ENG 431, Whitman & Dickinson
Finding Books
Using the ASU Libraries' Online Catalog will lead you to some of your best sources for publication histories, manuscript collections and bibliographies. Conduct a "Subject (Library of Congress)" search, using the authors' names as your subject headings, last name first (for example, "Dickinson, Emily"). Look for or add the following subheadings to your search:
- Bibliography
- Criticism and Interpretation
- Criticism, textual
- Leaves of Grass (for Whitman)
- Manuscripts
- Manuscripts, Facsimilies
- Notebooks, sketches, etc.
You may also search the catalog using Whitman or Dickinson as authors to see what the ASU Libraries have by them.
The Fletcher Library will NOT have all of the books on Dickinson and Whitman you will find in the catalog. Remember, you can have books sent to you here at West from the catalog by using the "Request" function in the book's catalog record. In two or three working days the books you request will be at the West Library Circulation Desk for you to check out.
A reference source that is good for American authors' publication histories:
Blanck, Jacob, comp. Bibliography of American Literature, 9 vols.
New Haven, CN: Yale UP, 1955-1983.
PS 88 .B58x West Ref
Finding Manuscript Collections
World Cat
A universal catalog of books, media and special collections, including manuscript
collections. Contains records from the Library of Congress and almost all major
research libraries in North America. Limit your search to "manuscripts."
Archives
USA
A directory of repositories and collections of primary source material across
the United States with descriptions of a repository's holdings, phone and fax
numbers, hours of service, materials solicited, email and home page URLs when
available.
RLG
Union Catalog
RLG--Research Libraries Group. A major union catalog for everything from books
and serials to archives, manuscripts, maps, music scores, sound recordings,
films, photographs, posters, computer files and more.
NOTE: All of these sources are ASU Libraries' subscriptions; they are not freely available on the Web. Use the links above or access them via the Fletcher Library's Web site.
Web Sites for Dickinson and Whitman
There are some very good Web sites available for the study of Dickinson and Whitman. Some of these sites contain publication histories and facsimilies of manuscripts and electronic reproductions of editions and texts.
Dickinson:
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson (Bartleby.com)
Radical
Scatters: Emily Dickinson's Fragments 1870-1886and Related Texts
An ASU Libraries' subscription.
Whitman:
The Walt Whitman Archive (Univ. of Virginia)
Walt Whitman Collection (Library of Congress)
Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass
Both:
The Classroom Electric: Dickinson, Whitman and American Culture
(look for "Classic Poets")
Finding Critical and Scholarly Articles
The Database Finder is available from the Fletcher Library's Home Page
Literature and Languages Subject Guide
A complete guide to literature resources in print and online