LIBRARIES HOME
SEARCH IRIS AND OTHER CATALOGS
FIND ARTICLES
FIND ARTICLES WITH SEARCHLIGHT
FIND RESERVES
RESEARCH RESOURCES
RUCORE
CONNECT FROM OFF-CAMPUS
HOW DO I...?
REFWORKS
SEARCHPATH
LIBRARY INSTRUCTION
BORROWING
DELIVERY AND INTERLIBRARY LOAN
REFERENCE
FACULTY SERVICES
ABOUT THE LIBRARIES
NEWS AND EVENTS
ALUMNI LIBRARY




RETURN TO RUTGERS HOME PAGE

SEARCH RUTGERS


VALE - Virtual Academic Library Environment
Kevin Mulcahy
English and American Literature Librarian
mulcahy@rci.rutgers.edu
January 21, 2006
Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Literatures in English:
Guides to Manuscript Collections

Use to locate manuscripts. In some cases (Princeton, New York Public, or the Folger Library, for example), travel to see the manuscripts might well be feasible. Keep in mind that facsimile editions of many manuscripts have been published (Chaucer, P.B. Shelley, and T. S. Eliot, to name a few), and that the library will own many and help you track down and borrow the rest.

There are numerous other guides to manuscript collections, in the US and abroad. Check IRIS or the Card Catalog and consult the Reference Desk for further assistance.

**RLG UNION CATALOG.
See this guide's Catalogs page for a full description. In addition to bibliographic records for books, journals, sound recordings, films, videos, and scores, Eureka includes records for manuscript collections. If you are looking specifically for manuscript materials, use the advanced search mode, and then limit by material type and select "archival and mixed collection" and you will limit your search to the archives and manuscripts section of Eureka, with nearly 500,000 records. You can search by author, title, subject, and keywords and find detailed descriptions of manuscript collections and their locations. An increasingly important source, especially for scholars in American Literature. See also ArchiveGrid, a related source which provides online access to detailed finding aids for 21,000 manuscript collections described in RLIN-(Eureka). H ere you can get much more complete descriptions–in some cases a box by box inventory of the records.

Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo Saxon.
Lists more than 400 manuscripts, most with full entries including "references to significant scholarship and editions, discussions of date, content, physical characteristics, script & decorations, and provenance." Harner calls it "essential" and "magisterial."
ALEXANDER Z 6605.A56K4.

Catalog of Manuscripts of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
The Folger includes materials on other writers of the 16th through 18th centuries. You will probably need a letter from the English department to do research at the Folger.
ALEXANDER REF Z 733.W3F6 1971 [with a 1988 supplement].

Dictionary Catalog of the Manuscript Division [New York Public Library].
NYPL is one of the two or three greatest libraries in the country, and it's only a bus or train ride away. Call before visiting manuscript sites, however, to find out if there are any special conditions for use or special arrangements.
ALEXANDER REF Z 6621.N56.

Guide to Modern Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library.
Another nearby source of great value.
ALEXANDER REF Z6621.P945 1989.

Index of English Literary Manuscripts.
An ongoing set providing very detailed coverage of major writers from 1450 to 1900. A set providing very detailed coverage of major writers from 1450 to 1900. 4 volumes, each in 2 to 4 parts.
ALEXANDER REF Z 6611.L715.

Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
Two volumes
ALEXANDER REF PR 441.L63 1995.

Location Register of Twentieth Century English Literary Manuscripts and Letters. Two volumes.
These two sets offer brief entries, arranged by author, and provide helpful information on access to the manuscripts.
ALEXANDER REF Z6611.L7L63 1988.

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections. (1959-93). ALEXANDER REF Z 6620.U5N3.
A nation-wide listing of manuscript collections, updated annually. Includes indexes by name and subject. See also the cumulative Index to Personal Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984 (ALEXANDER REF Z 6620.U5N31 1988) and Index to Subjects and Corporate Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984 (ALEXANDER REF Z 6620.U5N3 Suppl). Still an important adjunct to online databases like Eureka and WorldCat which, however, are slowly superseding it.

WorldCat . See the Catalogs page of this guide for a full description. Like Eureka, WorldCat allows researchers to specify archival materials as part of a search strategy.

There are numerous other guides to manuscript collections, in the US and abroad. Check IRIS or the Card Catalog and consult the Reference Desk for further assistance.

Back to Top of Page
 
URL: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/eng_lit/eng_manu.shtml
Send Website feedback to the Libraries Webmaster
© Copyright 1996-2008, Rutgers University Libraries   (Further Copyright Information)