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Renaissance Studies

ONLINE LIBRARY CATALOGS

Five College Catalog
Find books, journals, and media collections held by UMass Libraries and the Five Colleges.

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
The combined catalogs of most U.S. libraries.
Content is freely available for use by all.

OTHER RESOURCES

UMass Interlibrary Loan
Borrow books from libraries outside of the Five Colleges or request copies of articles and materials from any library.
Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies

SELECTED INTERNET RESOURCES

Biography Online of Famous Renaissance Men
A general description of famous men who greatly influenced this time period.
British History Online
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks
A search engine of every playbook produced in England, Scotland, and Ireland from the beginning of printing through 1660.
Digital Scriptorium
An image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources from many institutions.
Early Modern Resources
Links to freely available online resources about the early modern period (1500-1800).
Edmund Spenser Home Page
A set of pages is devoted to the reading, study, and discussion of the words of Edmund Spenser.
English Renaissance in Context
Provides access to original versions of texts of the English Renaissance. Also includes tutorials to best understand the text.
English Renaissance Timeline
An overview of some historical and cultural dates from the English Renaissance with links to resources.
Euro Docs: Britain 1486-1688
Folger Shakespeare Library
Houses a vast collection of material related to the early modern age in the West as well as material related to Shakespeare.
Internet Shakespeare Editions
Access to the complete plays and poems of William Shakespeare, in both folio and quarto editions. Users can also search for a specific word or phrase in all texts.
Khan Academy
Renaissance & Reformation Guide to learn more about this influential time period.
Luminarium: Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature
Medici Archive Project
Archive for the Medici Family that includes Renaissance materials.
Met Museum Renaissance & Reformation Timeline
Influential artists and artworks are provided in this site for public browsing and information.
Open Source Shakespeare
Access to the complete works of Shakespeare with both text and concordance searching.
Private Libraries in Renaissance England
Records of nearly 13,000 books drawn from book-lists compiled in England between 1507 and 1653, itemizing the collections of 196 owners.
Project Gutenberg
Full text of works by Renaissance writers (among many, many others!)
Renascence Editions
A repository of works in English printed between 1477 and 1799.
The Shakespeare Quarto Archive
A digital repository of pre-1642 editions of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Users can download and view the books on-screen, compare titles, and annotate. Several libraries have contributed to the project.
Tudor History
History of the Tudor family of England, divided by subject.
Voice of the Shuttle: Renaissance & 17th Century
This Pathfinder provides links to deeply delve into the Renaissance.

WELCOME!

Welcome to the Renaissance Studies research guide. Here you will find compiled some resources that should be of aid to you in your studies. The databases and reference sources often require your UMass user information but are accessible on and off campus. The web resources are freely available without your user information. Take a look around, click away, and enjoy!

Queen Elizabeth I - Coronation Portrait

LIBRARY DATABASES

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
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Scholarly journals from all academic disciplines - an excellent starting point for multidisciplinary research projects. 3,200 full-text journals. Coverage from 1975 to present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
ATLA Religion Database This link opens in a new window
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Covers journal articles, essays and book reviews that make up the research literature of all major religious faiths and denominations, 1949-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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Arts and humanities journal literature from 1975 to present. Searches by author, topic, cited reference and more.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Bibliography of the History of Art This link opens in a new window
Index to articles, books, conference proceedings, dissertations, and exhibition and dealer's catalogs on European and American art and art history from 1975-2007.
Content is freely available for use by all.
Dissertations and Theses This link opens in a new window
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US and Canadian dissertations and theses from 1861 to present. Mostly full-text 1997 to present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Historical Abstracts Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Journal articles, many in full text, and citations to books and dissertations on world history from 1450, published 1954-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Articles in journals covering theater, dance, film, and puppetry, 1864-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Citations to journal articles, books and book chapters in all European languages, on medieval studies. Citations 1967-present on the historical period 400-1500.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Core scholarly journals from a range of disciplines, dating from the earliest issue of each journal to a few years before present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Literature Online Complete Collection This link opens in a new window
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350,000 literary works in English: British and American poetry, drama and prose, plus some journals and literature reference sources.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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An index to journal articles and other scholarly literature on literature, literary theory and criticism, linguistics, folklore, and (since 1996) film, 1920s -
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window
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Citations and abstracts for philosophy journal articles and books published in Western languages, 1940-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window
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References to music journal articles and other scholarly literature, 1967-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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Provides indexing and citation tracking for journals in all the social sciences, 1900-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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Index to articles from peer-reviewed journals in all disciplines.Search by cited reference, topic, author, and more. Arts and Humanities covers 1975-present; Social Sciences 1900-present; and Science 1900-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
World Shakespeare Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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References to Shakespeare books, articles, dissertations, theatrical productions, audiovisual materials, and media, 1960-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

ONLINE REFERENCE SOURCES

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
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The 125,000 earliest books published in English, as listed in Short Title Catalogs of Pollard & Redgrave (Ref Z 2002 P77) and Wing (Ref Z 2002 U587), 1475-1700.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Encyclopaedia Britannica's Guide to Shakespeare
English Short Title Catalogue
Gallica
French National Library's digital library (most pre-1900)
Google Book Search

Lexicons of Early Modern English This link opens in a new window
A collection of dictionaries and other word lists printed in English before 1700. Useful for etymologies.
Content is freely available for use by all.
Library of Latin Texts This link opens in a new window
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Digital version of the majority of extant Latin texts, searchable by author, word(s) in text, period, and more. Earliest from 200 B.C.E.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
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Biographies and substantial excerpts from critical responses over time, on the works of a huge number of authors from classical time to the present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
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A large collection of literature reference material, including criticism and author biographies.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
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The best scholarly dictionary for all aspects of fine and applied arts, including design and architecture. Current.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
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United Kingdom's national biographical dictionary, containing 50,000 biographies from earliest times to the present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Definitive encyclopedia of music and musicians, musical compositions, instruments, and composer work lists.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Women Writers Project This link opens in a new window
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Literary works by women writers, 1600-1800.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

PRINT RESOURCES

Bibliographie internationale d'humanisme et renaissance Z7128.H9B5

ISIS Cumulative Bibliographies Z7405.H6I8 (v. 1-3); Z7405.H6I8 Suppl. (v. 1-2); Z7405.H6I2 Suppl.2 (v. 1-2)

Treasured possessions : from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment / edited by Victoria Avery, Melissa Calaresu, Mary Laven. UM Du Bois Library / UM W.E.B. Du Bois / N1217 .T74 2015

Grief and women writers in the English renaissance / Elizabeth Hodgson, University of British Columbia. UM Du Bois Library / UM W.E.B. Du Bois / PR113 .H59 2014

REVISION HISTORY

Revised summer 2012 by Rachel Baum.

Revised fall 2012 by Chelsea Delnero.

Revised Fall 2015 by Natane Halasz and Zoe Keenan.