiction, reviews, and art work that address the full range of contemporary Black concerns.
Russwurm v.1:no.3- 1998-
Callaloo
Callaloo, the premier African and African-American literary journal, publishes original works by and critical studies of black writers worldwide. The journal offers a rich mixture of fiction, poetry, plays, critical essays, cultural studies, interviews, and visual art.
Main Periodical v. 16 -, Russwurm v. 6 -
Crisis
Baltimore, Crisis Pub. Co., etc
Main Periodical v. 1-70,75- 1910-63,1968-
Ebony
Academic Search Premier 1989-
Main Periodical & Russwurm
Essence
Academic Search Premier 1989-
Index to Black Periodicals
Boston, Hall, 1950-
Main Per Index 1984-
The International review of African American art
Santa Monica, Calif. : Museum of African American Art
Russwurm v.6- 1985-
Opportunity
(New York, N.Y.) [microform] [New York : Dept. of Research and Investigations, National Urban League, 1923-1949]
Main Micro
The Langston Hughes Society
from the University of Georgia (guide to print edition- no full-text)
Studies in the World History of Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation
(from Michigan State University, full-text articles)
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~slavery/
Featuring essays, documents, images, bibliographies and database information relevant to the history of slavery, abolition, and emancipation. The journal is intended to provide a global context for slave studies.
The Western Journal of Black Studies
from Washington State University
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wjbs/
Academic Search Premier: 1996 - present
The Western Journal of Black Studies (WJBS) has been a leading interdisciplinary journal that is devoted to publishing scholarly articles, from a wide range of disciplines, that focus mainly on the experience of African Americans in the United States of America.
Reference Sources
A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America
Monroe Nathan Work, New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1928
Main Ref Z1361.N39 W8
Black Artists in the United States: an annotated bibliography of books, articles, and dissertations on black artists, 1779-1979
Lenwood G. Davis and Janet Sims; foreword by James E Newton, Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1980
Main Ref Z5956.A47 D38
Black Arts and Black Aesthetics: a bibliography
Fowler, Carolyn, Georgia: First World, 1981
Main Ref Z5956.A47 F69 1981
Black Authors and Illustrators of Children's Books: a biographical dictionary
Rollock, Barbara, New York: Garland Publishers, 1988
Main Ref Z1037 .R63 1988
Black Photographers, 1840-1940: an illustrated bio-bibliography
Willis-Thomas, Deborah,
New York: Garland Publishers, 1985
Main Ref TR139 .W55 1985
Fine Arts and the Black American
compiled by Betty Jo Irvine
Music and the Black American
compiled by Jane A. McCabe
Indiana: Indiana University, 1969
Main Ref Z1361.N39 I5 no. 8
Grove Dictionary of Art
A reference work covering all forms of the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic and decorative arts, and photography, from prehistory to the 1990s. Corresponds to 34 volume print resource.
The Harlem Renaissance : a historical dictionary for the era
edited by Bruce Kellner,
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984
Main Ref NX511.N4 H37 1984
An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers 1840-1988
Willis-Thomas,Deborah, New York: Garland, 1988
Main Ref TR139 .W55 1988
St. James guide to Black artists
Riggs, Thomas, ed., Detroit : St. James Press, c1997
Art N40 .S78 1997
Special Collections
African American History Resources
http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/subject/afroam.shtml
"...houses several manuscript, archival and print collections that contain records and information relevant to the study of African American history. They are especially rich in material concerning 19th century African Americans, both in Maine and nationwide."
Web Sites
Web Sites
General
African-American Studies Relevant Resources
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eguides/afam/index.html
African American Studies from Howard University Library
http://www.founders.howard.edu/
Topics include: Affirmative Action, Architecture, Art, Biography, Civil Rights, Communications, Curriculum, Demographics, Education, General Sources, Health & Welfare, History, Literature, Military Science, Music, Organizations, Periodicals, Politics, Publishers & Booksellers, Research Resources, Science & Technology, and Videos & Films.
African American Web Connection
http://www.aawc.com/aawc.html
by William R. Jones, CCP. "...AAWC, is providing a doorway to Afrocentric web resources for the African American web community and others seeking the total Black web experience."
African Studies WWW (U. Penn)
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/AS.html
Extensive collection of links. Focus is fairly academic. Click on Africa Web Links: an Annotated Resource List for a list of sites by subject.
Black/African Related Resources
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Home_Page/mcgee.html
"This is a list of online information storage sites (FTP, Gopher, Telnet, WWW, BBS, Database, etc.) that contain a significant amount of information relating to or of concern to Black or African people, culture, and issues around the world, either in files or conferences. Also included (in other sections of the list) are resources relating to Ethnic/Intercultural Relations, International/Sustainable Development (includes Global Networking), and Social/Progressive Activism."
Images of African Americans from the 19th Century
from the New York Public Library Digital Library Collections, Digital Schomburg
http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/
The Jackson Davis Collection of African-American Educational Photographs
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/jdavis
The original photographic negatives (glass and celluloid) will be digitized and presented in a searchable database that will be freely accessible through the World Wide Web. In addition, each image will be researched to identify, where possible, individuals, locations, events and relevant historical and contextual information; this data will be incorporated into the Web-accessible database.
Race and Place: An African-American Community in the Jim Crow South
http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/raceandplace/index.html
The project is an archive of primary sources centered around the African-American community in Charlottesville, Virginia, from the 1890s to the 1930s. This on-going research project is a collaboration between the Virginia Center for Digital History and U. Va.'s Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and African Studies.
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research
http://web-dubois.fas.harvard.edu/DuBois/Research/Research.HTML
Web Sites
Web Sites
Major Research Collections
American Life Histories from the Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Can search by key word or by state. "These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places named in the narrative texts."
The African-American Mosaic Exhibition from the Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html
"The exhibit covers only four areas --Colonization, Abolition, Migrations, and the WPA-- of the many covered by the Mosaic. These topics were selected not only because they illustrate well the depth, breadth, and richness of the Library's black history collections, but also because of the significant and interesting interplay among them. For example, the "back-to-Africa" movement represented by the American Colonization Society is vigorously opposed by abolitionists, and the movement of blacks to the North is
documented by the writers and artists who participated in federal projects of the 1930s."
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from the New York Public Library
http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html
Collections include Art and Artifacts Division, General Research and Reference Division, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, Photographs and Prints Division.
Specialized Library/Research Resources, University Sponsored
Africa: Arts & Architecture
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/About_African/ww_art.html
African American Artists from Ethnic Studies at USC
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/ethnicstudies/africanamerican/black_art.html
Collections of links
African American History from Historical Text Archive, Mississippi State.
http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=listarticles&secid=8
African Americans in the Visual Arts: A Historical Perspective
(from the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library webpage) http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aavaahp.htm#sum
"Over 60 personalities are on display with biographical facts and information. Many examples of their creations are also represented. Included are: painters, sculptors, muralists, engravers, portraitists, print makers, illustrators, photographers, woodcut printers, lithographers, folk artists, and cartoonists. Books, pictures, photos, magazines, museum catalogs, visual crafts, [etc.] are on display."
Afro-American Sources in Virginia: A Guide to Manuscripts
http://www.upress.virginia.edu/plunkett/mfp.html
The Amistad Research Center
(from Tulane University)
http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/
Center offers oral history and video collections along with a specialized library, traveling exhibits, publications, and significant African and African-American art holdings.
Black Caucus of the American Library Association
www.bcala.org
Black Film Center/Archive
http://www.indiana.edu/~bfca/index.html
The BFC/A is a repository of films and related materials by and about African Americans.
Documenting the American South
http://metalab.unc.edu/docsouth/
Documenting the American South, is the Academic Affairs Library's digitized and encoded full-text collection of works on Southern history and culture. DAS organizes works by project: "North American Slave Narratives;" "A Library of Southern Literature to 1920;" "First-person Narratives of the American South;" and "The Southern Homefront, 1861-65." This fall,
"The Church in the Southern Black Community" begins. More than 300 works are now electronically published, and current funding supports the publication of more than 500 additional books and manuscripts in the next year and a half.
Institute for African American Studies
(from University of Georgia)
http://www.uga.edu/~iaas/home.html
Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/
John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American Documentation
(from Duke University Library)
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/franklin/
The Olu Oguibe Art History Class
http://www.camwood.org/oluart.htm
Provides an intro to African Art, African American Art, and Art History on the Web.
The Papers of African American Artists
http://artarchives.si.edu/guides/afriamer/afamguid.htm
Patrick Rael's links
(from Bowdoin College)
http://www.bowdoin.edu/%7Eprael/sources.htm
Collections of links in many areas of American history with including African American History
Web Sites
Web Sites
Museums
African-American Museum in Philadelphia
http://www.aampmuseum.org/
"This museum is home to art shows and special historic exhibits that focus on African-American themes. Also on display within its four galleries is a permanent collection of African-American art and historical photographs of Philadelphia."
African and African American Resources at the Smithsonian
http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/afroam.htm
American Visionary Art Museum
http://www.avam.org/
"...America's first national museum dedicated to the collection of visionary or "outsider" art."
Anacostia Museum
http://www.si.edu/archives/historic/anacost.htm
"...national resource for the identification, documentation, protection, and interpretation of African American history and culture in Washington, D.C., and in those areas of the rural South that have been historically significant to generations of African Americans."
California African - American Museum
http://www.caamuseum.org/
"The Museum's art collection focuses on works by African-American artists and people of African descent from the 19th century, post-1930's to contemporary periods in African-American art, traditional African art and contemporary works of the African Diaspora."
The DuSable Museum of African American History
http://www.dusablemuseum.org
"...extensive permanent collection of artifacts, books, photographs, art objects, and memorabilia which, excluding the archival and library holdings, totals over 13,000 items. Among the holdings are original slave documents and civil rights memorabilia; an art collection rich in 19th and 20th century works; the photographic collections of Pulitzer Prize winning photographer John Tweedle and South African photographer Leo Leveson; and an ethnographic collection of African woodcarvings, bronze castings, and ivory carvings along with films and bibliographic files. The Museum's collection of paintings, drawings, and sculpture by African American artists has been said to be among the ten most notable collections of such works in the country."
Howard University Gallery of Art
http://www.howard.edu/finearts/GALLERy_FINAL/GalleryofArt.html
Museum of Afro American History
http://www.afroammuseum.org/
"...not-for-profit history institution dedicated to preserving, conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African Americans during the colonial period in New England."
Museum of African American History (Detroit)
http://www.maah-detroit.org/
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/afroam/
"The mission of the Center is to educate the public about African American history and culture from the African origins to the present by collecting, preserving, and interpreting material evidence of the Black experience."
The Studio Museum in Harlem
http://www.studiomuseuminharlem.org
"... nineteenth and twentieth-century African-American art; twentieth century Caribbean and African art; and traditional African art and artifacts. We are the premier museum dedicated to African American art."
Tubman African American Museum, Macon Georgia
http://www.tubmanmuseum.com/default.htm
Web Sites
Web Sites
Temporary Exhibits and Resources
Africans in America
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/
"...landmark historical documentary series of four, 90-minute television programs that bring to life our nation's early history in a new way. From Jamestown in 1607 to the start of the Civil War in 1861, the programs show the dramatic impact of the struggle over slavery and freedom in shaping our country."
Creative
Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vvhtml/vvhome.html
The Carl Van Vechten Photographs Collection at the Library of Congress consists of 1,395 photographs taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) between 1932 and 1964. The bulk of the collection consists of portrait photographs of celebrities, including many figures from the Harlem Renaissance. A much smaller portion of the collection is an assortment of American landscapes.
Narratives of African American Art and Identities, The David C. Driskell Collection
http://www.artgallery.umd.edu/driskell/
Depts/ArtGal/.WWW/exhibit/98-99/driskell/
"Narratives of African American Art and Identity will focus on the complex unfolding of racial identity as evidenced in African American art and on the various strategies artists have used to pursue their aesthetic and expressive concerns, to establish their place in the world of art, and to further various social and political agendas. The exhibition is organized around five themes that trace a more or less chronological narrative of 100 years of African American art..."
Re/Righting History: Counternarratives by Contemporary African American Artists
http://www.tfaoi.com/newsm1/n1m131.htm
This exhibition explores ways in which contemporary African-American artists are re-imaging events from the past to offer alternatives to the traditional "textbook" accounts of American history. They present new ways of viewing events, motifs, and prevalent attitudes from the American experience. With its perception of history as a mutable, ever-evolving phenomenon, the exhibition directly addresses some of the most vital topics under discussion today: primacy of voice, the influence and "truthfulness" of media reportage, and the importance of context in the evaluation of opinions and judgments.
Web Sites
Web Sites
Commerical
The African American Home Page
Artists by Nationality: African-American Artists
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/nationalities/African-American.html
Black Quest Power Resource Links
http://blackquest.com/link.htm
A comprehesive source and gateway to African American history, culture and society.
Entitled: Black Women Artists
http://www.entitled-bwartists.com/home.html
Index of Afro-Artists on the 'Net
http://www.artnoir.com/artistslistings.html
October Gallery
http://www.octobergallery.com
Thomas Stockett
http://www.afro.com/culture/artgallery/archive3/artgallery.html
Web Sites
Web Sites
Historically or Predominately Black Colleges and Universities
Howard University's Gateway to Historically Black Colleges and Universities
http://www.howard.edu/HBCU-Gateway/
African-American Issues: The Black Collegian Online
http://www.black-collegian.com