Twentieth Century Media (Film, Radio, and Television)

Selected Reference Materials

Blanchard, Margaret A., ed. History of the Mass Media in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998.
Reference 302.230973 B639h

Buxton, Frank. The Big Broadcast, 1920-1950, rev. New York: Avon, 1973.
Reference 791.4 B991b

Cassata, Mary, and Thomas Skill. Television, a Guide to the Literature. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1985.
Reference 016.79145 C343t

Dunning, John. Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1976.
Reference 791.4 D924t

Greenfield, Thomas Allen. Radio: A Reference Guide. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
Reference 016.38454 G812r

Hollis, Daniel Webster. The ABC-CLIO Companion to the Media in America. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Reference 302.230973 H742a

Hudson, Robert V. Mass Media: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Television, Radio, Motion Pictures, Magazines, Newspapers, and Books in the United States. New York: Garland Pub., 1987.
Reference 302.20973 H886m

International Encyclopedia of Communications. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Reference 302.2303 I61e v.1-4

Johnston, Donald H., ed. Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications. San Diego, CA: Academic, 2003.
Reference 302.2303 E56o v.1-4

McNeil, Alex. Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the present, 4th ed. New York: Penguin, 1996.
Reference 791.4575 M167t

Newcomb, Horace, ed. Encyclopedia of Television. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004.
Reference 384.5503 E56o

Rose, Cynthia, ed. American Decades Primary Sources. Detroit, Gale, 2004.
Reference 973.92 A512dp v.1-10

Schement, Jorge Reina, ed. Encyclopedia of Communication and Information. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002.
Reference 302.203 E56o v.1-3

Terrace, Vincent. The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1979, 2nd ed., rev. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes, 1979.
Reference 791.45 T323c v.1-2

Terrace, Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of Over 1800 Shows. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999.
Reference 791.4475 T323r

Tompkins, Vincent, ed. American Decades. Detroit: Gale, 1994-2001.
Reference 973.92 A512d v.1-10

Watson, James and Anne Hill. A Dictionary of Communication and Media Studies, 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.
Reference 302.2 W339d, 1997

Finding Articles

SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES

• See a list of all Social Sciences databases at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/articles/databases/social_sciences.html.
  
  Get to this list, and more: Library Homepage    Finding Articles    Periodical Databases & Indexes    Social Sciences / Alphabetical List.
• Need help with your keywords and search strategy? Try the Keyword Searching (Combining Concepts) worksheet.  [ PDF | Word ] 

Subject-Specific

Communication and Mass Media Complete
The most comprehensive database in Communication Studies. Indexing and abstracting for hundreds of journals. Article full-text is available for many of those titles.

America: History and Life
The primary database for locating articles on United States and Canadian history (from prehistory to the present).

Interdisciplinary

Academic Search Premier
Large and diverse database that covers most academic disciplines, including Media and Communication Studies. Contains both scholarly and non-academic resources. Includes many articles in full text.

OmniFile (WilsonWeb)
A full text "mega" database comprised of various smaller databases from separate academic disciplines. Its general scope includes general sciences, humanities, The Reader's Guide, social sciences, and business.

---

GETTING THE ARTICLES

1. When searching for articles, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.


2. If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.
   • Some databases have a Search Trexler Library for this title link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.
   • Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title. Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.


3. If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.
   • Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.
   • Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage    Finding Articles    Getting a Copy of an Article). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.

 

Finding Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

GETTING THERE:      Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or
                                      Library Homepage    Finding Books    Our Catalog

• For tips on searching the catalog, use the Help link above the search boxes. (Or click here.)


• Need help with your keywords and search strategy? Try the Keyword Searching (Combining Concepts) worksheet.  [ PDF | Word ] 

OTHER LIBRARIES

• WorldCat. To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

  GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    WorldCat

• E-ZBorrow. For quick delivery of books from many Pennsylvania and area academic libraries (including University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, University of Pittsburgh, and many more), use E-ZBorrow. (E-ZBorrow takes 2-4 business days.)

  GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    E-ZBorrow

TIP: Check the E-ZBorrow catalog for any books you find in WorldCat. If not available there, then request via ILL.

• LVAIC. You can borrow books directly from LVAIC (Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges) Libraries.

  GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    Other Libraries

For more information on Interlibrary Loan options, see http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/more/ill/index.html or ask for help.

GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    Borrowing from Other Libraries

Finding Primary Sources

What is a primary source? See http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/primarydocs/primary_documents.html for some help. (Library Homepage   Research Help   Research Basics)

...News and Popular Resources

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Use the New York Times website archive to search for articles from 1851-1980. Once you have the information about the articles you want (title, author, date, section, page numbers), use our microfilm collection (in the AV Alcove, Level A) to access the text. Do not pay for the articles online.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
Print index -- 1990-1997 (available in Indexes area of Reference Section)
Online (via OmniFile) -- Indexing 1983 to present, Abstracts 1984 to present, Full-text 1994 to present.

...via Websites (for broadcasts, photographs, advertisements, oral histories, etc.)

Ad*Access (Duke University)
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
"[P]resents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II."

American Memory (Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
"[P]rovides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning."

Changing Times: Los Angeles in Photographs, 1920-1990 (UCLA Library)
http://unitproj1.library.ucla.edu/dlib/lat/

History on the Web (University of Washington)
http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/history/tm/

In the First Person (Alexander Street Press)
http://www.inthefirstperson.com/firp/index.aspx
"[I]n-depth index of more than 3,350 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world. [...] The index contains approximately 20,500 months of diary entries, 63,000 letter entries, and 17,000 oral history entries."

NYPL Digital (New York Public Library)
http://www.nypl.org/digital/index.htm
"Find over 480,000 images from primary sources and printed rarities including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs, illustrated books, and printed ephemera."

Online Archive of California (California Digital Library)
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
"Primary sources include letters, diaries, manuscripts, legal and financial records, photographs and other pictorial items, maps, architectural and engineering records, artwork, scientific logbooks, electronic records, sound recordings, oral histories artifacts and ephemera."

Oral History Centers and Collections (H-Net)
http://www.h-net.org/~oralhist/centers.html

Oral History Research Office (Columbia University)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/oral/offsite.html

RadioGOLDINdex: The Definitive Database of Old Time Radio Programs (J. David Goldin)
http://www.radiogoldindex.com/
Note: This is an index to programs. It does not provide the actual audio of shows.

Using Primary Sources on the Web (Reference and User Services Association--History Section, American Library Association)
http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/rusa/

AP MultiMedia Archive
http://www.powerlibrary.net/Remote/Remote.asp?ID=Allentown
"Over two million photographs dating back to 1826, more than one million audio sound bytes dating from the 1920’s, two million Associated Press news stories from 1997, and a professionally produced collection of more than 45,000 maps, graphs, charts, logos, flags, illustrations, etc. are included."

Note: This resource is available through the online POWER (Pennsylvania Online World of Electronic Resources) library. To access this you must have a Pennsylvania public library card. The above link takes you to the login screen for Allentown Public Library cardholders. If you have a public library card from another system, log on through your library's website (http://www.publiclibraries.com/pennsylvania.htm). If you do not have a Pennsylvania public library card and would like one, contact the Allentown Public Library (http://www.allentownpl.org/). Muhlenberg students from outside Pennsylvania are still eligible for public library cards.

...with Library Catalogs

All items in our library catalog are assigned Library of Congress Subject Headings. These are terms that describe the content of documents. Subject headings are divided into elements, or subdivisions. The subdivisions modify the main headings, describing a narrower topic within a subject category or even describing the type of document. A number of these subdivisions, then, identify documents as "primary sources." By adding these terms to your search in the library catalog, you can pull up relevant items Trexler Library has.

See the Using Franklin to Find Primary Resources guide (http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/hist/franklinprimary.html) from the University of Pennsylvania Library for a listing of potentially relevant subdivisions.
Note: Do NOT follow the search tips in the guide. They are specific to the University of Pennsylvania Library catalog and will not help you search the Trexler Library catalog. The guide will only provide a list of the subdivisions.

To search Trexler Library's holdings, go to the Advanced Search screen of the Library Catalog (Library Homepage  Finding Books  Our Catalog  Display More Searches  Advanced Search).

• In the first search box, enter keyword(s) describing your topic. Leave the drop-down menu at Any Field.
• In the second search box, enter one of the subject heading subdivisions terms (e.g., interviews). Select Subject from the drop-down menu.
• Click Search.

To search for these kinds of items in other libraries, use WorldCat (Library Homepage   Finding Books   WorldCat). To search WorldCat, follow the search tips above. You may be able to request materials via Interlibrary Loan or E-ZBorrow (Library Homepage   Finding Books   E-ZBorrow).

Citing Your Sources

For help using APA Style, consult the following resources:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 p976m 2001 (at Reference Desk)

Concise Rules of APA Style.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2005.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 C744r (at Reference Desk)

Trexler Library handout on using APA style: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/apa_example.pdf

Writer's Handbook (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html

Try NoodleBib Express for a quick tutorial on APA Style: http://www.noodletools.com/login.php.

© Muhlenberg College
Last modified: 28 September 2006
URL: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/libinst/communication/20thcenturymedia.html