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A Literature Research Guide - Historical Context Research: Historical Background

Encyclopedia of American Culture & Intellectual History

Encyclopedia of American Studies

From Johns Hopkins University - Covers the history, philosophy, arts, and cultures of the United States in relation to the world, from pre-colonial days to the present.

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If you want to learn about an event or person or period

American Contexts

Colonial America 1607-1763

Early Republic 1783-1861

Civil War and Reconstruction 1861-1877

American Renaissance 1861-1877

Gilded Age / Progressive Era 1877-1920's

Modernism 1880s-mid 1900's

Harlem Renaissance 1920's

Great Depression / New Deal 1929-1939

Postwar America 1945-1980

English Contexts

Chaucer 1340's-1400

Global Renaissance 1560's-1690's

Shakespeare 1564-1616

Romanticism 1800-1890

Victorian Era 1837-1901

Modernism and After 1880's-mid-1900's

Author "in Context" sourcebooks can identify key cultural and intellectual influences as well as the social, political, and historical context the author was working in.  These sourcebooks do not usually include primary sources, but they provide references and background information and may mention influential texts. To find author sourcebooks, search the library catalog below using the author's name and "in context".  For example: Emily Dickinson in context

 

 

 

Article Databases:

Essays from writers on a particular time or region:

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