Di Pietro, Robert J., and Edward Ifkovic, eds. Ethnic Perspectives in American Literature: Selected Essays on the European Contribution. New York: MLA, 1983. 333 pp. PN843.E8 810′.9.

Surveys of Franco-American New England writers and the literatures of Americans of German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Jewish, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Scandinavian, and South Slavic ancestry. Organized chronologically, thematically, or by genre, the essays typically offer a basic historical overview of the development of a literature and of its major authors; some essays briefly comment on important scholarship and suggest topics for research. Indexed by persons and titles. Although the surveys vary in breadth and quality, the collection overall serves as a handy (but dated) introduction to some ethnic literatures of the United States.

Ruoff, A. LaVonne Brown, and Jerry W. Ward, Jr., eds. Redefining American Literary History. New York: MLA, 1990. 406 pp. PS153.M56 R4 810.9′920693.

A collection of essays that seeks to redefine American literary history by “expanding the canon, forging new critical perspectives, and scrutinizing underlying cultural and ideological assumptions” through a focus on African American, American Indian, Asian American, Chicano, and Puerto Rican literature. The essays are organized in three divisions: discussions of “various ways of redefining the American literary canon and its relation to the literatures of minorities and white women”; the oral dimensions of American literature; critical and historical perspectives. Following the essays are selected, annotated bibliographies through 1989—with sections for bibliographies, anthologies, primary works, general criticism, and major authors—of multiethnic, African American, American Indian (superseded by Ruoff, American Indian Literatures [Q3880]), Asian American, Chicano, and Puerto Rican literatures. Concluding the work is a list of selected presses and journals. The lack of an index hampers access, and some of the essays originally prepared for a 1981 convention do not reflect the debate over and changes in the canon since then; however, Redefining American Literary History is an important contribution to the continuing evaluation of the canon of the literature of the United States.

Miller, Wayne Charles. A Comprehensive Bibliography for the Study of American Minorities. 2 vols. New York: New York UP, 1976. Z1361.E4 M529 [E184.A1] 016.973′04.

Minorities in America: The Annual Bibliography, [1976–78]. 3 vols. University Park: Penn State UP, 1985–86. Annual. Z1361.E4 M57 [E184.A1] 016.973′04.

A bibliography of English-language materials on minority groups in America. The Comprehensive Bibliography covers studies through c. 1973; the Annual Bibliography covers 1976 through 1978. Entries are organized by area of origin (Africa and Middle East, Europe, Eastern Europe and Balkans, Asia, Puerto Rico and Cuba, and America [including Indians and Mexican Americans]), then by minority group, and then by subject. Most groups include sections for language, general literary criticism, fiction, poetry, drama, folklore, and some individual writers. Entries in the annual bibliographies are accompanied by descriptive annotations; although only a few are annotated in the Comprehensive Bibliography, each minority group is preceded by an introduction that identifies important studies and reference works. Two indexes: authors; titles. Although the Comprehensive Bibliography is hardly comprehensive, it—along with the Annual Bibliography—offers the fullest single record of scholarship before 1978 on minority groups in the United States.

The Harvard Guide to African-American History. Ed. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2001. 923 pp. CD-ROM. E185.H326 973′.0496073.

A guide to reference works on and studies about African American history and culture, with coverage extending through 1999 in some sections. The first part consists of a series of essays on reference works; of most interest to users of this Guide are the ones on general bibliographies, general reference resources, manuscript collections, and film and television. The essays tend to be descriptive rather than evaluative, and some are not as current as users might expect. The second part is a series of classified lists of publications: following a section on general works are ones for ten chronological periods (with that for 1831–65 giving separate treatment to the North and South) and for subjects (women, geographic areas, and autobiography and biography). In each section language, literature, and related topics appear under the Thought and Expression heading. Indexed by authors. The CD-ROM (which is not mentioned in the front matter) provides PDF files of the lists and some of the front matter, as well as a contents file (whose links to other files were nonfunctioning in the two copies I consulted). The first part of Harvard Guide offers the best overview of reference sources for the study of African American culture.

Some additional resources are covered in Nathaniel Davis, comp. and ed., Afro-American Reference: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Sources (Westport: Greenwood, 1985; 288 pp.; Bibliogs. and Indexes in Afro-Amer. and African Studies 9), an annotated guide to 642 reference sources (some published as recently as 1985) that are important to research in all aspects of African American life. Entries are listed alphabetically in 17 classified divisions: general reference works; journal abstracts, bibliographies, and guides; newspaper indexes, bibliographies, and guides; genealogy; history; slavery (with a section on slave narratives); social sciences (including linguistics); humanities; literature; mass media; education and multimedia; family and related studies; psychology; medicine; sports; armed forces; and Latin America and the Caribbean. An appendix incongruously lists works on African Americans in Los Angeles and the rest of California. The descriptive annotations typically describe scope, content, and organization. Because of some significant omissions, inclusion of several superseded works, and errors of fact and judgment in annotations, this work cannot always be trusted.

For an exacting (but now dated) survey of reference sources devoted to African American literature and the inadequate treatment of African American writers in some standard reference works in American literature, see Richard C. Tobias, “A Matter of Difference: An Interim Guide to the Study of Black American Writing,” Literary Research Newsletter 1 (1976): 129–46. Still valuable because of its broad topical coverage of scholarship through 1970 on African American culture and history is James M. McPherson et al., Blacks in America: Bibliographical Essays (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971; 430 pp.).

A History of Afro-American Literature. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1989. PS153.N5 J33 810′.9′896073.

A history of African American literature from 1746 to the present. Vol. 1 treats poetry and novels as well as slave narratives, historical works, sermons, folk literature, spirituals, journalism, and pamphlets. Although the discussions of both major and lesser-known writers favor the biographical and historical, few works escape stringent evaluation. Vol. 1 concludes with a valuable bibliographical essay that evaluates general historical studies, literary histories, critical books, and anthologies. Indexed by persons, literary forms, and titles of anonymous works. A balanced, thorough account of the development of African American literature that stresses racial protest as its common factor, vol. 1 set a high standard for a work that would have filled a major void in the history of literatures of the United States and promised to become the standard work in its field. After the death of Blyden Jackson, the press decided not to go forward with the project. Reviews: John Lowe, Southern Literary Journal 22.2 (1990): 134–39; Edward Margolies, Mississippi Quarterly 45.1 (1992): 105–10.

A useful complement is The Cambridge History of African American Literature, ed. Maryemma Graham and Jerry W. Ward, Jr. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011; 847 pp.), a collection of 28 separately authored essays (organized chronologically) that treat movements, genres, and groups. Although the bibliography is a 60-page alphabetical list, one essay surveys twentieth-century “foundational scholarship, criticism, and theory.”

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Ed. Colin A. Palmer. 2nd ed. 6 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Black Experience in the Americas. E185.E54 973′.0496073′003. Online through Gale Virtual Reference Library (I535) and Gale Biography in Context (J572).

An encyclopedia of a few individuals, events, movements, sports, places, professions, legal cases, and other topics important to the African diaspora in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Besides extending the scope beyond the United States, the second edition omits most of the biographies that dominated the first edition (ed. Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West, 5 vols. [New York: Macmillan Lib. Reference; London: Simon, 1996]), reprints a third of the original entries with no changes or minor ones, revises another third of the original entries, and claims that the remaining third of the entries are new. Concludes with statistical information and an index of names and subjects; entrants are also indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565). This is the most wide-ranging of encyclopedias devoted to blacks in North America and the Caribbean.

More compact but equally impressive is The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, ed. William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris (New York: Oxford UP, 1997; 866 pp.), which contains entries on writers and other persons, genres, literary and other works, characters and character types, customs, concepts, groups, periodicals and newspapers, and other topics of importance to African American literature. Most entries conclude with suggestions for further reading. Indexed by persons, titles, and subjects; entrants are also indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565).

Hazel Arnett Ervin, The Handbook of African American Literature (Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2004; 236 pp.), is an important complement to the preceding works because it explains literary terminology particularly associated with African American literature (e.g., def-jam poetry and ring shout) as well as defines common terms (such as euphony and free verse) as they are used by African American writers. Some entries include suggestions for further reading. In addition to the alphabetic list of terms, there is a section of longer essays on terms of particular importance: ambiguity, influence, literary history, memory, repetition, representation, signifying and signification, and collective unconsciousness. One appendix provides a chronology of African American, African, and anglophone Caribbean literary history from 1657 to 2002. The index of terms (which unnecessarily replicates the alphabetic list) does not include the longer essays.

Newman, Richard, comp. Black Access: A Bibliography of Afro-American Bibliographies. Westport: Greenwood, 1984. 249 pp. Z1361.N39 N578 [E185] 016.016973′0496073.

A bibliography of bibliographies through c. 1982 on all aspects of African American history, culture, and life in the United States and Canada. The approximately 3,000 works include books, pamphlets, articles, chapters in books, exhibition catalogs, calendars and guides to manuscripts, works on library collections and book collecting, and discographies; they exclude book dealers’ catalogs, bibliographies appended to monographs, and works on the Civil War, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. Organized in a single alphabetical list by author or title of anonymous work, entries generally provide basic publication information but no annotations. Several citations seem to be taken unverified from other sources. In the introduction, Dorothy Parker reflects on her development of the Afro-American collection at Howard University. Two indexes: chronological (by date of coverage); subjects. Although users would be better served by a classified organization—a deficiency not remedied by the subject index, which is insufficiently thorough and precise—the international scope and inclusion of numerous little-known works make Black Access the best source for identifying bibliographies on all African American topics. For recent bibliographies, see Bibliographic Index (D145).

Dictionary Catalog of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History. 9 vols. Boston: Hall, 1962. First Supplement. 2 vols. 1967. Second Supplement. 4 vols. 1972. Supplement 1974. 1976. 580 pp. Continued by G. K. Hall Interdisciplinary Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies, [1975–2003]. Detroit: Gale, 1976–2004. Annual. (Title varies.) Z881.N592 S35. CD-ROM.

A reproduction of the card catalog of the most important and extensive collection of material by and about people of African descent. Along with printed material, the collection includes art objects, recordings, sheet music, photographs, and manuscripts. Manuscripts are listed only in the supplements; photographs and vertical file materials are excluded in all volumes. Since the supplements and G. K. Hall Interdisciplinary Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies record material newly acquired—not just recently published—users must search the supplements and the G. K. Hall Interdisciplinary Bibliographic Guide as well as the original Catalog. An indispensable, but frequently overlooked, source for identifying authors and titles, the Dictionary Catalog is especially valuable for the detailed subject access it offers to works relating to all aspects of African American culture. The CD-ROM (Black Studies on Disc, 1995–2004) includes the Dictionary Catalog, supplements, and Index to Black Periodicals (Q3740); however the data is difficult to extract because the primitive search interface offers limited search and export options. Holdings of the Schomburg Center can be searched through the New York Public Library Catalog (http://catalog.nypl.org; scroll to the bottom of the Collections menu for the Schomburg Center).

Other published catalogs of important collections include the following:

Many of these collections—at least a portion of them—can be searched through their respective library’s OPAC.

The holdings of 65 southern libraries are the basis for Geraldine O. Matthews, comp., Black American Writers, 1773–1949: A Bibliography and Union List (Boston: Hall, 1975; 221 pp.). Although entries are frequently incomplete and only about 60% cite locations, Matthews is occasionally useful for tracking down an elusive work.

To identify other catalogs and collections, see section E: Libraries and Library Catalogs/Library Catalogs.

Jordan, Casper LeRoy, comp. A Bibliographical Guide to African-American Women Writers. Westport: Greenwood, 1993. 387 pp. Bibliogs. and Indexes in Afro-Amer. and African Studies 31. Z1229.N39 J67 [PS153.N5] 016.8108′09287′08996.

A bibliography of works in English by and about black American women writers. Coverage extends to “poetry, memoirs, biographies, criticisms, autobiographies, essays, short fiction, novels, diaries and journals” written between 1746 and 1991. Entries are organized in three divisions: individual authors; anthologies; general works. In the first, authors are listed alphabetically; under each are sections for primary works and for studies (the former listed alphabetically by title and the latter by author), and some sections are followed by “1988–1991 Supplement,” the inconsistent placement of which is decidedly confusing (e.g., the additional list of works by an author sometimes follows the primary works section and sometimes follows the secondary works section). In addition, the separate “Supplement: Additional Writers and Sources, 1988–1991” follows the general-works division. Coverage of primary works seems much fuller than that of studies, especially for post-1987 publications (e.g., “1988–1991 Supplement” under Toni Morrison lists only 20 works about her). The inexcusably haphazard organization, failure to include names in running heads, and poorly designed index make this book needlessly difficult to use. And the numerous omissions—especially in the coverage of critical studies—unfortunately render it untrustworthy.

Kallenbach, Jessamine S., comp. Index to Black American Literary Anthologies. Boston: Hall, 1979. 219 pp. Z1229.N39 K34 [PS153.N5] 016.8108′0896.

An author list of African American poetry, fiction, essays, and plays in some 140 literary anthologies designed for adults, primarily by African American authors, and published through c. 1975. Under each author, works are organized by genre, then alphabetically by title. Indexed by titles. The Index is frequently useful for locating texts, although it is limited in scope.

Chapman, Index to Poetry by Black American Women (Q3840a) and Index to Black Poetry (Q3840a), index, by subject, poems in collections.

Schatz, Walter, ed. Directory of Afro-American Resources. New York: Bowker, 1970. 485 pp. Z1361.N39 R3 917.3′06′96073.

A guide to about 5,365 collections of books, manuscripts, documents, and other materials held by 2,108 organizations, libraries, institutions, and private and government agencies. Entries are organized alphabetically by state, then city, then institution. Entries typically include organization or institution, address and telephone, name of contact person (now outdated), services provided for researchers, purpose of organization, publications (especially guides and indexes to collections), description of individual collections (identifying subject, size, inclusive dates, scope, and content), and restrictions on use. Since entries are based on responses to questionnaires and on printed sources, they vary in accuracy and sophistication; the most complete are taken from National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (F295) through 1968 or submitted by libraries, and the skimpiest are from local organizations and agencies. Two indexes: persons, subjects, institutions, and places; supervisors and administrators of organizations and collections. Although the Directory is now dated and omits several important institutions and organizations, its focus and extensive coverage make it still useful for identifying subject collections and locating manuscripts. The work must, however, be supplemented by Archive Finder (F280), National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, and works in section E: Libraries and Library Catalogs/Library Catalogs.

American Literary Scholarship (Q3265): Chapter on black literature in the vols. for 1977–88.

Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory (U6133) sometimes devotes a chapter to black cultural studies.

Secs. G: Serial Bibliographies, Indexes, and Abstracts and H: Guides to Dissertations and Theses.

MLAIB (G335): American Literature division through the volume for 1969; Afro-American heading in American Literature sections in the volumes for 1970–80; in later volumes, researchers must consult the headings beginning “African American” or “Afro-American” in the subject index and “African American” in the online thesaurus.

Harvard Guide to African-American History (Q3710).

Leary, Articles on American Literature (Q3295).

Nemanic, Bibliographical Guide to Midwestern Literature (Q3600).

Ruoff and Ward, Redefining American Literary History (Q3695).

Szwed and Abrahams, Afro-American Folk Culture (U5880).

Woodress, Dissertations in American Literature, 1891–1966 (Q3320).

ABELL (G340): Dialect section of the English Language division in the volumes for 1920–26; the American English section in the volumes for 1927–33; the English Dialects section in the volume for 1934; the American English section in the volumes for 1935–72; and the Dialects/Dialects of [North] America section in later volumes.

MLAIB (G335): English Language and Literature division in the volumes for 1922–25; American Literature I: Linguistics in the volumes for 1926–40; English Language and Literature I: Linguistics in the volumes for 1941–55; English Language and Literature I: Linguistics/American English in the volumes for 1956–66; Indo-European C: Germanic Linguistics IV: English/Modern English/Dialectology in the volumes for 1967–80; and Indo-European Languages/Germanic Languages/West Germanic Languages/English Language (Modern)/Dialectology in the volumes since 1981. Researchers must also check the heading “Black English Dialect” in the subject index to post-1980 volumes and in the online thesaurus.

Sec. J: Biographical Sources/Biographical Dictionaries/Indexes.

Contemporary Authors (J595).

Rush, Myers, and Arata, Black American Writers Past and Present (Q3755a).

There is no adequate bibliography devoted to studies of African American drama. Esther Spring Arata and Nicholas John Rotoli, Black American Playwrights, 1800 to the Present: A Bibliography (Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1976; 295 pp.), and Arata, More Black American Playwrights: A Bibliography (1978; 321 pp.), are too error-ridden, poorly organized, incomplete, and inconsistent to recommend to researchers. French et al., Afro-American Poetry and Drama (Q3845), is so selective that it is barely a place to begin research. And Dana A. Williams, Contemporary African American Female Playwrights: An Annotated Bibliography (Westport: Greenwood, 1998; 124 pp.; Bibliogs. and Indexes in Afro-Amer. and African Studies 37), is ineffectively organized, incompletely indexed (e.g., authors of critical studies of individual playwrights are excluded from the name index), and—despite its subtitle—offers annotations for fewer than one-third of its entries (the annotations that do exist are hardly informative).

Hirschfelder, Arlene B., Mary Gloyne Byler, and Michael A. Dorris. Guide to Research on North American Indians. Chicago: Amer. Lib. Assn., 1983. 330 pp. Z1209.2.N67.H57 [E77] 016.970004′97.

A highly selective annotated bibliography of important reference works and studies of Indians of the United States and Alaska, along with a few major works on the rest of the Americas. The approximately 1,100 entries encompass English-language books, articles, and government documents published through 1979 (with a few as late as 1982) but exclude ethnographies. Entries are organized in four divisions: general works (with sections for general bibliographies and general studies); history (including sections for descriptive narratives and autobiographies and biographies); economic and social topics (including a section for language); and religion, arts, and literature (with sections for religion and philosophy, music and dance, education, the arts, science, law, and literature). Each section begins with an essay overview of sources, followed by a list of general studies, then works devoted to a specific region, and then bibliographies. The full annotations offer detailed descriptions of contents. Two indexes: authors and titles; subjects. Superficial and inconsistent in its coverage of specialized studies (especially in the literature and literature-related sections) and now dated, it is primarily useful as a guide to important reference works before 1980.

It is far superior, however, to Marilyn L. Haas, Indians of North America: Methods and Sources for Library Research (Hamden: Lib. Professional–Shoe String, 1983; 163 pp.), an elementary guide that is frequently inaccurate and misleading. Review (Hirschfelder, Byler, and Dorris; Haas): G. Edward Evans, American Indian Culture and Research Journal 8.4 (1984): 66–70.

Wiget, Andrew. Native American Literature. Boston: Twayne, 1985. 147 pp. Twayne’s United States Authors Ser. 467. PM155.W54 810′.9′897.

A critical history of the oral and narrative literatures of Native Americans of North America and Mesoamerica. The six chapters—organized variously by genre, group, or author—offer basic surveys of oral narrative (especially creation myths); oratory and oral poetry; the beginnings of a written literature; modern fiction; contemporary poetry; and recent nonfiction, autobiography, and drama. Concludes with a selected bibliography of primary and secondary works (the latter are accompanied by terse evaluative comments). Indexed by persons, works, and subjects. Although it is an introductory survey that emphasizes representative works and major authors, Wiget is currently the fullest history of Native American literatures. Given the level of interest, the time is ripe for a more comprehensive history.

Dictionary of Native American Literature. Ed. Andrew Wiget. New York: Garland, 1994. 598 pp. Garland Reference Lib. of the Humanities 1815. (Reprinted as Handbook of Native American Literature [1996].) PM155.D53 897.

A collection of 73 essays by various authors on oral and written Native American literature, organized into three sections: oral literatures (with essays on geographic areas, genres, and topics [e.g., the trickster figure, myth and religion]); the historical emergence of Native American writing (with a historical overview, discussions of genres, and essays on individual writers); Native American renaissance (with a historical overview, discussions of critical approaches, European responses, pedagogy, genres, Native Americans in Anglo-American literature, and essays on individual authors). Written mostly by established authorities, the essays offer essential biographical and bibliographical information and critical estimates; all but a few conclude with a selective bibliography. Indexed by persons, titles, and subjects; entrants are also indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565). Dictionary of Native American Literature is the best single compendium of biographical and bibliographical information on Native American literature.

Handbook of North American Indians. William C. Sturtevant, gen. ed. 20 vols. Washington: Smithsonian Inst., 1978– . E77.H25 970′.004′97.

An encyclopedic treatment of the history and culture of North American Indians. The volumes devoted to geographic areas typically include essays by established scholars on ethnography, languages, archaeology, tribal groups, art, and—occasionally—literature, religion, and mythology. The extensive list of works cited in each volume constitutes a valuable bibliography of major studies. Indexed in each volume by names and subjects. Although the essays are uneven in quality and some ignore controversies about their subject matter, the Handbook will eventually be the most authoritative general source of information on American Indian history, ethnography, and culture. Reviews: (vol. 4) J. R. Miller, Canadian Historical Review 72.4 (1991): 241–44; (vol. 5) Steve Talbot, American Indian Culture and Research Journal 11.1 (1987): 123–27; (vol. 7) Michael Harkin, Ethnohistory 39.2 (1992): 172–78; (vol. 9) Bernard L. Fontana, Arizona Quarterly 38.1 (1982): 81–85.

White, Phillip M., comp. Bibliography of Native American Bibliographies. Westport: Praeger, 2004. 241 pp. Bibliogs. and Indexes in Ethnic Studies 11. Z1209.2.N67.W55 [E77] 016.970004′97.

A selective bibliography of bibliographies (including books, articles, and Web sites published by 2003) about Native Americans of the United States and Canada. The 843 entries—which exclude outdated material, textbooks, and most dissertations—are organized under a variety of subject headings, of which the following will be of most interest to users of this Guide: archives, authors, biographies and autobiographies, children’s literature, languages and linguistics, libraries, literature, performing arts, periodicals, and stage (the theater). Literature researchers must check both the author and literature sections since there are a number of publications on individual authors in the literature section and vice versa. Entries are accompanied by brief, descriptive, woodenly written annotations. Excluding coverage of annotations in the index of persons, tribes, and subjects seriously hampers access to the work. Despite these shortcomings, White is a serviceable guide to bibliographies of Native American topics.

Littlefield, Daniel F., Jr., and James W. Parins. A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772–1924. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1981. 343 pp. Native Amer. Bibliog. Ser. 2. Supplement. 1985. 339 pp. Native Amer. Bibliog. Ser. 5. Z1209.2.U5.L57 [E77] 016.973′0497.

An author list of works published between 1772 and 1924 and written in English by Native Americans of the United States (including Alaska). Except for writers known only by pseudonyms, coverage is limited to individuals definitely identified as Native Americans and to writings composed by the authors themselves. Each volume is made up of three parts: writers of established identity, writers known only by pseudonyms, and biographical notices. Under an author, entries are listed by publication date (a practice that needlessly separates later editions, reprints, and revisions from an original edition or version). A code system identifies the genre of each work, and in the Supplement brief descriptive annotations explain unclear titles. The biographical notices offer basic factual details; only in the Supplement do these cite sources. Two indexes in each volume: writers by tribal affiliation; subjects. In addition, the biographical notices are indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565). Although not comprehensive, Littlefield is an indispensable guide to these early writings, the majority of which are indexed nowhere else. Review: A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff, Arizona Quarterly 38.3 (1982): 272–74.

In “A Literary Journey: Current Scholarship on Early Native American Literature,” Before Yesterday: The Long History of Native American Writing, ed. Simone Pellerin (Pessac: PU de Bordeaux, 2009; Lettres d’Amérique) 21–34, A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff surveys recent editions and suggests authors and works that need editing.

Etulain and Howard, Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature (Q3670).

Leary, Articles on American Literature (Q3295).

Literary History of the United States: Bibliography (Q3300).

MLAIB (G335): American Literature division through the volume for 1973; American Indian heading in American Literature sections in the volumes for 1974–80; in later volumes, researchers must consult the headings beginning “Native American(s)” and related terms in the subject index and in the online thesaurus.

Woodress, Dissertations in American Literature (Q3320).

America: History and Life (Q3310).

Haywood, Bibliography of North American Folklore and Folksong (U5875).

Historical Abstracts (U6500).

Miller, Folk Music in America (U5910).

Ruoff and Ward, Redefining American Literary History (Q3695).

Salzman, American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography (Q3335).

Sec. K: Periodicals/Directories and Periodicals/Union Lists.

United States Newspaper Program National Union List (Q3405).

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature. Ed. Guiyou Huang. 3 vols. Westport: Greenwood, 2009. PS153.A84 G74 810.9′895.

An encyclopedia about literature written between the 1890s and 2007 by North Americans of Asian descent. Although most of the 272 entries are devoted to individuals, some treat works, genres, concepts, ideologies, movements, places, and events. The lengthy entries conclude with a selective bibliography. Indexed by persons, titles, and subjects. Intended for a student audience, the Greenwood Encyclopedia is nevertheless the most extensive encyclopedia of Asian American literature.

Cheung, King-Kok, and Stan Yogi. Asian American Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: MLA, 1988. 276 pp. Z1229.A75 C47 [PS153.A84] 016.81′08′089507.

A bibliography of works (through July 1987) by and about writers of Asian descent resident in the United States and Canada as well as those living elsewhere who have written about the experiences of Asians in North America. Includes autobiographies, essays, and popular fiction but excludes publications by native Pacific Islanders, works in Asian languages not translated into English, individual poems in anthologies or periodicals, manuscripts, and works in student publications. The approximately 3,400 entries are organized in seven divisions: bibliographies and reference works, anthologies, periodicals, primary works (with sections for national groups and children’s literature; each national group has separate lists of prose, poetry, and drama), scholarship and criticism (with the sections for general studies and national groups divided into three parts: books, theses, and dissertations; articles; and interviews, profiles, and commentary), fiction about Asians or Asian Americans by non-Asians, and background studies. Some works have descriptive annotations that sometimes cite reviews; unfortunately, most of the annotations are too brief to convey an adequate sense of content. Four indexes: writers; scholars; reviewers; editors, translators, and illustrators. Although it is frustratingly brief in its annotations and less accessible than it should be because of the lack of a subject index, Asian American Literature fills a major gap in reference sources for the literatures of the United States and Canada.

More recent work by and studies of Asian American writers can be found in An Interethnic Companion to Asian American Literature, ed. Cheung (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997; 414 pp.). The surveys, covering literature by Americans of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Vietnamese descent, are complemented by a selective bibliography.

Robinson, Barbara J., and J. Cordell Robinson. The Mexican American: A Critical Guide to Research Aids. Greenwich: JAI, 1980. 287 pp. Foundations in Lib. and Information Science 1. Z1361.M4 R63 [E184.M5] 016.973′046872.

A selective, annotated guide to reference works (in English and Spanish and published between 1857 and 1978) on the cultural, historical, social, political, artistic, or economic milieu of Mexican Americans. The authors cover both published and unpublished works (including dissertations, theses, and mimeographed material) and emphasize the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The 668 entries are listed alphabetically by author in two classified divisions: general works and subject bibliographies. The first has sections for general bibliographies, library guides, biographical sources, genealogical sources, statistical sources, directories, dictionaries, newspaper and periodical guides, and audiovisual sources; the second for education, folklore, history, labor, linguistics, literature, social and behavioral sciences, and women. Each section is preceded by an evaluative overview of the reference sources. The full annotations are largely descriptive and focus on scope, content, and organization. Three indexes: authors; titles; subjects. Although it is now dated, includes several ephemeral and superseded works, and lacks an adequate explanation of criteria governing selection, this work remains a useful guide to important reference sources for the study of Mexican Americans.

Julio A. Martínez and Ada Burns, Mexican Americans: An Annotated Bibliography of Bibliographies (Saratoga: R and E, 1984; 132 pp.), is an important complement because of its full evaluative annotations and coverage of works through 1983.

Less thorough than Mexican Americans but including Cuban American and continental Puerto Rican literature as well as sociolinguistics is David William Foster, ed., Sourcebook of Hispanic Culture in the United States (Chicago: Amer. Lib. Assn., 1982; 352 pp.). Coverage is very selective and rarely extends beyond 1975.

Allatson, Paul. Key Terms in Latino/a Cultural and Literary Studies. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. 281 pp. E184.S75 A795 973′.0468003.

An encyclopedia of terms and concepts important to Latino/a literary and cultural studies since the 1960s. Emphasizing the multidisciplinarity and globalization of the field, the 230 entries cover “Latino/a critical and theoretical concepts, cultural and literary practices and forms, Spanish-origin and Spanglish terms that appear in the critical literature and cultural productions, significant historical terms, and discussions of broader sociocultural and transnational processes.” The clear discussions—which typically combine definition, historical overview, and explanation of the importance of the terms to the field—are especially valuable to scholars new to the field.

Secs. G: Serial Bibliographies, Indexes, and Abstracts and H: Guides to Dissertations and Theses.

Etulain and Howard, Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature (Q3670).

MLAIB (G335): Until the volume for 1972, see the American Literature division; in the volumes for 1972–80, see the Mexican American heading in American Literature sections; in later volumes, see the headings beginning “Hispanic American(s)” and “Mexican American(s)” (and related headings) in the subject index and in the online thesaurus.

Ruoff and Ward, Redefining American Literary History (Q3695).

Eger, Bibliography of Criticism of Contemporary Chicano Literature (Q3975).

Nadel, Ira Bruce. Jewish Writers of North America: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale, 1981. 493 pp. Amer. Studies Information Guide Ser. 8. Z1229.J4 N32 [PS153.J4] 016.810′8′08924.

A selective bibliography of works by and about American and Canadian Jewish writers chosen for their “literary excellence, cultural significance, and historical importance.” Coverage extends through the late 1970s. The 3,291 entries are organized in four divisions: general works (with sections for bibliographies, biographical sources, indexes, library and manuscript collections, literary history, general criticism, and anthologies), poets, fiction writers, and dramatists (with sections for reference works and criticism and theater history). Each division or section has separate lists for American and Canadian literature and writers. Under each author are lists of bibliographies, primary works (chronologically by genre), and criticism. Appendix A is devoted to Yiddish literature in English translation, appendix B to a list of other Jewish writers. The descriptive annotations are brief but generally adequate; however, many entries are not annotated. Three indexes: authors; titles; subjects. Users should note that some writers appear under more than one genre. Although marred by an inadequate explanation of scope and the failure to index authors and topics mentioned in annotations to the first division, this work offers the fullest single guide to North American Jewish writers. Many studies of American and Canadian Jewish literature can be identified through the headings beginning with “Jewish” in the subject index to post-1980 volumes of MLAIB (G335) or in the online thesaurus.

Additional English-language studies of and works by (published through 1988) 62 Jewish American fiction writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries can be found in Gloria L. Cronin, Blaine H. Hall, and Connie Lamb, Jewish American Fiction Writers: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland, 1991; 1,233 pp.; Garland Reference Lib. of the Humanities 972). A majority of the entries have been culled from standard databases and indexes, and the excessive number of pages needlessly consumed by annotations of book reviews (while dissertations and general studies are listed without comment) should instead be devoted to an index.