Reference Help Available Today:
This web site is a starting point for researching plays, playwrights, and other theater topics at the Dulaney-Browne Library. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide. However, the site is intended to help students understand the various theater sources available and how to begin research. All print sources can be found at the Dulaney-Browne Library unless otherwise stated. The information presented here is intended for college students, who are new to library research or new to the theater subject matter.
Monographs (books) can be located using the Library Catalog. Following are some examples of subject headings for researching theater topics:
FRANCE-HISTORY
Additional subject terms can be found in the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS.
When searching for people, it is a good idea to do both an author and subject search on their name. The catalog will react better for you if you reverse the name when you search as you see here below
You may need your OCU email username and password to access electronic resources.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias are a good place to start your research because they can give you a broad overview of the subject as well as terminology to use in subject searches. All items listed in this section are a part of the library’s reference collection and are LIBRARY USE ONLY.
Simply ScriptsONLINE HISTORICAL MAPS
Shakespeare Quartos Archive--want to see the original publications of the master's works, be able to turn the pages as if you were reading it when the very first publication came out? Use this cool resource!
A Compendium of Common Knowledge 1558-1603(Hosted at Renaissance, The Elizabethan World, this a very attractive and informative on-line book by Maggie Pierce Secara on "Elizabethan Commonplaces for Writers, Actors, and Re-enactors." This fifth edition is a very thorough source for information on everyday life in Elizabethan times, drawn both from formal research and the author's experiences at Renaissance Faires. The web designer, Paula Katherine Marmor, has crafted a very elegant presentation. The book can also be downloaded for printing in Word 6.0 and Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The main site also has other good resources.The Complete Works of William ShakespeareHTML versions of the plays.Internet Shakespeare EditionsAccording to the editors, the purpose of this site is "to make scholarly, fully annotated texts of Shakespeare's plays available" on the internet. This includes Quartos and Folios, old-spelling editions of selected plays, and a refereed introduction to Shakespeare's life and times.
Ren Faire: Elizabethan AccentsA very interesting page that is part of a site devoted to Renaissance Faires. It includes sections on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, forms of address, insults and cursing, all aimed toward the improvisational use of Elizabethan English. A particularly interesting feature is a collection of sound files with Elizabethan pronunciations of some words.
Shakespeare Authorship"Dedicated to the Proposition that Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare," this site is devoted to a critical examination of Oxfordian claims on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. It also includes numerous links to other sites related both to the controversy and to Shakespeare in general.
World Shakespeare Bibliography The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online is a searchable electronic database consisting of the most comprehensive record of Shakespeare-related scholarship and theatrical productions published or produced worldwide between 1960 and 2015. Containing over 142,500 annotated entries, this collected information is an essential tool for anyone engaged in research on Shakespeare or early modern England.
The library owns a large library of dialect instruction called Acting with an accent dialect instruction by David Alan Stern. They are on permanent reserve behind the circulation desk at Dulaney-Browne Library. Ask for the call number 792.028 St45a 2003 and tell
