ENGL 695 - Topics in Literature
Library Research Guide
Annotated Hamilton
Wish you could get inside the brain of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton fans? These sites annotate the music of Hamilton using the Genius platform. Audio and video are linked, when available. Clicking on lyrics reveals commentary and annotations on the right side of the screen. Some annotations are provided by Miranda, others come from fans and researchers (which means you can contribute, too.) Annotations are reviewed, except where noted.
- Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording)This interactive site page features commentary by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the original Broadway cast recording. Miranda and producers support this project, to include linking to the annotations from the official Hamilton website.
- Hamilton ApocryphaIncludes annotated song demos, the mix-tape, appearances on late night TV, and other ancillary performances related to Hamilton.
- Hamilton: An American Musical (Off-Broadway)Lyrics, some annotations, and (when available) audio for off-Broadway performances of Hamilton. Includes songs that did not make it to Broadway.
Biographies
Need facts about a historical figure? These academic and scholarly biographies also include references to additional sources of information.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Simultaneous users: 6. Paid for by K-State Libraries
Over 60,000 biographies of men and women who have impacted British history and culture worldwide from the Romans to the 21st Century. Includes over 11,000 portraits.
American National Biography by Call Number: Currently unavailable due to Hale fire. (2019) CT213 .A68 1999ISBN: 9780195206357Publication Date: 1999-01-21American National Biography is a comprehensive biographical dictionary containing over 17,500 profiles on historical figures written by an expert in the field and completed with a bibliography.
History Sources
History Encyclopedias and Companions
Trying to get a basic understanding of the historical context to Hamilton before diving into full-length books or journal articles? These guides provide academic overviews of historical people and events, including useful citations to books and articles with more information. Two major publishers of these guides are Blackwell and Oxford.
Locate other titles like these by searching for your topic and terms like:
- encyclopedia
- history
- dictionary
- handbook
Below are a sample of titles relevant to Hamilton.
Companion to American Cultural History by Call Number: Ebook - available onlineISBN: 1405180307Publication Date: 2008A Companion to American Cultural History offers a historiographic overview of the scholarship, with special attention to the major studies and debates that have shaped the field, and an assessment of where it is currently headed. 30 essays explore the history of American culture at all analytic levels Written by scholarly experts well-versed in the questions and controversies that have activated interest in this burgeoning field.
A Companion to the American Revolution by Call Number: Ebook - Available online. E208 .C67 2000ISBN: 9780631210580Publication Date: 2000A Companion to the American Revolution is a single guide to the themes, events, and concepts of this major turning point in early American history. Containing coverage before, during, and after the war, as well as the effect of the revolution on a global scale, this major reference to the period is ideal for any student, scholar, or general reader seeking a complete reference to the field.
Daily Life During the American Revolution by Call Number: E209 .V65 2003ISBN: 9780313318443Publication Date: 2003How did the patriot army dress themselves? What was the British soldier's food ration and what were women's roles during the revolution? What types of weapons did the combatants use and how large were the naval vessels of the day? This engaging and informative resource on the social and material history of the Revolutionary War period answers these and many other questions.
Empire of Liberty by Call Number: E164 .W63 2009 and ebookISBN: 9780195039146Publication Date: 2009Account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. Ebook edition.
Articles
These databases are your best starting points for scholarly journal articles related to history.
Each has a different strength; develop the habit of searching all three to ensure you are covering both current and older journal articles.
- America: History & Life
Publication Dates Covered: 1964 - present Simultaneous users: 6 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes and abstracts for approximately 1,800 journals in the field of United States and Canadian history. Full-text coverage for more than 280 journals and more than 80 books. Contains citations and links to book and media reviews. Can search by time period. - JSTOR
Paid for by K-State Libraries
A full-text collection of journals ranging from history to business to literature to science and mathematics. Coverage begins with the first issue of a title, but the most recent three to five years of each title are usually not available. The full article text is searchable. Images are available for searching as well. - ProQuest Research Library
Publication Dates Covered: 1971 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This is a good starting point for finding journal articles on almost any topic. Over 150 academic subject areas are covered, and most articles are full-text. Searches can be limited to scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
Book
- The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and BrooklynBook published in 1878 by the Long Island Historical Society. Includes maps and reproductions of letters.
This version is available through the HathiTrust database.
Music and Music Theatre Sources
Music & Music Theatre Encyclopedias and Companions
Use musical encyclopedias to learn about composers, performers, and genres. These encyclopedias and guides provide academic overviews, including useful citations to books and articles with more information.
- Oxford Music Online
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Formerly Grove Music Online, this is the definitive encyclopedia for all things musical. It contains The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Opera, and New Grove Jazz. Composer articles include biographies, works lists, and bibliographies of sources. Other articles cover topics such as musical genres, specific performers or ensembles, and theoretical and musicological vocabulary. For more concise entries Oxford Music Online also includes The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music.
The Cambridge Companion to the Musical by Call Number: K-State Student Union Request at Welcome Desk, 1st floor east of Radinas ML2054 .C35 2002ISBN: 9780521791892Publication Date: 2002Written by a team of specialists in the field of musical theatre especially for students and theatre goers, it offers a guide to the history and development of the musical in England and America (including coverage of New York's Broadway and London's West End traditions).
The Anthology of Rap by Call Number: Ebook - available online. ML3531 .A573 2010ISBN: 9780300141917Publication Date: 2011In The Anthology of Rap, editors Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois explore rap as a literary form, demonstrating that rap is also a wide-reaching and vital poetic tradition born of beats and rhymes. This pioneering anthology brings together more than three hundred rap and hip-hop lyrics written over thirty years, from the "old school" to the "golden age" to the present day. The volume also features an overview of rap poetics and the forces that shaped each period in rap's historical development, as well as a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and afterwords by Chuck D and Common.
Ebook edition.
The Grove Dictionary of American Music by Call Number: ML101.U6 N48 2013ISBN: 9780195314281Publication Date: 2013-11-26The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition is the largest, most comprehensive reference publication on American Music. The articles of the dictionary range from small definitions of dance styles and musical terms to mid-length biographies of important performers, composers and music patrons, to longer examinations of larger subjects such as the history of jazz, musical instruments, music education in the United States, and the American history of the orchestra.
Articles
These databases are your best starting points for trade and scholarly journal articles related to music and music theatre.
Each has a different strength; develop the habit of searching all three to ensure you are covering both current and older journal articles
- Music Index
Publication Dates Covered: 1976 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Articles and reviews published in academic journals and popular magazines on all aspects of music including styles such as classical, jazz, popular, folk, and world music, and the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, applied and professional topics, music education, and the music industry. - Oxford Music Online
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Formerly Grove Music Online, this is the definitive encyclopedia for all things musical. It contains The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Opera, and New Grove Jazz. Composer articles include biographies, works lists, and bibliographies of sources. Other articles cover topics such as musical genres, specific performers or ensembles, and theoretical and musicological vocabulary. For more concise entries Oxford Music Online also includes The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music. - Performing Arts Periodicals Database
Paid for by K-State Libraries
A comprehensive guide to the journal literature on performing arts–drama, theater, dance, film, television, and more–from both scholarly and popular publications. Multidisciplinary fields include film, drama, dance, stagecraft, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, and more.
Newspapers and Magazines
- New York Times, Historical
Publication Dates Covered: 1851-2021 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Digitized version of The New York Times since its first issue in 1851. Search the full text of articles to find articles on a wide variety of topics. Full name of the database is ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.
- Rolling StonePopular music magazine.
Websites
- AllMusicSearchable website with artist biographies, album, tracks, and other details.
Search Terms & Primary Sources
Language is not set in stone. Flexibility with search terms is the key when you are researching Revolutionary America.
Family Names
While historians and time may have settled on a particular spelling of a family name, such as Lovelace, the spelling in contemporaneous documents like wills, letters, and the census can vary wildly. Keep an eye out for alternative spellings like: Lovelass or Loveless. Use context like location (state, town) or occupation (lawyer, farmer) to help determine if you are talking about the right person or family.
Geography
Experiment with your focus on location. Researchers may broadly refer to America or the Colonies. They may also only discuss a specific colony/state, a town, or region, or even a geographical feature. If you are researching something in Frederick, MD, you may find yourself looking at sources that variously describe:
- America
- Colonies
- Maryland
- Frederick
- Frederick Town
- Monocacy River
- Piedmont
Changes in Terminology
The names for events, peoples, and locations change over time and can vary depending upon whose side you were on.
Example 1: a battle is rarely named the day it was fought. When searching for newspaper articles or mentions in diaries, look for the location, date, or officers who fought with distinction.
Example 2: the Revolutionary War, the War of Independence, the War for Independence are all names for the same war. However, during the war, it was more often referred to as the war, the American war, or the revolution.
Primary Source Databases: 18th & 19th Century Publications
Looking for newspapers, pamphlets, broadsides, and other materials published in the 18th and 19th century? These databases subscribed to by K-State Libraries are good starting points.
Search Tips
Due to changes in language and printing, plus inconsistent spelling, you will need to be more flexible when searching in primary sources. Try these techniques:
- enter a broad search term (like a person's name or a city) and narrow your results by dates
- look for an Advanced Search option; often you can narrow your results by publication type, language, and even illustration type
- if the database has a Browse option, use this to drill down to relevant sources (see Early American Imprints, Nineteenth Century Collections Online),
- if the database has a Fuzzy Search option, use this to find words that look like or are similar to your search terms (see Sabin Americana)
- if the database Subject Area option, use this to focus or narrow or your search (see Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Sabin Americana)
General Publications
These sources include books, pamphlets, and other generally available sources.
- American PeriodicalsPublication Dates Covered: 1740-1940 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals. Includes graphic elements and article layouts. - Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Publication Dates Covered: 1701-1800 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Includes eighteenth century collections on history and geography, social sciences, religion and philosophy, fine arts, literature and language, law, medicine, science, and technology. Users can view digital page images; full-text searchable. - HathiTrust Digital Library
Publication Dates Covered: pre-1500-2009 Paid for by K-State Libraries
A preservation repository with millions of volumes digitized by Google, the Internet Archive, and HathiTrust’s partner institutions. Approximately one-third of the volumes are in the public domain and can be viewed in their entirety. K-State faculty, staff, and students who login to HathiTrust with their K-State eID can download full-text PDFs of these public domain works. - Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Publication Dates Covered: 1800-1900, with some exceptions Paid for by K-State Libraries
Collection of primary materials from the 19th century on all kinds of topics. Fully searchable documents, books, images, maps, and other types of materials. Societies from around the world are profiled, as well as issues such as women’s rights, science, technology, politics, and business. - Sabin AmericanaPublication Dates Covered: 1500-1926 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Search Joseph Sabin’s bibliography of works on life and culture in North America from 1500 to 1926. Includes more than 29,000 full-text works, books, pamphlets, broadsides, and serials on topics such as Native Americans, agriculture, slavery and abolition.
Government Documents
These sources include hearings, bills, and other government materials in the new United States and Great Britain.
- Fold3Primarily U.S. service and military records. Access made available through the State Library of Kansas.
- U.K. Parliamentary PapersPublication Dates Covered: 1688-2014 Paid for by K-State Libraries
The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCCP) includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing. K-State provides access to the following modules: 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, 21st century (2000-2014), and the Hansard (1803-2005). - United States Congressional Serial SetPublication Dates Covered: 1789 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This complete digital collection from LexisNexis includes both the United States Congressional Serial Set and its predecessor, the American State Papers. These two titles cover a broad spectrum of topics addressed by Congress and the President from this country’s early history to recent times.
Newspapers
These sources cover newspapers in the new United States and Great Britain.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Series 1-5
Publication Dates Covered: 1684-1912 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, this resource provides digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912. Divided into five series, each one can be searched individually or combined into one search. Series 1 (1684-1820); Series 2 (1821-1837); Series 3 (1838-1852); Series 4 (1853-1865); Series 5 (1866-1912).
- British Library Newspapers
Publication Dates Covered: 1732-1950 Paid for by K-State Libraries
A collection of over 150 national and local newspapers from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The collection is full-text and searchable, including images that appeared in the newspapers. Over three million pages have been digitized and include stories on international, national, and local events, as well as information about trends, fashions, social movements, and science. - Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Publication Dates Covered: 1800-1899 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Search complete issues of more than 500 U.S. newspapers published during the 19th century. Search by keyword to find images and text from rural and urban papers from different geographical areas of the country. - Times Digital ArchivePublication Dates Covered: 1785-2019 Paid for by K-State Libraries
The complete issues of more than two hundred years of The Times of London are available for keyword searching by users, including articles, advertisements, and illustrations. Coverage of specific events and trends can be reviewed, providing a contemporary view to modern researchers.
Personal Accounts
These sources include letters, diaries, and other personal accounts
- Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment
Publication Dates Covered: 1534-1850 Paid for by K-State Libraries detailed description
Personal accounts from traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women. Includes narratives, diaries, journals, and letters from 1534 to 1850. Includes maps and images. - North American Women’s Letters and DiariesPublication Dates Covered: 1675-2002 Paid for by K-State Libraries detailed description
Letters and diaries detailing the personal lives and experiences hundreds of women spanning over 300 years. Includes over 1,500 biographies. Ideal for research in women’s studies, history, sociology, literature, genealogy, as well as other disciplines.
Primary Sources: Free Websites
Museums, libraries, and archives are digitizing primary source materials from their collections so more researchers around the world can access these materials.
Many people and places in Hamilton will be discussed in the papers of the men listed below.
American History
- American MemoryA multimedia web site of digitized historical documents, photographs, sound recordings, moving pictures, books, pamphlets, maps, and other resources from the Library of Congress’s vast holdings.
- Founders OnlinePapers (letters, diaries, etc.) of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.
- New York Public Library Digital CollectionsThe New York Public Library includes many research and archival collections, some dating back to the earliest European settlements.
- Society of the Cincinnati Digital LibraryFormed by officers of the Continental Army and the French Army who served in the Revolutionary War, the society collects and researches all aspects of the Revolutionary War. The digital library includes maps, manuscripts, and more.
- Winterthur Museum CollectionsThe Winterthur Museum focuses on design and includes objects from furniture to paintings to books. Items come from around the world, but you can use the advanced limits to focus on certain dates or places of origin.
Alexander Hamilton
- Alexander Hamilton PapersCollection of Hamilton's personal and professional papers, including letters, speeches, and family papers.
Aaron Burr
- Some Papers of Aaron BurrCollection of approximately 90 letters, many to or from Burr. Letters date back to 1772, when he was at Princeton and end in 1818, fourteen years before his death.
Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Jefferson PapersLargest collection of Thomas Jefferson documents, primarily includes personal and professional correspondence, commonplace books, and even his weather records.
George Washington
- George Washington PapersLargest collection of Washington's papers in the world. Includes letters, military papers, and even his school exercise books.
Fonts
When reading primary sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, the letters may look a little different than what you are accustomed to.
F or S?
We get a lot of questions about the funny looking "f" that appears where there really should be an "s." This is actually a character called the "long s." The "s" that we are accustomed to is the "short s."
- The long s is missing the cross bar at the top of the letter, that would make it an "f"
- A long s is pronounced as an "s"
You can see both the long and short "s" in this image from the United States Bill of Rights.
Learn more about the use of the long and short s through these resources:
- The Long and the Short of the Letter SDescribes the use of long and short s through the centuries, illustrated by sample pages from manuscripts and printed books. Also touches on the eszett or sharp s (ß).
- The Rules for Long SDescribes the rules for use of the long s in various languages and centuries. Refers to examples from texts, grammars, and dictionaries.
Current K-State students, faculty, and staff, or visitors to Hale Library, can learn more by reading this article:
Fens-De Zeeuw, L., & Straaijer, R. (2012). Long- s in Late Modern English manuscripts. English Language and Linguistics, 16(2) pp.319-338.
