Research Guides: HIST 264/ ANTH 264: Materiality and Spectacle in 19th C. U.S. (HC): Background Information

Biographical Information

American National Biography
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Biographical articles concerning US citizens who died before 1996. These scholarly entries present the facts of a person's life as well as an assessment of her or his contributions. The bibliography includes information about research material in archives and museums.
Biography & Genealogy Master Index
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Provides citations to reference sources and important retrospective works that cover individuals from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. It is especially useful for finding people who had a regional or short-term importance rather than a national reputation.

Literature Resource Center
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Very useful collection of biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors.

Columbia Guide to American Women in the Nineteenth Century
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Narrative overviews of time periods and issues including "Commerce and Culture" and "Education and Reform."
Companion to American Cultural History
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Interpretive essay-length articles surveying changes over time as well as issues in terms of theme and methodology. Note in particular "Performance and Display" and "Situating Visual Culture."
Companion to 19th-Century America
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Essay-length pieces on political and social history as well as issues involving popular culture and technology.
Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
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Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century
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American Art in the Nineteenth Century
Seventy-seven illustrated short essays present different aspects of art in America. They come from the Heilbrunn Timeline at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Decorative Arts and Material Culture
The University of Wisconsin maintains this page of resources with an emphasis on historical content.
Oxford Art Online
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Includes a major encyclopedia of art as well as other reference works. The entries are enhanced by numerous illustrations and links to artworks.