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

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Literatures in English:
Major Microform Collections

Prior to the advent of digital publishing, microform was the medium mostly widely used for disseminating and preserving large research collections and back runs of periodicals. Several collections are based on standard retrospective bibliographies--heroic efforts to list all the titles published in a particular nation and period. The collections, with a single exception, noted below, can be found in the Microforms Room on the basement level of Alexander Library. The Rutgers Libraries own readers that can digitally scan film, so that researchers can download to a disk, "burn" a cd-rom, or e-mail text. Several of the microfilm collections have subsequently become available online, allowing more convenient access and enhanced search capabilities. I have excluded those collections now available in digital form.

Black Literature, 1827-1940.
ALEXANDER Microfiche 406.
A major project, overseen by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that has reclaimed a lost heritage of African-American periodical literature. Guide at ALEXANDER REF PS 647.A35B52 1990, and an index on CD-ROM. Focus is on reviews, poetry, and literary notices.

Early American Newspapers.
ALEXANDER Microprint (first series) and ALEXANDER Microfiche (second series).
A collection of hundreds of American newspapers from colonial times into the early republic, arranged by city. No indexes, but another wonderful source for early American culture. Listings of the titles included are at ALEXANDER REF Z 6940.B855h and ALEXANDER REF Z 6940.B86.

Early British Periodicals.
ALEXANDER Microfilm.
A collection of more than 160 important journals published in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Article-level indexing of 19^th Century titles included in these collections is available in C19: The Nineteenth Century Index--see Periodical Collections.
Guide at ALEXANDER REF Z 6956.G6U54 1980.

English Literary Periodicals, 1681-1900.
ALEXANDER Microfilm.
A companion to the Early British Periodicals (See above) including an additional 341 titles from the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th Centuries. Together, these two sets include most of the major titles and editors. Article-level indexing of 19^th Century titles included in these collections is available in C19: The Nineteenth Century Index--see Periodical Collections.
A guide is available at ALEXANDER REF Z6956.G6U56 and there is also an ongoing CD-ROM index.

Gerritsen Women's History Collection, 1543-1945.
Douglass Microfilm and Microfiche.
Nearly 18,000 fiche and 244 reels of microfilm. A major resource. While the focus of these two women's history collections is not on literature in the narrower sense, there is a wealth of polemical and historical material of tremendous value for cultural studies. There is a guide at ALEXANDER REF HQ 1121.G43, but the titles in Gerritsen are being added to IRIS as well.

History of Women.
ALEXANDER Microfilm.
More than 1200 reels of microfilm--including books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts and photographs. Most of the collection dates from 1799 to 1920. Guide at ALEXANDER REF HQ 1121.R474.