Reference Resources | Finding Books | Finding
Articles | Local Collections |
Selected Web Sites | Help
REFERENCE RESOURCES
Reference
sources are a good way to start your research, especially if you don't know
very much about your topic. You can familiarize yourself with the history, key
concepts, people, and jargon related to your topic using the following
resources. Many of them include further readings or a bibliography after each
entry that will lead you to other sources of information. These sources and
more can be found in the Reference section, located on the 2nd floor of the
Daley Library.
General
Overview
Africana:
The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
DT14 .A37435 1999
The African-American Almanac (10 volumes)
E185 .A253 2001
The New York Public Library African American Desk Reference
E185 .N49 1999
Reference Library of Black America (5 volumes)
E185 .R44 2000
History
African
American History in the Press, 1851-1899: From the Coming of the Civil War to
the Rise of Jim Crow as Reported and Illustrated in Selected Newspapers of the
Time (2
volumes)
E185.2 .A25 1996
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (5 volumes)
E185 .E54 1996
Historical Statistics of Black America (2 volumes)
E185 .H543 1995
The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most
Important People and Events in African-American History
E185 .H295 1995
Literature
African
American Writers
(2 volumes)
PS153.N5 A344 2001
African-American Writers: A Dictionary
PS153.N5 A3444 2000
Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black Women
Writers, 1900-1950
PS153.N5 R65 1989
Modern Black Writers
PN841 .M58 2000
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FINDING BOOKS
Use UICCAT,
UIC's online catalog, to find books at the UIC Library that you can check out.
Perform a Boolean
Search
(use "and" to combine terms) to find books about topics in African
American studies. For instance:
- blacks and film
- politics and race and
"African American"
African American studies is
a broad subject area, and Boolean searching in UICCAT may retrieve too many (or
irrelevant) results. There are many different Library of Congress Subject
Headings
(LCSH) that cover aspects of African American studies. For example:
- African
Americans--Biography
- Civil rights
demonstrations--Alabama
By using the exact
subject heading, you can focus your search so that you retrieve only books that
fall within a particular subject category. A good way to do this is by looking
at the "LC Subjects" area in the "Detailed Record" of some
relevant books in UICCAT
(once you've done a preliminary keyword search). Alternately, you can consult
the Library of Congress Subject Headings (a red multi-volume set located at the
Reference Desk, 2nd floor of the Richard J. Daley Library), or ask a librarian.
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FINDING ARTICLES
Use these
article indexes to locate articles on your topic. Click here
to see an alphabetical list of all the databases and indexes UIC subscribes to.
From this page you may also access indexes and databases relating to African
American studies. Keep in mind that UIC does not own all the journals and
magazines listed in these indexes. Check UICCAT
to see if the Library owns the journal you need.
Online
Indexes
African-American
Biographical Database
Biographical sketches drawn from sources such as Chadwyck-Healey’s Black
Biographical Dictionaries 1790-1950 and Black Biography, 1790-1950: A Cumulative
Index.
African-American
Studies
Manuscripts, court cases, statutes, speeches, autobiographies, images,
government documents and secondary sources (including journal articles) dating
from 1619 to the present. Most items are full-text.
America:
History and Life
Historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the
present.
Ethnic
NewsWatch
News, culture, and history from the ethnic, minority and native press
(full-text, English and Spanish).
Humanities
Abstracts
Broad range of humanities fields: archeology, art, classics, film,
folklore, food, journalism, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy,
religion, space, world history, and world literature.
MLA
Bibliography
Covers scholarly materials in literature, language, linguistics, folklore and
film, with coverage from 1963 to the present.
PAIS
International
Political, social, and public policy issues: economics, politics,
business, finance, law, international trade, public administration and,
government. Documents published in English, French, German, Italian,
Portuguese, and Spanish are included.
Social
Sciences Abstracts
Scholarly articles from a broad range of social sciences fields:
anthropology, economics, geography, law, political science, psychology,
sociology.
Print
Indexes
The following article indexes are located on Index Table 1 South on the 2nd
floor of the Daley Library.
Index to Black Newspapers (1978-1985)
AI3 .I365
Black Newspapers Index (1986-present)
AI3. I366
Index to Periodical Articles By and About Blacks (1960-1983)
AI3 .O422
Index to Black Periodicals (1984-present)
AI3 .O423
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LOCAL COLLECTIONS
The Vivian G.
Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature
The largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest
is housed at the Chicago Public Library Woodson Regional Library.
Northwestern
University Library Africana Collection
The
largest separate Africana collection in existence. Subject coverage
includes art, history, literature, music, religion, communications, management,
cooking, and more.
Chicago Historical Society
Museum and research center dedicated to collecting, interpreting, and
presenting the rich multicultural history of Chicago and Illinois.
DuSable Museum of African
American History
The only major independent institution in Chicago established to preserve and
interpret the historical experiences and achievements of African Americans.
The HistoryMakers
A video oral history archive dedicated to preserving African American
history. The collection focuses on African American history, education,
music, law, the arts, science, technology, media, medicine, entertainment,
fashion and beauty, business, the military, politics, and sports.
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SELECTED WEB SITES
UIC Department of African
American Studies
Chicago
Renaissance
Images and documents from the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection.
African American Odyssey
Part of the American Memory collection at the Library of Congress.
Schomburg Center for Research
in Black Culture
A national research library devoted to collecting, preserving, and providing
access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent
throughout the world. A branch of the New York Public Library.
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QUESTIONS? ASK A LIBRARIAN!
Call us:
(312) 966-2726 (Daley Library Reference Department)
(312) 996-9163 (LHS Reference Consultation Office)
Chat live with
a librarian:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/digital/chatform.shtml
E-mail us your
question:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/digital/emailform.shtml
Stop by in
person:
Daley Library Reference Desk, 2nd floor
LHS Reference Consultation Office, 1st floor
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aa/ref/6-02;
aa/ref/1-03rev.; ss/ref/10-04rev; rs/ref/4-05rev.
