Theat 270: History of Theater Up To 1700
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Databases for secondary sources
Theater Research
- International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance This link opens in a new windowInitiated by the American Society for Theatre Research, and since 1984, the Theatre Research Data Center (TRDC) at Brooklyn College, this is a prime research tool for students of theatre and the performing arts.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowIndexes articles books, etc. in literary studies, folklore, languages, and linguistics. Useful for researching plays and playwrights.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from scholarly and popular journals and magazines on the performing arts. Covers materials published 1864-present.
- Play Index This link opens in a new windowPublication information for plays written across historical periods. Users can search by title, author, subject, or genre, with the option of limiting results by cast size.
St. Olaf Libraries provides a wide variety of databases to support your research. The list above is only a fraction of what is available; the full database list is here.
Historical Research
- Annee Philologique This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal articles, books, dissertations, and conference papers in classical studies, on the history, culture, languages, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome.
- Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new windowThe Cambridge Companions are introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods. All are collections of specially commissioned essays, and each title is supported by reference features such as a chronology and guide to further reading.
- Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes the full-text of over 280 volumes from the Cambridge Histories series. Searchable and browsable by key areas, including American History, British History, Literary Studies, and Religious Studies.
Databases for primary sources
- Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new windowThe Burney Newspapers comprise the most comprehensive collection of early English newspapers anywhere in the world, primarily from the 17th-18th century. Excellent for finding advertisements for and reviews of performances.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new windowDigitizations of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere between 1473 and 1700.
- Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new windowFull-text primary and secondary sources in literary studies. Primary materials include British and American poetry from the eighth century to the contemporary period, drama from 1280 to 1915, and prose from 1500 to 1914, plus streaming video of poets reading poetry and dramatized audio recordings of Shakespeare's plays.
Accessing Articles in the Databases
Many databases will offer the full text for the articles they index. Look for a Full Text button or link.
If the full text is not available directly from that database, we may still have access to it somewhere else. Click the Find It! button to search for the article in Catalyst.
If you click the Find It! button, one of three things will happen.
Best result: you get redirected immediately to the article you want.
Good result: you get redirected to a Catalyst record for the article which provides options for how to access the article. Here's an article that is available online in two different databases, ProQuest Research Library and Taylor & Francis Journals Complete. You can click the one you want to use to access it.
Okay result: The Find It! button reroutes you to a Catalyst record that tells you to "search for a physical copy or request a copy." Never fear! We can probably still get this article for you via Resource Sharing. See the "Requesting Materials from Other Libraries" tab on the left for instructions on placing a Resource Sharing request.
