Guide to Reference Books, at the Reference Desk, Z 1035 .G8
American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature, Ref. and Main D 20 .A55 1995 v. 1, section 20 "Medieval Europe." See the layout of the section on p. 625. Chronological approach with sub-sections on geographic areas. Short annotations. Points to book length material only. Information on reference sources is limited. Emphasis is on good books in the field to read.
Paetow, Guide to the Study of Medieval History, 1931, rpt. 1959, rev. 1980. Main Z 6203 .P19 1931 and 1980. Bibliographical works, reference works (dated), modern works (also dated), large collections of original sources, general history and medieval culture (dated).
Boyce, Literature of Medieval History, 1930-1975, a Supplement to Louis John Paetow's Guide to the Study of Medieval History, Consulting Ref. Z 6203 .P25 1980 Supp. V. 1-5. Similar arrangement to Paetow. Now also dated. But, as history resources seldom become completely useless overtime, depending on your project, this and Paetow are still worth knowing about and using.
Crosby, Medieval Studies, a Bibliographical Guide, Consulting Ref. and Fine Arts, Z 5579.5 .C76 1983. General bibliography on the period. Both topical chapters and chapters on the period in different countries. Points to other bibliographies, general works, collections of sources, in many disciplines, not only just history.
Powell, Medieval Studies, an Introduction, Main D116 .M4 1992. Bibliographic essay format, with chapters on a range of medieval topics: Latin paleography, diplomacy, archaeology, art, English literature, law, science and natural philosophy, music, chronology, numismatics, Latin philosophies, computer assisted analysis of statistical documents of medieval life. Each chapter concludes with a bibliography of the works discussed.
Caenegem, Guide to the Sources of Medieval History, Main D 117 .C2213. Points to traditional primary, medieval sources from church records, legal records, charters and administrative records, governmental records, fiscal and socio-economic records. Info on libraries and archives and their holdings, as of the late 1970s. Great collections and repertories of sources. Reference works.
Caenegem, Manuel des Etudes Medievales, Main D 117 .C23313 1997. Guide to Sources of Medieval History in French, a revision of the above, I think. Unfortunately, no table of contents. Mysteriouse! Useful to those whose French is très bon!
Medieval Women and the Sources of Medieval History, Main HQ 1143 .M44 1990. Bibliographic essay format, with chapters by specialists on some very specialized and not so specialized topics, such as: sexual equality in canon law, German source collections in Salzburg, men and women in monasticism, sources on towns in northern Italy, the medieval literature of obstetrics and gynecology, English medieval women and legal history, saints' lives, old Norse sources on women, coinage and women, sources about women in Mediterranean archives, women's history from Anglo-Saxon sources, and women's history from hostile sources, on researching Beguines. Bibliographies conclude chapters.
History Highway 2000, a Guide to Internet Resources, Ref. D 16.255 .D65 H58 2000. Chapter on medieval history web sites, pp. 43-57.
ORB, Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies, on the Web, Electronic Resources text and links. Contains 1) ORB Encyclopedia, a chronological and geographical index of essays, bibliographies, images, documents, links and other resources, 2) ORB Textbook Library of full-length texts in medieval studies for classroom use, 3) ORB Reference Shelf of links to excerpts and full texts from primary and secondary sources in ORB or elsewhere on the internet, 4) Resources for Teaching, such as subject bibliographies, 5) external links to other web sites, 6) resources for non-specialists, 7) E-Texts, new transcriptions and/or translations of important medieval texts that have not previously been accessible in print or electronic format. There are also links to several other principal medieval studies web sites: Labyrinth, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Netserf, Argos, World Wide Web Virtual Library Medieval.
Arntzen and Rainwater, Guide to the Literature of Art History. Fine Arts-Art, Reference N 380 f.A9. Published in 1980, the classic guide to art history research. Bibliography, histories, dictionaries and encyclopedias by country, Christian iconography sources, medieval sources and documents, and recommendations of works on Carolingian through Gothic architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative arts.
Jones, Art Information and the Internet, How to Find It, How to Use It, Fine Arts-Art, Reference N 59 .J66 1999. More up to date. Web sites, plus steps to using the web and supplementing it with print information. Chapters on art styles and periods, researching artists and particular works of art, and on genres of art (architecture, decorative arts, costume).
Jones, Art Information Research Methods and Sources, Fine Arts-Art, Reference N 85 .J64 1990. More current than Arntzen and Rainwater and similar in purpose and contents, but no web references.
Art, Art History and Design, Fine Arts-Art, Reference Z 58 .I646 2001. A source more for the art librarian than the library patron, and U.K. oriented in addition, but the chapter on academic libraries and the one on visual resources (i.e. locating images and doing picture research) might be useful.
Pollard, Visual Arts Research, Fine Arts-Art, Reference, N 85 .P55 1986. A guide to how to do research in the art and art history field.
These sources have research and writing tips.
Student's Guide to History, Ref. D 16.3 .B4 2001. Older eds in Main and Fine Arts. Also has info on reference sources.
Barzun and Graff, Modern Researcher, Ref. D 13 .B334 1992. Older eds in Main and Fine Arts.
International Medieval Bibliography. On the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. A bibliography of the European Middle Ages, c450-1500. Indexes articles, review articles, scholarly notes, conference proceedings, essay collections, festschriften. Multi disciplinary.
Humanities Abstracts, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. Indexes articles in over 400 humanities periodicals in archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, world literature since 1984. Prior to 1984 it is a book index, in Consulting Ref, AI 3 .H8, called Humanities Index. Useful to find your subject heading in the print volumes and then look for it in the Web version.
Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index, on the Web, Electronic Resources page via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. Covers articles from 1994 on from some 400 journals, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality and gender during the Middle Ages (450-1500) in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Publications may be in English, French, German, Spanish or Italian (only since 2001). Excludes books by single authors (check MAGIC).
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. Indexes articles and reviews on the Western High Middle Ages and Renaissance, 1400-1700.
Periodical Contents Index, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. A developing full-text indexing endeavor designed to provide access to older periodical literature, published 1770-1995. Has both browse and search capabilities. An enormous database. We will not own all that is indexed and not everything is full-text yet. It helps to specify the journal subject in the box near the bottom of the search screen; hold down control and click as you scroll down to select several fields. Probably most useful in the browse mode, to find complete text of an article the citation for which has been identified in another reference work.
JSTOR, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. A developing full-text endeavor designed to provide access to older periodical literature, from the beginning of a journal to within several years of the present, but not up to the present. Offers searching by topic, author, etc. as well as browsing through full-text back files of journals in history and other fields. Began with the field of history and covers the major journals in the history field which are available digitally. In the search mode, best to use advanced search, which requires selecting a discipline in which to search. Searches either the full-text, or title words, or words in abstract. You can specify how close together the words must be. Includes full-text of older issues of Speculum, a key journal in medieval history.
Project Muse, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. A developing full-text endeavor designed to provide access to the current and back issues of journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press, a great number of which are in humanities. Has both search and browse capabilities. This system does include currently published articles, as well as older ones. Uses Library of Congress subject headings (same subjects as MAGIC).
Royal Historical Society Bibliography on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. Corresponds to Annual Bibliography of British and Irish History, Consulting Ref. Z 2016 .A55. Published by the Royal Historical Society. No annotations. Indexes both books and articles, favoring British publications. See the chapters on England 450-1066 and 1066-1500. Within each are sub-sections on social history, religion, ideas, etc.
Bibliographie Annuelle de l'Histoire de France du Cinquième Siècle à 1958, Consulting Ref. Z 2176 .B5. In French. The major annual bibliography of French history. Indexes both books and articles, French ones, but no annotations. See the chapter for Histoire Sociale. Within this chapter there is a section on la famille, la femme, et l'enfant containing a sub-section on le Moyen Âge. Probably also other useful sections for those with good French language skills.
Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Reference D 114 .D5 1982, v. 1-13
Lexikon des Mittelalters, Reference D 101.5 .L4, Bd. 1-9
Cantor, Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Reference D 114 .E53 1999. One volume, by a senior scholar and author of many books on the medieval period.
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Reference D 114 .D53 2000 v. 1-2
Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Reference CB 5 .D52 v. 1-5. Older but very, very useful for reading up on philosophies, ideas, and the authors associated with them.
New Cambridge Medieval History, Main D 117 .N48 1995. Previous ed called Cambridge Medieval History, also in Main, D 117 .C3. A multi-volume text on the medieval period which is in the process of revision. Currently v. 2-3 and 5-7 of the new 1995 edition are available, covering 700-1024 and 1198-1500. For the in between years, consult the older edition.
Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe, Main D 102 .O94 1988. Similar to the above, but only one volume and with pictures. Using this or the New Cambridge... or one of the dictionaries or encyclopedias might help you choose a topic or get some ideas of how to narrow a topic to make it doable.
Reader's Guide to Women's Studies, Reference HQ 1180 .R43 1998. Although titled "Reader's Guide" is more of a one volume dictionary, albeit with several further reading references at the beginning of each entry. Topical and biographical entries.
Lawler, Encyclopedia of Women in the Middle Ages, Reference, HQ 1143 .L38 2001. Both topical and biographical entries, with further reading references.
Women's Studies Encyclopedia, Reference HQ 1115 .W645 1989, v. 3. V. 3 has a series of articles on medieval women (noble/lay, peasants, religious, treatment of rape in literature and law, urban). Some further reading references.
Medieval England, an Encyclopedia, Reference DA 129 .M43 1998. Topical and biographical entries. See women, women and the arts, women in middle English literature, women in old English literature. Both primary and secondary further reading references.
Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272-1485, Reference DA 175 .H56 2002. Biographical and topical articles with further reading references. See women, marriage, monasticism. Also has a subject index.
Dictionnaire de la France Médiévale, Consulting Ref. DC 60.6 .F38 1993. Topical and biographical entries. In French. See femme, mariage.
Duby and Perrot, eds. History of Women in the West, Main HQ 1121 .S79513 1992 v. 1-2. A text. V. 1 from ancient goddesses to Christian saints. V. 2 silences of the Middle Ages. For topic ideas, narrowing, and reading up.
Aries and Duby, eds. History of Private Life, Main HN 8 .H5713 1987. A text. V.1 from pagan Rome to Byzantium. V. 2 revelations of the medieval world. For topic ideas, narrowing, and reading up.
Oxford Classical Dictionary, Reference DE 5 .O9 1999, also on CD ROM in Digital/Media Center, 4 West.
Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, Reference DE 5 .O92 1998
Late Antiquity, a Guide to the Postclassical World, Reference DE 5 .L29 1999. Has chapters on religious communities, the good life, habitat, among others. This is followed by a dictionary portion with both topical and biographical entries.
Lexikon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Fine Arts-Art, Permanent Reserve 1, NX 650 .M9 L48.
Lexikon der Christlichen Ikonographie, Fine Arts-Art, Reference BV 150 .A85 v. 1
Index of Christian Art, on the Web via Electronic Resources, texts and links. Largest database of medieval art. Full-text records for over 23, 000 works of art from early apostolic times to 1400. Works classified by details of subject and iconography, as well as artist's name, title of work, and medium. Some color images online. Other images may be found in publications in the bibliographic references accompanying the entries. Bibliography has 18,000 references covering iconography, art history, archaeology, religion, classical studies. For other works in book form, such as the above work, use the subject heading Christian art and symbolism-dictionaries in MAGIC.
Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800-1200, Fine Arts-Art, Reference NA 365 .C6 1987. A text in a noted series of art history texts. To read up on a topic and help narrow it appropriately.
New Catholic Encyclopedia, Reference, BX 841 .C25 2003 v. 1-14. Might be interesting to see how entries to do with women have changed since the 1913 or 1967 editions, which are in Consulting Reference.
Encyclopedia of Global Historical Writings, Reference, D 13 .G47 1998 v. 1-2. Useful if you wanted to study the work of a particular historian of the medieval period. Here you can read about him/her, find a list of the author's works, and get further reading suggestions. Also entries for old and new forms of writing about the past.
Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War, Consulting Ref. U 24 .D4913 1994. Should you need a dictionary about these subjects.
Handbook of Dates for Students of English History, Reference DA 34 .H29 2000. History of Julian and Gregorian calendars. Lists of English rulers, popes, saints' and other festival days, dates for Easter, legal chronology. Older eds in Main.
Times Atlas of World History, Reference atlas case and Maps, G 1030 f.T58 1989. Just in case you want to see history mapped.
Atlas of World History, Maps, G 1030 .O85 1999. In the back of the Map Library there at two sections of atlases upright, on shelves. Look in G 1030 in both areas for history atlases. One set of shelves is for atlases 14" and under and the other for atlases over 14."
Historical Maps on File, Maps Ref. Desk, G 1030 .M37 1984. Useful for maps to photocopy.
Women in World History, a Biographical Encyclopedia, Reference, Biography, HQ 1115 .W66 1999 v. 1-14. Long articles with both primary and secondary source further readings.
Extraordinary Women of the Medieval and Renaissance World, a Biographical Dictionary, Reference, Biography, HQ 1143 .E93 2000. Long articles on fewer women, as this is only one volume. Short lists of further reading at the ends of the articles. Interesting appendix of notable women by title, occupation, or main area of interest.
Larousse Dictionary of Women, Reference, Biography, HQ 1115 .L37 1996. Short entries covering women of all periods. No further reading.
Ireland, Index to Women of the World from Ancient to Modern Times, Biographies and Portraits, Reference, Biography, HQ 1123 .I73 and Suppl. An index to information about women found in other sources. An abbreviation to a book title in several letters and page numbers appears under the subject's name. Look in the front under the letters to find the author and title of the book containing the needed information. Then check MAGIC.
Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Consulting Ref., Fine Arts-Art Ref. BX 4659 .G7 F23.
Remember that most of the various encyclopedias and subject dictionaries above also contain biographical sketches.
Farrar, Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources, Main Z 6517 .F3 and supplement, Z 6517 .F47
Women in Western European History, a Select Chronological, Geographical, and Topical Bibliography from Antiquity to the French Revolution, Consulting Ref. HQ 1587 .F7 1982b, v. 1 c. 2 and 1986 Supp.
Women of England from Anglo-Saxon Times to the Present, Interpretive Bibliographic Essays, Consulting Ref. HQ 1599 .E5 W65 c. 2
History of Women in Germany from Medieval Times to the Present, Bibliography of English-Language Publications, Main and Consulting Ref. HQ 1623 .C64 1990
Index to Women's Studies Anthologies, Research Across the Disciplines, 1980-84 and 1985-89, Reference HQ 1180 .B76 1994 and 1996. Author, editor, subject, and keyword indexes to anthologies in women's studies, works that have chapters by various individuals.
Medioevo Latino, Bollettino Bibliografico della Cultura Europea da Secolo VI al XV, Main Z 6203 .M43
EEBO, Early English Books Online, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases or primary sources. Developing full-text project, with a search engine. Goal is to digitize the items in the STC I and STCII microfilm sets, which we have in Microforms. Contains works printed in England or English speaking places 1475-1700. While including only the end of the medieval period, any number of medieval primary sources had their first printed editions during this period. Look up by author, title, subject, keywords.
French Books Before 1601, Microforms, film set 4265. Not all titles have entries in MAGIC. There is a notebook containing reel lists' contents in the Microforms guides section, Z 2162 .F7 1965. The set contains copies of books printed in France prior to 1601.
WorldCat, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases. The public use version of OCLC, which is the online cataloging utility used by M.S.U. Libraries. Contains catalog records for books in libraries across America. Useful for bibliographic verification prior to requesting interlibrary loan or to find bibliographical details and then use our online catalog.
Library of Congress catalogs, on the Web, http://catalog.loc.gov/. Printed National Union Catalog Pre-56 Imprints and succeeding volumes, on shelves outside the Cyber Cafe on first floor west. Main entry (author or title) and subject access.
British Library Catalogue, on the Web, http://www.bl.uk/ Printed British Museum/Library Catalogue, on shelves outside the Cyber Cafe. Main entry (author/title) and subject access.
Bodleian Library Catalogue, on the Web via Electronic Resources, indexes/databases, http://library.ox.ac.uk/
Bibliotheque Nationale de France Catalogue, on the Web, http://www.bnf.fr/. Printed Bibliotheque National de France catalogues in Main Z 2161 .A26 to .A37.
Center for Research Libraries' Catalogue, on the Web via MAGIC, search other library catalogs http://catalog.crl.edu. A library for libraries holding much primary source material in microformat which is borrowed through inter library loan.
Click on "Search other library catalogs" on the left side of the initial search screen for our MAGIC catalog to access other library catalogs available on the Web.
Acta Sanctorum, http://www.kbr.be/~socboll/actaSco.html. Saints' lives. We do not subscribe to this, but possibly some info is free.
Bibliography on Women in Byzantium 2002, http://www.doaks.org/WomeninByzantium.html. Primary sources in available in translation, an enormous secondary sources bibliography, and some web sites.
Epistolae, http://db.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/ferrante/about2.html. Epistolae is a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to 13th century. The letters, written in Latin appear under the names of the women involved, with English translations where possible, biographical sketches of the women and some description of the subject matter or the historic content of the letter. A project, originally, of Joan Ferrante of Columbia University.
Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women at Brandeis University, http://www.brandeis.edu/hirjw/publications.html. Notes books, working papers, conference publications available for purchase and, in some cases, for downloading.
Marriage and Sexuality in Medieval Europe, http://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/368/index.html. This is the syllabus for a course with this title, taught at Cornell University, spring semester, 2000 by Paul Hyams, a luminary in this field. Has some texts appended.
Matrix, Resources for the Study of Women's Religious Communities, http://matrix.bc.edu/MatrixWebData/matrix.html. An ongoing, collaborative effort of international scholars of medieval history, art history, archaeology, religion, and other disciplines, as well as librarians and experts in computer technology. The goal is to document the participation of Christian women in the religion and society of medieval Europe, 500-1500. Uses both primary and secondary sources, although the basis is unpublished archival material. The basis of Matrix is the Monasticon, a repertory of profiles of women's religious communities. Biographies of individuals associated with communities in the Monasticon. Chartulary of primary source documents. Bibliography of over 5000 published and unpublished sources, which aims to be a comprehensive database of citations related to women's religious lives. Glossary. Archive of articles. Visual Library (images).
Peregrina Publishing Company, http://www.peregrina.com/. A publisher offering some texts online.
Robbins Library Bibliographies, http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/bibmenu.htm. Part of the Camelot Project of the University of Rochester. One of the bibliographies offered is called Women Writers of the Middle Ages. Unannotated. Has general sources followed by primary and secondary texts works on individual women writers arranged alphabetically. Call numbers provided are for University of Rochester; check MAGIC here.
International Joan of Arc Society, http://www.smu.edu/ijas/.
International Marie de France Society, http://www.people.vcu.edu/~cmarecha/homepage.html.
Working Group for the Promotion of the Tradition of Hildegard, http://www.uni-mainz.de/~horst/hildegard/ak/eak/html.
Agnes Haigh Widder, Humanities Bibliographer, Michigan State University