Kevin Mulcahy English and American Literature Librarian mulcahy@rci.rutgers.edu November 2009

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 and consult the Reference Desk for further assistance.

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 16^th through 18^th centuries. You will probably need a letter from the English department to do research at the Folger. Hamnet, the Folger Library Catalog, includes newer manuscript acquisitions, but use of the printed catalog volumes is still needed.
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.
(Also at Dana, with a partial set, through 1979, at Douglass).
A nation-wide listing of manuscript collections, updated annually. Includes indexes by name and subject. Still an important adjunct to online databases like WorldCat which, however, are slowly superseding it.
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.).

WorldCat (OCLC).
WorldCat allows researchers to specify "archival materials"--a class that includes manuscripts--as part of a search strategy.