Dance 246: Dance in America
A Guide to Library Resources

Spring 2008

 

Finding Reference Materials
Finding Books, Sound Recordings, Videos, Scores, & Journal Titles
Finding Journal or Periodical Articles
Finding Internet Sites

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Finding Reference Materials:

 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History.   Ed. Jack Salzman , David Smith, Cornel West.   NY: Macmillan, 1996.   5 vols. Rølvaag Reference E185.E54 1996
A superb overview of the culture and history of African-Americans.   Provides biographical as well as more general topical articles.

Encyclopedia of Black America . NY: McGraw-Hill, 1981.   Rølvaag Reference E185.E55
An excellent, although dated, encyclopedia about the African-American experience.

Estell , Kenneth. African America: Portrait of a People . Detroit: Visible Ink, 1994. Rølvaag Reference E185.96.E87 1994
Provides a good overview article on the performing arts, with a good discussion of African American dance. A good source as you begin to think about a topic.
 

The International Dictionary of Ballet . Detroit: St. James Press, 1993. (2 vols.) Rølvaag Reference GV1585.I57 1993
Includes entries on individual artists (dancers, choreographers, designers, composers, librettists, teachers), individual ballets, and ballet companies. Offers scholarly essays with career biographies, list of roles or works, and publications by and about the artists. 

The International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Detroit: St. James Press, 1998. Rølvaag Reference GV1585.B46
Offers "over 400 entries on all aspects of modern dance ranging from biographical entries on dancers to essays on major movements and styles to overviews of the development of modern dance in countries around the world." Has nationalities and subject indexes as well as a chronology of modern dance. 

The International Encyclopedia of Dance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. (6 vols.) Rølvaag Reference GV1585.I586 1998
An excellent resource with scholarly articles on "major personalities, companies, and dance works of influential significance." Each entry also has a bibliography of additional sources. 

Hitchcock, H. Wiley & Stanley Sadie, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music . (4 vols.) London: Macmillan, 1986. Music Library & Rølvaag Reference ML101.U6N48
A "spin-off" of the most important music encyclopedia, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, this source focuses solely on American music. Excellent articles written by scholars in the field with great bibliographies.  

Kernfeld , Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . (3 vols.) London: Macmillan, 2001. Music Library Reference ML102.J3N48 2001
Another Grove "spin-off," this is the most comprehensive and authoritative source on jazz. Articles are written by scholars, and include excellent bibliographies.  

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.   29 vols. Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan, 2001. [Music Library  Reference ML100.N48 2001 and online . ]
An essential source for information about music.  Updates data found in the above "spin-off" versions and is kept up to date with the online format.

Biographical Information:

Cohen- Stratyner , Barbara N. Biographical Dictionary of Dance . NY: Schirmer Books, 1982.Rølvaag Reference GV1785.A1C58
Brief biographical sketches of over 2900 figures involved in dance. Includes articles about composers, artists and impresarios in addition to performers. Note the chronologies of major works under important personalities.
 

Current Biography . 1940-present Rølvaag Reference CT100.C97
Published yearly, this source provides biographical sketches for people in the news that year. An excellent way to get a good overview of prominent people.
 

Notable Black American Women . Detroit: Gale, 1992. Rølvaag Reference E185.96.N68 1992
An excellent source for quick biographical information about African American women (who have often been overlooked in traditional reference sources).

Timetables:

Use these items to put things into context, or to give you a sense of the important events of a particular era.

The Timetables of African-American History: a Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Rølvaag Reference E185.H32

The Timetables of American History . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. Rølvaag Reference E18.5.U75

The Timetables of History: a Horizontal Linkage of People and Events . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.   Rølvaag Reference D11.G78 1991

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Finding Books, Sound Recordings, Videos, Scores, & Journal Titles:

Use the St. Olaf/Carleton Libraries' online catalog, Bridge . Try AUTHOR searches to find authors, choreographers, composers, directors, individual performers, performing groups, librettists, etc. If you do not find enough information, try searching by KEYWORD.

Remember, you can LIMIT your search by material type, language, years, etc. Note the call number and location. Is the item at Carleton or St. Olaf?  Rølvaag or the Music Library? Is it checked out or on the shelves?

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Finding Journal or Periodical Articles:
 

America History and Life , 1964-present Rølvaag Reference E171.A5 and online.
Indexes articles on all aspects of American life. Use the index volumes, which refer you to abstracts or, search online via the libraries' homepage searching "Find Articles & More".  An excellent source for investigating larger cultural or historical issues surrounding dance and dancers.  Try keyword searching if subject search is not sufficient.

Academic Search Premiere , 1975-present (Online via Libraries' Home Page)
Indexes a wide variety of journals and newpapers (more than 8000 publications) in all disciplines.  A good source for interdisciplinary approaches to your material or for current information. The full text of some articles are available.
 

Humanities Index , 1974-present (1907-present) Rølvaag Reference AI3.R473
A down-to-earth index for all of the (arts and) humanities. St. Olaf owns most periodicals indexed. Before 1974, the index was known as Social Sciences and Humanities Index (1966-74) and International Index (1907-65).
 

Index to Dance Periodicals , 1992-present Rølvaag Reference GV1594.I53
An excellent index for current information on dance. Your best source for current periodical literature devoted specifically to the field of dance.
 

Index to Black Periodicals , 1966-present Rølvaag Reference AI3.O4
An important index to materials about Blacks in America. Check under "dance" for articles and related headings.  
 

International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) , 1874-present [Available Online via Libraries' Home Page]
A broadly-based index of music periodicals, including access to some newspapers such as the New York Times . Indexing varies depending upon the periodical or newspaper title; some journals are indexed from the late 1800s.
 

International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) , (coverage varies) [Available Online via Libraries' Home Page]
The performing arts counterpart to the above index.  Indexes a wide variety of international perificals , some back to the late 1800s.
 

Music Index , 1949-present; online 1975-present via music library homepage)Music Library Reference ML118.M9 (Index tables) and online
The most comprehensive periodical index for music journals. A "must" if you are doing research closely associated with dance music. 1979 - present available online via the music library homepage.
 

New York Times Index [1857-present, available in print at Rølvaag Library REF AI 21.N45 and online 1851-2004]
Index/full text database for the important New York Times newspaper. Online source covers 1851-2004 only. (More recent issues are available in paper or microfilm.) A great source for information about dance in general and performance reviews. 
 

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature , 1890-present Rølvaag Reference AI13.R68
An excellent source of information for popular periodical articles written about dance, dating back to the turn of the century.

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Finding Internet Sites:

Some useful web sites for your research:
 

The African-American Journey   (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/) This PBS site recognizes "the unique experiences and accomplishments of African Americans. Browse by category or search for a specific person." Categories include the arts, living, history, politics, and people.

American Memory Collection (Library of Congress): Western Social Dance   (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/browse/)
An amazing collection of digitized primary source material.  The "Western Social Dance" collection contains primary source material of social dance traditions,  including digitized images of dance manuals, and a link to the related dance manual collection.  The sheet music collection is a rich repository of information about dance music (including cover art!).  Some sites provide video and/or audio clips.

Dance Insider (http://www.danceinsider.com/)
Sponsored by the New York City Ballet, this site provides access to dance reviews and news from around the world.

Performing Arts Encyclopedia (http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/ihas/ihashome.html)
From the music, dance, and theater collections at the Library of Congress, this site includes the Katherine Dunham Collection as well as much more!

Las Culturas   (http://www.lasculturas.com/lib/libMusicGen.htm)
A site with links to resources pertaining to Latin American music and dance.

Society of Dance History Scholars (http://www.sdhs.org/)
This site provides information on the Society including their publications and conferences. A great feature is their excellent Links Related to Dance section that points you to other useful sites including dance organizations, dance publications, libraries and research institutes, and more.

  Remember to critically evaluate Internet resources before using them in your research. Use the following criteria:

 

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Remember to start your research early!

Interlibrary loan can work wonders, but it takes time.

 

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Contact Information:	Page Information:
Beth Christensen Halvorson Music Library 147 507-786-3362 christeb@stolaf.edu	Created by: Beth Christensen | 2.15.08 Created for: Mary Kay Conway Updated by: {Name} | {Date}