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Old South - Research Guide

I. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. Edited by Randall M Miller and John David Smith. NY: Greenwood Press, 1988. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E 441 D53 1988]

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Edited by Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Arranged into 24 broad subjects (e.g., Black Life, Education, Mythic South) with subject and contributor index. [Van Pelt Library Reference: F 209 E53 1989]

Encyclopedia of Southern History. Edited by David C. Roiler and Robert W. Twyman. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979 [Van Pelt Library Reference: F 207.7 E52]

Snodgrass, Mary. Encyclopedia of Southern Literature. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 1997.
[Van Pelt Library Reference: PS261 .S515 1997]

Volvo, James. Encyclopedia of the Ante-bellum South. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2000.
[Van Pelt Library Reference: F213 .V65 2000 ]

II. Biographical Sources

American National Biography . successor to The Dictionary of American Biography (DAB)(1926-1937). As such, it is a source of biographical information on Americans of significance, both American and significance broadly defined. More comprehensive than the Dictionary of American Biography and includes many more entries devoted to women and minorities.

Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone. NY: Scribners, 1928-36.
Supplements 1-9, and Comprehensive Index The major biographical encyclopedia. Lengthy, signed articles with bibliographies. Although arrangement is alphabetical, indexes provide easy access to main set and supplements. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E176 .D56]

African American Biographical Database
Biographical database of African Americans active between 1790 and 1950.

Fifty Southern Writers Before 1900. Robert Bain, ed. New York: Greenwood, 1987.
Biographies and criticism of pre-20th century southern writers. Each entry includes bibliographies of authors' works and bibliographies of secondary works about the author.
[Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: PS261 .F543]

Dictionary of Literary Biography: Antebellum Writers in the South. Boston: Gale, 2001.
Biographies and criticism of ante-bellum southern writers. Each entry includes bibliographies of authors' works and bibliographies of secondary works about the author.
[Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: PS261 .A58]

National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Clifton, NJ: J.T. White, 1893-1984
Seventy-five vol set with biographical entries and living and dead Americans. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E176 .N28] Index provides access by topic and names. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E176 .N28 Index 1891-1984]

Whites Conspectus of American Biography. (1937) Subject and topical listing of notable Americans. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E 176 .N2814 ed. 2]

Notable Names in American History: a tabulated register. (1973) Both these services provide access to the set by various indices, including occupation, geographical location, and membership in certain organizations. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E176.N2814 ed. 3]

Notable American Women, 1607-1950: a biographical dictionary. Ed. Edward T. James. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. 3 vols. [Van Pelt Library Reference: CT3260 .N57]

Wakelyn, Jon L. Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E 467 W2]

Warner, Ezra J. Biographical register of the Confederate Congress. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1975. Biographical data on the 267 men who made the Confederacy's laws from 1861 until 1865. Information is taken from standard biographical sources, census schedules, and other primary sources. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: JK 9663 W3]

III. Bibliographies

America: History and Life
. Index to scholarly articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.

Harvard Guide to American History. Edited by Frank Burt Freidel. Rev. Ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1974. [Van Pelt Library Reference: Z 1236 F77 1974] Vol. 1 discusses types of historical sources (manuscripts, archives, official documents, oral histories) and lists books/articles on broad topics such as agriculture or religion, while vol. 2 suggests important books and journal articles covering American history in chronological order.

Prucha, Francis P. Handbook for Research in American History: A Guide to Bibliographies and Other Reference Works. 2nd ed. rev. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. [Van Pelt Library Reference: E 178 P78 1987] A guide to library resources relevant to research in U.S. history. Includes sections on book review indexes, manuscript guides, guides to newspapers, etc.

The American South: a historical bibliography Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1986.
[Van Pelt Library Reference: F209 .A45 1986] 2 vols. Reprints entries from America: History & Life published between 1974 and 1984 that deal with the South.

The Old South. Compiled by Fletcher M. Green and J. Isaac Copeland. Arlington Heights, IL: AHM Publishing Corp, 1980. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: F 213 G735] Selective listing of books and journal articles on economic, cultural, and social history of the south after 1820. Subject classed arrangement; author index. Excludes manuscripts and other unpublished items, but does list published primary source materials in addition to secondary sources.

Writing Southern History: Essays in Historiography in Honor of Feltcher M. Green. Eds. Arthur S. Link, Rembert W. Patrick. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981, c 1965. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: F 208.2 .W74 1981] Narrative, evaluative bibliography by prominent historians. Covers materials published up to 1965.

Interpreting Southern History: Historiographical Essays in honor of Sanford W. Higginbotham. Eds. John B. Boles and Evelyn Thomas Nolen. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. Updates Writing Southern History. [Van Pelt Library Reference: F208.2 .I57 1987]

Writings on American History. Washington: American Historical Association, 1902-1989/90.
Useful especially for materials which predate coverage by America: History and Life, that is, pre-1954). Initially indexed books and journal articles, since 1974 only journal articles are indexed. Publication suspended 1941-1947, 1962-1972. A ten volume set covering 1962-1972 was issued in 1976. [ Van Pelt Library Stacks: E 178 W773]. A detailed index covering the years 1902-1940 was published in 1956. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: E 151 W758]

Women of color and Southern women : a bibliography of social science research. Memphis, TN : Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University, c1988-1994.
[Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: HQ1420 .W65 ]

IV. Statistical Sources

DeBow, James Dunwoody Brownson. Industrial resources, statistics, etc., of the United States, and more particularly of the Southern and Western States. 3rd ed, NY: A.M. Kelley, 1966 (reprint of 1852-53 edition). 3 vols. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: HC 105 .D3 1966]

Dodd, Donald B. and Wynelle S. Dodd, comps. Historical Statistics of the South, 1790-1970, a compilation of State-level census statistics for the sixteen States of Alabama,... . University: University of Alabama Press, 1973. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: HA218 .D63]

United States. Bureau of the Census. Negro Population in the United States, 1790-1915. NY: Arno Press, 1968. Reprint of 1918 ed. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: HA 205 .A33 1968]

V. Library Catalogs

Use Franklin and the Card Catalog to find library materials.

Search for known items by author or title

calhoun, john
confederate states of america
southern banner
uncle toms cabin

Search for information on a topic, including primary sources, using Library of Congress subject headings) There are actually hundreds of relevant headings; see the list of official LCSH Headings for possibilities. HINT: catalogers assign very few headings per book and use the most specific heading that is appropriate.

cotton growing (subdivided by place)
plantation life (subdivided by place, e.g., North Carolina)
plantation owners
slaveholders
southern states -history -1775-1865 -sources

VI. Periodicals

Because the University's library collections grew significantly during the nineteenth century they are especially strong in contemporary accounts from that period. The key sources for identifying periodical titles from the nineteenth century are:

American Periodical Series Online
I ncludes digitized images of the pages of 1100 American magazines and journals (of which about 750 are available online as of Fall 2002) published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century.

Mott, Frank Luther. History of American Magazines. 5 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938-1968. Vol. 2: 1850-1865; vol. 3: 1865-1885. Chronological list at the end of vol. 3.
[Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: PN 4877 M63]
Comprehensive history of American magazines, including detailed histories of individual magazines with notes on their editorial biases. Use this reference work to identify magazines that may include articles that are relevant to your research.

19th Century Masterfile
Provides indexing to nineteenth century periodicals, books, newspapers, and government documents. The main index is Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906),

Reader's Guide Retrospective
Provides comprehensive indexing of the popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States, such as Time, Newsweek, New Republic, National Review, and many others. Covers 1900-1982. Contents reflect the history of 20th century America.

Making of America
Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Provides electronic access to 19th century books and journals. Cornell and the University of Michigan maintain sites with mutually exclusive content.
Cornell's Site
UMichigan Site

Periodical Contents Index
Index of American and European journals spanning back to the 18th century.

Harpweek: The Civil War Era, 1857-1875
Harper's Weekly was one of the leading American journal during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. This database contains the full text and all the images from 1857 through 1875.

VII. Newspapers

New York Times Online, 1851-1999
Full-text of the New York Times. News, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements are all searchable and available.

Online Index to the London Times
Access to Palmer's Index to the Times (London), 1790-1905; Official Index to the Times (London), 1906-1980. Indexed articles are available on Microfilm in Van Pelt Library. [Microfilm news 70]

Anti-Slavery Newspapers and Periodicals. edited by John W. Blassingame and Mae G. Henderson. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1980- Indexes letters in ten major abolitionist periodicals and/or newspapers, including the Liberator, the National anti-slavery standard, and the Pennsylvania Freeman. [AI 3 A54]

Selected Papers
Charleston Courier. (SC-Charleston) Jan. 1823 - June 1852 [Microfilm news 83]
Charleston Mercury. (SC-Charleston) Jan. 1822-Dec. 1861 [Microfilm News 84]. Available online 1860-1865.
Daily Union. (DC): May 1845-10 Apr 1859 [Microfilm news 22] Daily Journal. (NC-Wilmington): 8 Sep 1851-18 Feb 1865, 28 Sep 1865-28 Sep 1876 [Microfilm news 23]
Richmond Enquirer. (VA-Richmond) Sept. 20, 1815 - June 12, 1846 [Microfilm News 114]. Available online 1860-1865.
Southern Times and State Gazette. (SC-Columbia): July 10, 1835-1837 [Microfilm news 150]
Galveston Tri-weekly News. (TX-Galveston): Dec 1855-Oct 1857, Nov 1860-1867, 31 May 1869-1873 [Microfilm news 29]
Galveston Daily News (TX-Galveston): 21 Feb 1865-1900 [Microfilm news 28]

To find additional relevant papers, try keyword searches such as:

AND
savannah AND (daily OR weekly)

VIII. Selected Primary Sources

Franklin

In Franklin, look for the subject subdivisions Personal Narratives and Sources in particular.

Keyword searching allows you to search for any word in a title, in subject headings, in notes, etc. to combine words or phrases, so:

slavery and sources
plantation and (diaries or narratives)

Major Sets at Penn

American City Directories through 1860. [Van Pelt Library Microtext: Microfiche 5] Based on Dorothea Spear's Bibliography of American Directories through 1860 [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z5771 .S7]

American Fiction, 1774-1850. New Haven: Research Publications, 1968-1971. [Van Pelt Microfilm 1455] Titles listed in Lyle Wright's comprehensive bibliography [Van Pelt Library Reference: Z1231 .F4 W9 1969] are reproduced here.

The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. Mainly consists of transcriptions of narratives collected under the direction of the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1939, and initially published under the title "Slave Narratives: a folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves." Supplemented by texts of oral histories from other sources.

Index to The American Slave. Edited by Donald M. Jacobs. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1981. Lists all 3500 narrators by name with date, age, occupation and state in which each was a slave. Also indexes by state and by occupation. [ E 444 A45 Suppl. 3]

North American Women's Letters and Diaries, Colonial to 1950.
Fulltext of letters and diaries, published and manuscript, of American women during the Colonial period through 1950.

Documenting the American South A growing collection of digitized primary sources on "The Southern experience in 19th Century America" from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Includes electronic texts on the following subjects:
First-Person Narratives of the American South
Library of Southern Literature
North American Slave Narratives
The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865
The Church in the Southern Black Community
The North Carolina Experience, Beginnings to 1940
North Carolinians and the Great War

American women's diaries. Southern women. New Canaan: Readex Film Products, 1988-1990. Thirty-two diaries written in the 19th century and usually spanning the Civil War have been microfilmed. The originals are held by major research universities, state archives, and historical societies in the South. The finding guide (ask at the Microforms Desk) provides succinct biographical information and summarizes the diaries' coverage. [Van Pelt Library Microtext: Microfilm 3722]

Early State Records Produced by the Library of Congress. Mainly 19th century. May include legislative materials, newspapers, local city and county records. Guide available at the Microforms Desk. [Van Pelt Library Micrtext: Microfilm 686]

Hammond, James Henry, 1807-1864. Papers, 1823-1875. 20 reels of microfilm. Originals in the Library of Congress. Subjects covered include slavery and South Carolina history. [Van Pelt Library Microtext: Microfilm 1277]

Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War. Frederick, MD.: University Publications of America, 1985-. [Van Pelt Library Microtext: Microfilm 3880] A massive, ongoing project that has already reproduced 845 reels of diaries, letters, and accounts from libraries and archives across the South. Reel guides provide basic information on the activities of the plantation and the contents of the records. Kenneth Stampp is general editor. Search Franklin under "records of ante-bellum southern plantations" for records.

Southern women and their families in the 19th century: papers and diaries. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1991- Series A, Holdings of the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Consulting editor, Anne Firor. [Van Pelt Library Microtext: Microfilm 3944]

Schwaab, Eugene L. Travels in the Old South, selected from periodicals of the times. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1973. 2 vols. Supplements separately published travel accounts. Includes representative sampling of accounts published from 1783 to 1860, generally by professionals or businessmen, but also includes settler's letters to friends back home.

Tucker, Beverley, 1784-1851. Selected political correspondence, 1830-1851.
17 volumes. Originals in Swem Library, College of William and Mary. Includes letters on his literary, political, and educational activities. [Van Pelt Rare Book E381.T83]

Government Documents

United States. Congress. Serials Set.
The "Serials Set" is the sequentially numbered set of bound volumes of Congressional Reports and Documents. However, in the 19th century approximately 50% of the titles included in the Serials Set came from the Executive branch (e.g. the President, War Department, etc.) so in a sense it is a source for all types of government publications and is the official record of the United States Government. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: J 74 A22]

The main index to the Serial Set is The Congressional Information Service Serial Set Index (C.I.S Index). It is arranged by groups of congresses which, in effect, means it is arranged by date (e.g.: Part II, 35th-45th Congresses, 1857-1879). Using the subject index to locate documents gives entries providing document title, publication series (e.g.: H. Rp. 577), congress and session (e.g.: 43-2) and serial volume number (e.g.: 477). If, as is frequently the case, only the Congress and Report or Document number are known, the Serial Set volume number can be located by using the Finding Lists volume of the CIS Index. A third volume list names of individuals and organizations.
A User Handbook is attached to the index and gives more details. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: J 74 C66 1975]

Works that Identify Additional Primary Sources

American Autobiography, 1945-1980: A Bibliography. Ed. by Mary Louise Briscoe. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. Includes autobiographies written in the nineteenth century but published after 1945. See "Civil War," "Reconstruction Era," and related headings in the index. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: CT 220 A44 1982]

American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals. Ed. by Laura Arksey et al. Detroit: Gale, 1983. Vol.1: Diaries written from 1492 to 1844. Vol. 2: Diaries Written from 1845-1980. Chronological arrangement, with name, subject and geographic indexes. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: CT 214 A74 1983 v.2]

Catterall, Helen Honor (Tunnicliff) Mrs. Judicial Cases concerning American slavery and the Negro. 5 vols. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: AS 32 .A5 no.374]

Clark, Thomas D. Travels in the Old South, a bibliography. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1956. Lists travel accounts beginning with 1527. Vol. 2 covers 1750-1825. Vol. 3 covers ante-bellum South, 1825-1860. Published accounts, lengthy annotations. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 1251 S7 C4]

Coulter, Merton. Travels in the Confederate States, a bibliography. Norman, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1948.
[Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks:Z1251.S7 C68]

Dummond, Dwight Lowell. A Bibliography of antislavery in America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961. Comprehensive listing of printed antislavery literature written by those active in the movement. British antislavery titles included only if widely circulated in the US. Only selected speeches in Congress are included. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 1249 S6 D8]

Goodfriend, Joyce D. The Published diaries and letters of American women: an annotated bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987. Includes only personal, immediate (as opposed to public and after-the-fact) writings. Arranged chronologically with topical and name indexes. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: CT3260 .G66 1987]

Havlice, Patricia. And So to Bed: A Bibliography of Diaries Published in English. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1987. Can be used to supplement American Diaries (above). [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: CT 25 H38 1987]

Hummel, Ray Orvin. Southeastern broadsides before 1877, a bibliography. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1971. [Z1251.S7 H83]

_________________ More Virginia broadsides before 1877. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1975. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: F 226.H79]

Kaplan, Louis. A Bibliography of American Autobiographies. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961. A bibliography of autobiographies published before 1946. Includes subject index. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 1224 K3]

Matthews, William. American Diaries in Manuscript, 1580-1954; A Descriptive Bibliography. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1974. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 5305 .U5 M32]

Guides to Archives and Special Collections

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMUC). Washington: Library of Congress, 1959/61- .
Describes and locates manuscript collections in libraries around the country. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 6620 U5 N3]

Index to personal names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984. Alexandria: Chadwyck-Healey, 1988. 2 vols.
Indexes over 200,000 personal names. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: Z 6620 U5 I53 1988]

Duke University. Library. Guide to the Cataloged Collections in the Manuscript Department of the William R. Perkins Library. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1980. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z 6621 D D84 1980]

Maryland Historical Society. The manuscript collections of the Maryland Historical Society. Baltimore: 1968
[Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z 6621 .M3914]

Maryland Historical Society. Guide to the research collections of the Maryland Historical Society: historical and genealogical manuscripts and oral history interviews. Baltimore: 1981. Updates 1968 guide to historical manuscripts. Also includes oral histories and genealogical mss. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z 6621 .M3915]

Mississippi. Department of Archives and History. Guide to official records... Jackson: 1975. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: CD 3324 .M57 1975]

North Carolina. State Dept. of Archives and History. Guide to private manuscript collections in the North Carolina State Archives. Raleigh: 1964. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z6621 .N79]

Stokes, Allen H. A Guide to the manuscript collection of the South Caroliniana Library. Columbia: 1982. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: F 266 .S84 1982]

South Carolina. Dept. of Archives and History. A guide to local government records in the South Carolina Archives. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: CD3504 .S68 1988]

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. The Southern historical collection: a guide to the manuscripts. Chapel Hill: 1970. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z 6621 .N8 S65]

Virginia. Calendar of Virginia state papers and other manuscripts... preserved in the Capitol at Richmond, 1875-1893. NY: Kraus Reprint, 1968. Eleven-volume set. The last two vols cover 1808-1835 and 1836-1869. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: F 221 .V5 1968]

Salmon, John S. A guide to state records in the Archives Branch, Virginia State Library. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1985. [Van Pelt Library Stacks: CD 3564 .S25 1985]

Plunkett, Michael. Afro-American sources in Virginia: a guide to manuscripts. Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press, 1990. [Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks: E185.93 .V8 P58 1990]

Virginia Historical Society. Guide to the manuscript collections of the Virginia Historical Society. Richmond: 1985 [Van Pelt Library Stacks: Z 1345 .V835 1985]

Last update: Thursday, 21-Jun-2001 16:01:06 EDT
Send mail concerning this page to Nick Okrent, Van Pelt Library Reference Department at: okrent@pobox.upenn.edu

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