Guides: English: American Literature

Databases

Encyclopedia of American Studies

Articles and bibliographies related to the history and cultures of the United States, from pre-colonial days to the present.
America: History and Life

Access to scholarly journals, dissertations and book and media reviews about U.S. and Canadian history and culture. Coverage for some titles back to the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Comprehensive Websites

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature
Organized into ten chapters on the major literary and historical perspectives, cycles, or movements in American literature; each chapter has an Introduction, a Selected Bibliography, and a list of representative authors.

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Created and maintained by Paul P. Reuben Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of English
California State University, Stanislaus
American Authors, Literary Movements, Sites, and Timeline
The purpose of all the American literature pages is to provide useful, interesting, advertising-free information on the subject and to provide links to the best information available for American literature from the earliest days through the 1920s.

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Created and maintained by Donna Campbell, a tenured associate professor of English at Washington State University.

Early American Books

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800

Historical books, pamphlets and broadsides from 17th and 18th century America.

19th Century American Women Writers Web
A study and appreciation of 19th century American culture and women writers. A collection of poetry, novels, short stories, biographical material, etc.
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
The Digital Schomburg is a text database of 52 works by Afro-American women published prior to 1920. Documents are browsable by title, author, or genre (fiction, poetry, biography, or essays); browse lists can be further searched by keywords.

Early American Periodicals

Accessible Archives [now available via History Commons]

Primary source material from 18th and 19th century including historical periodicals and books; eyewitness accounts of historical events, descriptions of daily life, business advertisements, and genealogical records.
Making of America (Cornell University Library)

Primary sources on American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

American Authors Online

T.C. Boyle
Official web site. Excerpts/reader's guide, about the author, cartoons, photo gallery, message board, frequently asked questions, links.
The Willia Cather Archive
A site for the study of Willa Cather's life and writings, providing digital editions of Cather texts and scholarship free to the public as well as creating a large amount of unique, born-digital scholarly content.

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A partnership between the Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, The University of Nebraska Press, and the Cather Project at the University of Nebraska.
The Kate Chopin International Society
Informational web site containing full-text of Kate Chopin's writings, listings of scholarship and events

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The Society was formed in 2004 by Heather Ostman and Avis Hewitt, both English professors at American universities; the web site is edited by Bernard Koloski
The James Fenimore Cooper Society
Promoting the study of the life and works of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
The Stephan Crane Society
Information about the Society and Stephan Crane, including online works and biographical information.
Louise Erdrich
Brief biographical and bibliographical information
William Faulkner on the Web
An evolving guide to the life and works of William Faulkner

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Maintained by John B. Padgett, a graduate instructor of English and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Faulkner’s hometown
Timeless Hemingway
"everything Hemingway, quotes, pictures, stories, letters, trivia"
The William Dean Howells Society
Disseminates information on the life and works of the American author William Dean Howells and facilitates the exchange of facts, ideas, and texts concerning Howells and those authors significantly associated with him.
EOneill.com
Contains full-text plays by Eugene O'Neill, criticism, and bibliographies.
Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) in New Georgia Encyclopedia
Information about the life and work of Flannery O'Connor who was born in Savannah, Georgia.

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The New Georgia Encyclopedia is the first state encyclopedia to be conceived and designed exclusively for publication on the Internet with the purpose of opening a window to Georgia's rich history and diverse culture.
Cynthia Ozick at the complete review
Brief biographical and bibliographic information plus quotes and links

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the complete review is "A Literary Saloon and Site of Review"
Nobelprize.org: John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature 1962. Includes biographical information, the banquet speech and more.
The Edith Wharton Society
Information about the Society and Edith Wharton, including online works and biographical information.
Walt Whitman Manuscripts
Over 1,000 items, including manuscripts, printed works, and portraits of Walt Whitman (1819-1892), the leading American poet of the 19th century.

Locating Book Reviews of Novels

Novels are often reviewed in the Books section of the sunday newspaper and in popular magazines, such as Time, Life, Commonweal, etc., that are indexed in general databases such as Reader's Guide Retrospective, and Academic Search Complete .

Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)

Every issue from 1881-1990 with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.
Los Angeles Times
Indexing and full-text access to the Los Angeles Times from 1985 to current date.