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Sample Uses and Results

Sample Searches
Sample Results: Americana, History Months, Poetry Month
Case Study: APS Online as a Class Assignment

Sample searches

The arts…
Search Author: Poe
Results: Over 30 fiction, poetry, and non-fiction pieces by Poe, including

The Raven; Edgar Allen Poe; Southern Literary Messenger (1834-1845), Richmond; Mar 1845; Vol. 11; pg. 186, 3 pgs

The philosophy of furniture; Edgar A Poe; Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and American Monthly Review (1839-1840), Philadelphia; May 1840; Vol. 6, Iss. 5; pg. 243, 3 pgs

Search Keyword: Poe
Results: Pieces by and about Poe, including

The late Edgar A. Poe; J R T; Southern Literary Messenger; Devoted to Every Department of Literature, and the Fine Arts (1848-1864), Richmond; Nov 1849; Vol. 15, Iss. 11; pg. 694, 4 pgs

Adventure…
Search Keyword: piracy

Art. IV.--The piracy of Captain Kidd; Anonymous; The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (1839-1870), New York; Jan 1846; Vol. 14, Iss. 1; pg. 39, 13 pgs

Daring act of piracy on the coast of Cuba; Anonymous; Army and Navy Chronicle (1835-1842), Washington; Jun 11, 1840; Vol. 10, Iss. 24; pg. 384, 1 pgs

Privateering--and piracy; Anonymous; Niles' Weekly Register (1814-1837), Baltimore; Apr 17, 1819; Vol. 4, Iss. 8; pg. 129, 2 pgs

Search Author: Peary

MOVING ON THE NORTH POLE.--OUTLINES OF MY ARCTIC CAMPAIGN.; By LIEUTENANT ROBERT E. PEARY, U.S.N.; McClure's Magazine (1893-1926), New York; Mar 1899; Vol. VOL.XII., Iss. 0; pg. 417, 10 pgs

War…
Search Keyword: Battle of Trenton

General Washington's account of the battle of Trenton, dated Headquarters, Newtown, December 26, 1776; G Washington; The American Museum; or, Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces & c. Prose and Poetical (1787-1788), Philadelphia; Apr, 1789; Vol. 5; pg. 403, 2 pgs

The Columbian Parnassiad. Addressed to General Washington, in the year 1777, after the battles of Trenton and Princeton; Emelia; The Columbian Magazine (1786-1790), Philadelphia; Jan 1787; Vol. 1, Iss. 5; pg. 245, 1 pgs

Weird Science…
Search Keyword: Phrenology

Phreno-Geology: The Progressive Creation of Man indicated by Natural History, and confirmed by discoveries which connect the organization of the brain with the successive geological periods; Anonymous; Medical Examiner (1854-1856), Philadelphia; Jan 1855; Vol. 18, Iss. 121; pg. 29, 8 pgs Art. XXVII.

Phrenology examined; P Flourens; The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (1827-1924), Philadelphia; Apr 1846, Iss. 22; pg. 437, 1 pgs

An Examination of Phrenology. In two lectures / Letter of John Quincy Adams to Dr. Thomas Sewall; Anonymous; Literary Examiner and Western Monthly Review (1839-1839), Pittsburgh; Aug 1839; Vol. 1, Iss. 4; pg. 289, 12 pgs

Hard Science….
Search Keyword: Earthquake

Art. I.--On earthquakes--their causes and effects; Isaac Lea; American Journal of Science and Arts (1820-1879), New Haven; 1825; Vol. 9, Iss. 2; pg. 209, 7 pgs

Information concerning the earthquakes which have prevailed in the United States since December, 1811; particularly in the States and Territories; Stanley Griswold; The Medical Repository of Original Essays and Intelligence, Relative to Physic, Surgery, Chemistry, and, New York; 1813; Vol. 16, Iss. 3; pg. 304, 6 pgs

Food…
Search Keyword: Rhubarb; Article Type: Recipe

Rhubarb pie; Anonymous; Plough, the Loom and the Anvil (1848-1857), Philadelphia; Jun 1852; Vol. 4, Iss. 12; pg. 762, 1 pgs

Rhubarb Pies; Anonymous; The Farmers Cabinet and American Herd Book, Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural and Domestic Affairs (1836-1848), Philadelphia; Aug 1, 1836; Vol. 1, Iss. 2; pg. 27, 1 pgs

Inventions…
Search Keyword: Airplane

WILBUR WRIGHT'S NEW RECORD.; Scientific American (1845-1908), New York; Dec 26, 1908; Vol. Vol. XCIX, Iss. 0; pg. 468, 1 pgs

Statistics…
Search Keyword: Population Article Type: Statistics

Population of Chicago; Anonymous; The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (1839-1870), New York; Feb 1863; Vol. 48, Iss. 2; pg. 189, 1 pgs

Ratio per cent of population and certain products in the states to the total of the United States; Anonymous; Plough, the Loom and the Anvil (1848-1857), Philadelphia; Dec 1854; Vol. 7, Iss. 6; pg. 327, 1 pgs

Sample Results: Americana

Advice

"The Directory of Love," Royal American Magazine, 1774-1775

"Will Skirts Disappear?," Forum, January 1927
"The Latest & Newest Fashions For 1843," Lady's World, February 1843

Music

"Where's the Snow, the Summer Snow!," Evergreen, December 1840
"Song," by Anna Seward, Journal of Musick, Issue 18, 1810
"Jazz is Not Music; A Reply to George Antheil in the July Forum," Forum, August 1928

Politics

"America in Distress" (cartoon by Paul Revere), Royal American Magazine, March 1775

Popular Culture

The Gibson Girl: "How Charles Dana Gibson Started; with illustrations, heretofore unpublished," Ladies' Home Journal, October 1902
"The Cartoon's Contribution To Children" (by Walt Disney), Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, October 1933
"Mickey vs. Popeye," Forum and Century, November 1935
"Billy the Kid; A Highwayman Whose Life was a Series of Crimes--The Most Noted Outlaw in America," National Police Gazette, August 13, 1881
"Lotteries have become so general, the following account of them may not be uninteresting...," Balance and Columbian Repository, May 29, 1804

Recipes

"Love Apple Catsup," New England Farmer, April 15, 1825
"Thanksgiving Dinner," Ladies' Home Journal, November 1890

Sports

"Plutocratic Incomes of Modern Athletes," Current Opinion, June 1920
"Large Football: The Thanksgiving Day Princeton-Yale Game," National Police Gazette December 14, 1889

Sample Results: Black History Month

• Phillis Wheatley
  "Poetical Essays. The following letter and verses, were written by the famous Phillis Wheatley, the African Poetess, and presented to his excellency Gen. Washington"; The Pennsylvania Magazine or, American Monthly Museum, April 1776
  
  
• Frederick Douglass
  "The folly of our opponents"; The Liberty Bell; Issue 6, 1845
  "Speeches of Henry C. Wright--Frederick Douglass--James N. Buffum--George Thompson; Liberator, May 29, 1846
  
  
• Booker T. Washington
  "How Tuskegee Does Its Work"; Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, September 1901
  
  
• W.E.B. Du Bois
  "THE EVOLUTION OF NEGRO LEADERSHIP"; The Dial; a Semi - monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information July 16, 1901
  
  
• Paul Laurence Dunbar
  "My Sweet Brown Gal"; The Ladies' Home Journal, January 1902
  
  
• Zora Neale Hurston
  "Letter-- No Title"; Forum, September 1926

Sample Results: Poetry Month

• William Cullen Bryant
  "Thanatopsis"; The North American Review and Miscellaneous Journal, September 1817
  
  
• Willa Cather
  "PRAIRIE SPRING"; McClure's Magazine, December 1912
  
  
• Emily Dickinson
  "THE GRASS"; McClure's Magazine, July 1925
  
  
• T.S. Eliot
  THE WASTE LAND; The Dial, November 1922 Its first public appearance.
  
  
• Robert Frost
  "STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING"; Current Opinion, January-June, 1924
  
  
• Edgar Allan Poe
  "TO HELEN"; Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, September 1841
  
  
• Robert Louis Stevenson
  "My Bed Is a Boat; A Child's Garden of Verses"; Current Literature, February 1896
  
  
• Walt Whitman
  "A TWILIGHT SONG; For unknown buried soldiers, North and South"; Century Illustrated Magazine, May 1890
  
  
• William Butler Yeats
  "THOUGHTS UPON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD"; The Dial, September 1921

Sample Results: Women's History Month

• "RETROGRESSION OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN"; FLORA MCDONALD THOMPSON; The North American Review, November 1900

Abstract:
I HAVE not encountered the ghost of my great-grandmother, but something akin to it which has startled me no less. I have been face to face with the American woman of little more than half a century ago, who rose to greet me from the dusty pages of De Tocqueville's "Democracy," and who, by the light of contrast, has caused me to gasp with astonishment, beholding the degeneracy of her end-of-the-century descendant.

• "PROGRESS OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN"; ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.; The North American Review, December 1900

Abstract:
An article, by Flora McDonald Thompson, entitled "Retrogression of the American Woman," which was published in the November number of the REVIEW, contains many startling assertions, which, if true, would be the despair of philosophers. The title itself contradicts the facts of the last half century.

• "THE STATUS OF WOMAN, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE"; SUSAN B. ANTHONY; The Arena, May 1897
  
• "THE HUNGRY HEART"; EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY; Current Opinion, July 1921
  
• "THE GREAT LAWSUIT: MAN versus MEN. WOMAN versus WOMEN". (by Margaret Fuller) ; The Dial: a Magazine for Literature, Philosophy, and Religion, July 1843
  
• "ON FEMALE EDUCATION"; Royal American Magazine, or Universal Repository of Instruction and Amusement, January 1774

"How many female minds, rich with native genius and noble sentiment, have been lost to the world, and all their mental treasure buried in oblivion?-Like the India ship freighted with diamonds, which never reached the port for want of a pilot, is many a fair one's fate."

Case Study: APS Online as a Class Assignment

American Periodicals Series Online and Teaching in the Classroom

Mark Kamrath, University of Central Florida

I teach several courses in early American literature, including a survey in American Literature to 1865 and a class on the Early American Novel. I find that American Periodicals Series Online works particularly well with both.

One of the things I ask students to do in the survey course is to "adopt a magazine" for either the colonial, revolutionary, or early national periods and to draft a short response to the layout and content of a particular issue. In such an exercise, students face a range of periodical material, as they would in our culture, from Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and Historical Chronicle (1741) to Isaiah Thomas's The Royal American Magazine (Boston 1774-1775) and Charles Brockden Brown's American Register, General Repository of History, Politics, and Science (1807-1809). Their choice of magazine can be influenced, in other words, not only by period but also by locale-Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston-and content. Here, I advise them that some periodicals will contain more literary, political, religious and other matter than others and that after browsing through several magazines they'll want to select one based on its relevance to the historical or cultural period of a particular author and his or her works (as read from the Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fourth Edition) and comment on how that particular periodical helps expand their understanding of the cultural context and print culture within which the anthology selection was published.

So, for instance, after reading about the early American sentimental novel and portions of, say, Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton (1797), students will be invited to examine how magazines like The Lady's Magazine; and Repository of Entertaining Knowledge (1792-1793) or The New York Weekly Magazine (1795-1797), a magazine that placed an emphasis on fiction early on, present similar literature such as the sentimental tale, biography, fragments, and so on. The point, in other words, is for the student to compare and contrast the texts and the mediums in which they were published to gain a more accurate and thorough understanding of the print culture of the day and how texts like Rowson's conform to or challenge the status quo. By remarking on the contents of a specific periodical published around the time of a particular anthologized work, students can potentially gain a fuller understanding of the cultural context of a particular work and the literary discourses-sentimental, evangelical, suffragist, etc.-that were in circulation at the time. Student findings can then be discussed near the end of the term or at any other juncture where an instructor seeks to foster an appreciation of how periodical matter intersects with "canonical" material read in the Heath, Norton, and other anthologies today.

Still yet another way to cultivate an understanding of the print culture of a particular period is to have students (usually upper division) work collaboratively in identifying a range of voices concerning specific historical or political issues. As we're reading Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of an American Slave (1845) or Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), for instance, I ask students in my American novel class to use the search function of American Periodicals Series Online to identify writings that pertain to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1851 or the anti-slavery movement and to characterize the range of debate concerning these issues. Students are generally surprised by the number of publications, by the passionate response to Stowe's serialized publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin and by the ways, for instance, racial stereotypes crop up in periodical media of the day alongside, and often in, the discourse of mainstream Calvinist belief and reformist literature. Using American Periodicals Series Online's email function, though, and circulating their research findings or texts (Adobe) among themselves, students readily gain a broader understanding of moral and religious beliefs of the day and how Stowe and her contemporaries positioned themselves alongside the discourses of evangelical Christian belief, domesticity, and the anti-slavery movement. As such, this type of research enables students to more quickly grasp the emergence and significance of print culture during particular periods of history and to reflect on the role and function of periodical publications in today's culture and on the production of contemporary literature.

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