Primary Research Takes a Lot of Time
Please remember to allow a lot of time -- way more than you think you'll need -- to do primary research, especially research involving working in the Archives.
It just plain takes TIME!
Search Tip
Put "double quotes" around the title of the play you're researching. The quotes tell the database to keep those words together. This works in almost every database.
Ex. "uncle tom's cabin"
Don't worry about capitalization!
Primary Sources
Primary Sources for getting close to your topic
These databases are linked from the Ball State University Libraries' Databases page.
- American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window The American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection database provides full text access to thousands of historical periodical publications. This database, which is made up of 50 collections, contains scans of each page of all publications, including illustrations. The results list takes you to the article level and allows you to browse the entire issue of the publication.
- America's Historical Newspapers-Indiana State Collection and African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window Cross search or browse the content of nearly 300 Indiana and U.S. historical newspapers. You will find articles, eyewitness reporting, editorials, letters, advertisements, obituaries, and more.
- Hoosier State ChroniclesHoosier State Chronicles provides access to more than 260 digitized Indiana newspaper titles and is operated by the Indiana State Library in partnership with the Indiana Historical Society. The database contains high quality images of many of Indiana's historical newspapers with issues as early as 1804.
- New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Search the complete text of the New York Times from 1851 to 3 years prior to the current year. Includes PDF images of original articles with photographs and drawings, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.Note: An additional year of content is added annually.
- Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 This link opens in a new window The Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 provides indexing to many popular publications of the 20th century, containing all of the content of the original paper volumes.
Tracking Productions
- Internet Broadway DatabaseThe official database for Broadway theatre information, providing records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre. Details include pertinent people as well as interesting facts and production statistics
The London Stage: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel [1900 - 1959] by Call Number: General Collection PN2596.L6 W384 1984ISBN: 0810817152Publication Date: variousThese highly praised day-by-day calendars of plays produced at the major London theaters cover major west-end theaters, thus dealing with all the big productions and names, revivals of the classics, and opera and ballet productions. The authors lists each production in chronological arrangement of playbills. With full production and contemporary review information for each play and comprehensive indexes.
Reprints of reviews
These are in the Oversize section, on the 4th floor west of Bracken Library.
New York Times Theater ReviewsCall Number: General Collection Oversize PN2266 .N48Publication Date: 1885 - 2000- New York Theatre Critics' ReviewsCall Number: General Collection Oversize PN2000 .N76Publication Date: 1943 - 1995 (a couple vols missing)
