Agnes Haigh Widder, Humanities Bibliographer
WG 1 F (my office, basement, west wing of Library)
widder@msu.edu
Phone: (517) 432-6123 ext. 122
http://www.lib.msu.edu/widder/staff/ This is the web page where information I've developed on the use of MSU Libraries may be found.

I am the bibliographer/selector for British history/studies, France, medieval studies, and religious studies. If you have a research problem and would like to meet with me for assistance with it using MSU Library resources, this is possible, by appointment.

What about you? Write me an e mail telling me what your research interest(s) are, what you expect to do your thesis/dissertation on, what you teach, etc.. This helps me in book selection for the collection. From time to time I put out on e mail information about Library Matters re France. If you want to be on this list, please leave me your name and e mail address.

Through our Libraries' home page, many information resources may be found. These include MAGIC, our online catalog of our collections' holdings; electronically accessible information; forms patrons may fill out to have books recalled, to have missing books searched, to have themselves notified when new books are received that they wish to read, and to place Interlibrary Loan requests for materials that our Libraries do not own; the hours of the Libraries in our campus system and their locations; the subject specialists of the campus library system, their web pages and contact information; and online reference assistance.

It is possible to search MAGIC by author's name, title, keyword, Library of Congress subject heading, call number, and by author & title combination. From the main screen, it is also possible to search MAGIC for periodicals only, and for items in particular branch libraries in the system only; see the left side of the screen.

Many professors place material on reserve for their classes to read. Check out Reserve Reading at the desk on 2nd floor West. Look up the material you need using MAGIC.

The Library of Congress Subject Headings contains the official subject headings used in MAGIC. It is located next to the Reference Desk on 1st floor East.

There is an online tutorial for the use of MAGIC at: http://www.lib.msu.edu/libinstr/magic/magicintro.htm .

There is a menu bar towards the top allowing the user to select Databases (the default), Electronic Journals, Electronic Newspapers, Research Guides, Trial Resources, or New Resources. One may also select each of these kinds of resources by subject, or alphabetically, by title, if known. Below is a list of the most useful databases for French students. Databases are used mostly for finding articles in scholarly journals.

Dissertation Abstracts. Find out what dissertations have been done on topics, find bibliographic references, etc. MSU Libraries has copies of MSU dissertations only. Others must be borrowed on interlibrary loan or purchased, by users, from Bell and Howell Information and Learning (formerly UMI). The order form for purchasing a dissertation is on their web site: http://www.umi.com.

MLA Bibliography. The most used index for finding scholarly periodical articles on literature topics.

Historical Abstracts. A much used index for finding periodical articles on western world history topics since the Renaissance.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index. An enormous index for finding scholarly periodical articles in arts and humanities fields. Can search footnotes for cited references, as well as by author, and keyword subject.

Humanities Abstracts. Covers scholarly articles in humanities fields.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Look here to find which biographical sources in Reference contain short biographical sketches.

Books in Print. Contains books in print and available for purchase in America at this time, along with price, date, and publisher information. http://www.alapage.com/ is an online database for French published books available currently.

World Cat. The OCLC cataloging database. Contains 35 million records for materials held in libraries world wide. Useful for bibliographic verification.

ARTFL, American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language. This is a full-text database. It is a corpus of nearly 2000 texts written since 1200. It contains classic works of French literature and various kinds of non-fiction prose and technical writing. The 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries are about equally represented, with a smaller selection of 17th-century texts. It has some medieval and Renaissance texts. There are novels, poems, plays, journalism, essays, correspondence, and treatises. Literary criticism, biology, history, economics, philosophy are included.

Under "About the Libraries", click on staff on the left side of the page. Then, click on the "Subject Specialists" at the top left. This will display a list of subjects by topic/area. Notice that the user can click on individual librarians' names to see their web pages. French outre mer is handled by other specialists: Caribbean (Mary Jo Zeter), Canada (Mike Unsworth), Asia (Talbott Huey), and Africa (Joe Lauer).

Unless otherwise noted, all these sources are in Reference, first floor, east.
Those marked Consulting Ref. are in the basement, west wing.

Guide to reference books

Guide to Reference Books. Z 1035 .G8 most recent edition at Closed Reference, i.e. at the Desk

The mother of all reference books. Annotated guide to reference books in all subject areas. See pp. 147-152 of the most current edition for French language dictionaries, pp. 599-608 for French literature sources, and pp. 1268-1276 for French history.

General encyclopedia

Encyclopaedia Universalis. AE 25 f.E3 1993 v. 1-18

Thousands of articles, on all topics. Comparable to Encyclopedia Britannica or Encyclopedia Americana in the English speaking world. Descriptions of other general French language encyclopedias may be found in the Guide to Reference Books, 1996, p. 112.

Books in print

Les Livres Disponibles. Z 2161 .L5 Consulting Ref.

Author and title volumes. Lists books available for purchase in France. See also the web site: http://www.alapage.com.

Guide to French Studies

France, a Companion to French Studies. DC 33 .F666 1983 Consulting Ref.

Bibliographic essays provide "a detailed introduction and guide to the history and culture of France from the time of the Renaissance to the present day...."

Biographical Dictionaries

Who's Who in France. DC 36 .W46 Biography Tools in Reference

Annual, covering France, French persons overseas, and French-speaking peoples in African countries. Short entries for prominent living persons. Text in French.

Biographical Genealogical Master Index. On the web, accessible via the Libraries' electronic resources pages.

Type in the name you seek to find which biographical sources will have a sketch on the person.

Pp. 299-300 of Guide to Reference Books, 1996 lists other French biographical dictionaries.

Literature Dictionaries and Literary History

Dictionary of Modern French Literature from the Age of Reason through Realism. PQ 41 .D65 1986.

"Aims to provide an 'introduction to the major writers, works, and literary movements that flourished during the 180 years from the dawn of 18^th-century French literature through the age of realism, as well as a starting point for further research'."

Dictionnaire de la Litterature Francaise et Francophone. PQ 41 .D52 1987 t 1-3

"Entries for authors, titles, terms, literary journals, geographical areas, schools, etc."

Dictionnaire des Ecrivains Francais. PQ 41 .M3 1995 v. 1-2.

"Covers 281 authors, half from the 20^th c. For each, provides a biobibliographical essay, with critical analysis, a bibliography of works by the author, and very selective references to criticism."

Dictionnaire des Lettres Francaises. PQ 41 .D53 1994

volumes cover Moyen Age, XVIIe siecle, XVIIIe siecle. "articles, varying from a few lines to several pages, on persons, academies, universities, and literary subjects. Articles are signed and contain extensive bibliographies of the works of the authors and of materials to consult concerning persons or subjects."

Dictionnaire des Litteratures de Langue Francaise. PQ 41 .D533 1984 v. 1-4

Covers "French literature from medieval to contemporary times, with signed entries on authors, terms, and themes, titles for anonymous works and literary reviews; other national literatures; and French literatures outside France. Entries for major authors are very full, providing discussion of a writer's life and works, chronological tables, synopses and critiques of important works, and bibliographies of primary and secondary works."

Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature. PQ 149 .F47 1999

"Brings to public attention the works and world of French women writers, past and present." Topical and biographical entries with bibliographic references for further reading, including both works by the authors and about them.

French Women Writers, a Bio-bibliographical Source Book. PQ 149 .F73 1994 Biography Tools in Reference.

Covers "51 'of the most important women writers in the history of French literature'." "For each author, biographical information, with emphasis on the woman's experience as a writer, a discussion of major themes, a survey of criticism, and a bibliography of primary and secondary works."

Guide to French Literature. PQ 41 f.L48 1994 v. 1-2

Beginnings to 1789 and 1789 to the Present. Lengthy entries on individuals and literary movements. Comprehensive bibliographies of authors' works and selective lists of largely book-length critical studies.

New History of French Literature. PQ 119 .N48 1994 Main stacks

"Essays by individual scholars built around particular date and theme" from 778-1985. Covers French literature outside France, too, and political or social events that influenced literature. Short bibliographies.

New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. PQ 41 .N48 1995

Shorter articles on authors, critics, historians, religious writers, savants, scientists. Also articles on individual works, allusions, places, and institutions. General survey articles on phases or aspects of French literary life, movements, etc.

Literary Bibliography--Current

Which is to say, sources that are updated or published in an ongoing fashion

MLA Bibliography on the web, accessed via the Libraries' electronic resources pages.

Covers 1963 onward online, indexing over 3000 journals and series in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Monographs, working papers, bibliographies, and other formats are also indexed. Probably our most often used index for retrieving currently published articles on literature topics.

French XX Bibliography, Critical and Biographical References for the Study of French Literature since 1885. Z 2173 .M6 Consulting Reference

Annual, unannotated bibliography on 20^th century literature: topics, authors, theory, literary history of France and francophone countries, genres, theater, cinema, etc.

Annual Descriptive Bibliography of French Seventeenth-Century Studies. Z 2172 .M6 Consulting Reference

Known as French 17, it "seeks to provide an annual survey of the work done each year in the general area of 17^th-century French studies." Entries have abstracts. Covers works dealing with "literary history and criticism... bibliography, linguistics and language, politics, society, philosophy, science, and religion."

Current Research in French Studies at Universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Z 5814 .F83 C8 Consulting Reference

Biennial. "A subject list, in three sections, of theses submitted for a variety of degrees: 1) linguistic studies and stylistics, 2) literary, historical, and sociological studies not referring to a specific writer, historical figures, or anonymous work, and 3) alphabetical list of writers, historical figures, and anonymous work."

Bibliographie der Franzosischen Literaturwissenschaft. Z 2173.3 .B5 Consulting Reference

"...interprets French literature in a broad sense. Lists books, articles, and theses published during the period covered, analyzing in each volume some 400 periodicals and more than 150 collections." Chronological arrangement, from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century, with indexes by name and subject.

Literary Bibliography--Retrospective

Retrospective in the sense that once these books were published no entry more recent than the publication date will be found. Use the current bibliographies, just above, to find recently published material. The books in this section are useful for building a comprehensive bibliography on a topic or author, when it is necessary to leave no stones unturned and find all the important works published in the past.

Bibliographie de la Litterature Francaise du Moyen Age a nos Jours. Z 6511 .R4 Main stacks

Critical Bibliography of French Literature. Z 2171 .C3 Consulting Reference

Research and Reference Guide to French Studies Z 2175 .A2 O8 Consulting Reference

Guide to French Studies. Z 2175 .A2 O8 Suppl. Consulting Reference

French Language Dictionaries

We have many French dictionaries in PC 2625, in both Reference and Consulting Reference. See pp. 147-152 of Guide to Reference Books for more word books.

Tresor de la Langue Francaise, Dictionnaire de la Langue du XIX et du XX Siecle (1789-1960).

PC 2625 f.I4 t 1-16

Planned as a comprehensive historical dictionary, a French OED for the 19^th and 20^th centuries and eventually covering the earlier period as well. Definitions, etymology with sources, pronunciations.

Le Grand Robert de la Langue Francaise, Dictionnaire Alphabetique et Analogique de la Langue Francaise. PC 2625 f.R552 1986 t 1-9

"A historical dictionary of the French language, giving for each entry: etymology, definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and cross references to words with related meaning. Extensive quotations from French writers, selected to clarify usage and trace historical changes in meaning. Sponsored by the Academic Francaise."

Le Nouveau Petit Robert, Dictionnaire Alphabetique et Analogique de la Langue Francaise.

PC 2625 .R62 1993

Pronunciations, etymology, definitions in French, quotations.

Collins-Robert French-English, English-French Dictionary. PC 2640 .C65 1998.

Just one of our many bilingual dictionaries.

Oxford-Duden Pictorial French-English Dictionary. PC 2680 .O93 1996

"On the principle that certain kinds of information can be better conveyed by pictures than by description or explanation, the work employs a series of 384 plates in subject arrangement." French terms and English equivalents given on same or facing page. Indexes from both languages.

Dictionnaire Historique de la Langue Francaise. PC 2580 f.D52 1992 v. 1-2

"Includes words from 842 CE to the present. Entries provide a detailed history of each word and dated examples of use, earliest to most recent, with examples of change in meaning."

Harrap's Slang Dictionary/Dictionnaire English-French, Francais-Anglais. PC 3741 .H3 1993

French History Dictionaries

Historical Dictionary of France. DC 35 .R39 1998

Entries for persons and topics in French history. 60 pp. bibliography on all aspects of French history at the back.

France Profiled, Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in France. DC 33.7 .F723 1999

Mix of history and information on contemporary France. Information on administrative regions, historical chronology, culture, the major cities, the economy, social institutions, departments and territories overseas.

Toute l'Histoire par les Dates et les Documents, Chronologie de l'Histoire de France et Regards sur le Monde. DC 35 .J6 1989

"A chronology present in three main columns: 1) in France, 2) outside France, 3) Civilization, science, and technology. A fourth column gives quotations, facts, lists, etc. relevant to the year(s) covered in the other columns. Prehistoric times through 18^th century treated in 80 pages."

Dictionnaire des Intellectuels Francais. DC 33.7 .J85 1996

Les personnes. Les lieux. Les moments. Page long entries. Bibliographic references.

Medieval France, an Encyclopedia. DC 33.2 .M44 1995

"An introduction to the political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, literary, and artistic history of France from the early 5^th century to the late 15^th." Entries range in length from a paragraph to a few pages. Bibliographic references. Articles in the English language

Dictionnaire de la France Medievale. DC 60.6 .F38 1993 Consulting Reference

Similar to the work just above, only with shorter articles and in the French language. Mix of biographical and topical articles. No bibliographic references.

Dictionnaire du Grand Siecle. DC 35 .D57 1990 Consulting Reference

Covers the "siecle de Louis XIV," 17^th and early 18^th centuries. Biographical and topical articles, from a paragraph in length to a few pages. Some illustrations. No further reading references. In French.

Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789-1799. DC 147 .H57 1984 v. 1-2

Over 500 articles on persons, events, constitutional developments. Short bibliographies with each entry. Chronology. In English.

Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution. DC 148 .D5313 1989

"A summary of contemporary scholarship presented as a collection of essays arranged in five groups: events [of the Revolution], actors [principal people and groups], institutions and creations [i.e. army, clubs, suffrage, taxes, assemblies], ideas [i.e. fraternity, Jacobinism], historians and commentators [on the Revolution at the time and since then]. Short bibliographies." "Indexes by theme and proper name to name of article; alphabetical listing of articles within the sections. Good illustrations in color." In English.

Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France, 1799-1815.DC 201 .H673 1985

"Emphasis on Napoleon's Empire, its 'events, politics, economy and economic developments, society and its evolution, and the institutions and culture of the era'." Mix of topical and biographical articles. Further reading references. Chronology. In English.

Dictionnaire Napoleon. DC 147 .D53 1989 Consulting Reference

More comprehensive than the work just above; in French. Mix of topical and biographical articles. Bibliographical references. A thematic index at back shows the article titles on various topics, such as all the articles pertinent to finance publiques, for example.

Historical Dictionary of France from the 1815 Restoration to the Second Empire. DC 256 .H5 1987 v. 1-2

Over 900 articles cover the period from the end of the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte to the beginning of the reign of Louis Napoleon, on movements, cultural life, influences, and political figures. Chronology. Bibliographic references. In English.

Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire, 1852-1870. DC 276 .H57 1985

Over 300 articles on the period, on people, institutions, political events, places, concepts and ideas, aspects of culture, society, the economy. Chronology. Further readings. In English.

Dictionnaire du Second Empire. DC 276 .D53 1995 Consulting Reference

In French. Topical and biographical articles. Modeled after the Dictionnaire Napoleon, above, in scope and coverage. Bibliographical references. Illustrations.

Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870-1940. DC 377 .H57 1986 v. 1-2

Over 700 entries largely written by American scholars, covers all aspects of French civilization during this period, cultural, political, social, economic, and political. Bibliographic references. In English.

Dictionnaire Historique de la Vie Politique Francaise au XX Siecle. DC 369 .D53 1995 Consulting Reference

Meaning, since 1918. Topics, people, places. Bibliographical references. In French.

Historical Dictionary of World War II France, the Occupation, Vichy, and the Resistance, 1938-1946. DC 397 .H58 1998

One of several such dictionaries. Entries for people, events, places, military concepts and terms, institutions, battles, cultural phenomena of the time. Further reading references. In English.

Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946-1991.DC 401 .H57 1992

"269 articles ranging from politics to economics, to foreign and defense policy to society and culture." Bibliographical references. In English. Chronology.

A Dictionary of Contemporary France. DC 415 .A65 1993

"Attempts to identify and define those terms and acronyms used in newspapers when reporting on France since 1970. Tends to concentrate on institutions, public figures, and events." Short entries. In English. No bibliographic references.

Twentieth Century Culture, French Culture 1900-1975. DC 33.7 .F726 1995

Goal is to provide a ready reference for the vocabulary of culture. Contains entries on persons, places, terms, art forms, and organizations associated with creative expression in the humanities, those forms of creativity that seek to describe and interpret the human condition. Deals with the rich world of art, music, literature, drama, radio, television performance, movies, and dance. No entries for individual works. Covers both high and low art. Persons, ideas, and events outside the arenas of creative expression that stimulated artistic responses have special significance in culture and are included. Certain specific social and historical forces and the creative responses they prompted are also described. In English.

Handbook of French Popular Culture. DC 33.7 .H29 1991 Consulting Reference

"Bibliographic essays on advertising, comics, detective stories, science fiction, cartoons, film, broadcasting, culinary matters, leisure, love, music, serial publications, and sports. Each provides historical background, analyzes trends and relevant studies, and offers suggestions for further research. List of museums. Index by topic and cited author."

French History Bibliography--current

Meaning, sources for finding materials, especially periodical articles, written today about French history topics.

Historical Abstracts. On the web, accessed via the Libraries' electronic resources page. Covers western world history since 1500.

International Medieval Bibliography. On CD ROM, accessible from a particular work station in Reference. Covers the western Middle Ages.

Bibliographie Annuelle de l'Histoire de France du Cinquieme Siecle a 1958. Z 2176 .B5 Consulting Reference

Annual volumes cover all topics in French history from the 15^th c. to 1958. Published in France. Much of the indexed material will be in French. Use the table of contents pages to find the period and type of history you seek and then scan the references in the chapters. Unannotated. Covers both book and article material.

French History Bibliography--Retrospective

If you need to make an exhaustive search for materials on a topic in French history see Guide to Reference Books, 1996, p. 1269-1275 for the possible book-length bibliographies published in the past. Use these. Follow up on the references found in the various French history dictionaries.

Compiled by Agnes Haigh Widder, Humanities Bibliographer, Sept., 2000
Revised April 2002
Revised slightly: July 2, 2003 (alv)

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