Home - ENGL 101 - Archuleta - American Realism - Research Guides at Modesto Junior College Library

Start with Background Reading

Use the Gale eBooks database (link is below) to find short overview articles on topics related to your research.

Some recommended search terms:

Gilded Age (choose articles about the era, not the novel by Mark Twain)
American Realism
Jack London (or try the name of a different writer you are studying)
Industrialization
Women's rights
Labor Movement
Civil Rights Acts
Social Darwinism

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.

Daily Life in the Gilded Age
A selection of background articles from the History Research Center database.

Recommended Films for Background Research

Social Realism—American Passages: A Literary Survey
Presents the authors of the American Gilded Age and juxtaposes them with social realists. These writers expose the double world that made up turn–of–the–century New York: that of the elite and that of the poorest of the poor.
The Gilded Age
Explores many facets of the Gilded Age, including industrialization and the growth of big business, the urbanization of America, the grueling working conditions many endured, and the influence of Victorian culture on American society.

Broadening Your Ideas

Try thinking about your readings in terms of how they fit into broader social movements in the United States. The sources below will give you some ideas:

US Women's Suffrage Timeline 1648 to 2016
From the National Park Service
The Women's Rights Movement
From the American Social Reform Movements Reference Library.
The Labor Movement
Time line from History.com
The Labor Movement
From American Social Reform Movements Reference Library
The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
Timeline from the Library of Congress that goes back to 1640.
The Civil Rights Movement
From American Social Reform Movements Reference Library, this article discusses the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875
Social Darwinism in the Gilded Age
Overview article from the Khan Academy

Recommended Databases for Further Research

History Research Center This link opens in a new window
History Research Center is a family of five history databases that you can search simultaneously. These include: American History, African-American History, American Indian History, Ancient and Medieval History, and Modern World History. These databases include a wide variety of research sources including, in-depth overview essays, biographies, journal articles, images, primary sources, maps, videos, and more.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Journal articles and books. Search for specific terms such as: gilded age gender
African American Experience This link opens in a new window
Use the TIme Periods box on the left of the database's homepage to select articles about African Americans during the time period you are studying.
Issues & Controversies in History This link opens in a new window
For best results, use the Subject index and/or the Era index to browse in-depth articles on your topic.

Recommended Library eBooks

The Gilded Age by Judith Freeman Clark
Publication Date: 2006
The Progressive Era by Faith Taycop
Publication Date: 2005
Playing the Races: Ethnic Caricature and American Literary Realism by Henry B. Wonham
Publication Date: 2004
We Shall Overcome: A History of Civil Rights and the Law by Alexander Tsesis
Publication Date: 2009
See Chapter 8 for a discussion of Civil Rights in the Progressive Era
American Women's Rights Movement: A Chronology of Events and Opportunities from 1600-2008 by Paul D. Buchanan
Publication Date: 2012
The World the Civil War Made by Edited by Gregory P. Downs and Kate Masur
Publication Date: 2015
Essays that consider issues of human rights 1865-1900
Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History, Vol. 4: From the Gilded Age through the Age of Reform, 1878 to 1920
Publication Date: 2010

Specialized Journals

American Literary Realism
This journal contains critical essays on American literature from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Stella Beratlis, Reference Librarian

Stella Beratlis

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