Key Issues & Keywords

The assignment from Dr. Logan:

Using your reading so far, course notes, and other materials as appropriate, list key issues raised by your selected text that are relevant to the study of representations of unruly women in early American literature. These issues could include genre, sub-genre (i.e. novel, short story, memoir; gothic, seduction tale, biography, etc.), subject matter (character, education, religion, crime, history, curiosity, etc.), and apparent readership.

Make a list of “keywords” for MLA and other database searches.  Make your list as specific as possible, noting page numbers and specific language, metaphors, patterns, etc. (It might be helpful to consult the National Union Catalog Subject Heading list at the UCF Library reference desk.)

[Submitted 19 September 2010] 

This is the list of issues, in alphabetical order, that I came up with prior to searching through the Library of Congress Subject Headings book (the red books behind the reference desk at the UCF Library).

1. Commonplace book studies
2. Delaware Valley, PA (during American Revolutionary War)
3. Female homosocial
4. Female literacy pre-Revolution through post-Revolution
5. Feminist theory
6. Friendship
7. Lesbian continuum
8. Manuscript studies
9. Quaker definitions of partner, soul, bosom friend
10. Quakers
11. Queer theory
12. Reading habits of the eighteenth–century American woman
13. Trans-Atlantic communication, pre-Revolution, Revolution, post-Revolution
14. Use of poetry by Quakers, especially women

While this list isn’t too shabby, it could be better.  I decided to search through the Library of Congress Subject Headings, because after all, these are the headings used by all the database search engines.  You can search through the subject headings online here, but I prefer to look through the book in person, especially since experience has taught me I’ll find so much more than expected if I do so.

These are what the "red books" look like, by the way:

 

First, the Library of Congress legend:

• UF: Used For
• BT: Broader Term
• RT: Related Term
• SA: See Also
• NT: Narrower Term

I’ve included some of the UF terms, simply to remind myself, don’t use these terms because they’ve been updated or reformatted.  The best subjecting heading, of course, is one that falls under the NT because it will lead to very specific results.  I am going to list all the terms I found that are applicable to my research project, though I probably won’t use all of them.  Sometimes browsing through the subject headings made me think of themes from my text, MMMB, that I had neglected in my first list (example: satire, religion, and the Bible).  

1. Literature: 
1. UF: belles-lettres
2. NT: 
1. Bible and literature
2. Feminism and literature
3. Letters
4. Prose literature
5. Poetry
6. Religion and literature
7. Satire
8. Women and literature
2. Literacy 
3. Literacy in literature
4. Literary form
1. UF: Genre, literary
5. Literature—18th century
6. Homosexuality and literature
7. Literature and revolutions
1. UF: Revolutions and literature
2. BT: Revolutions
3. NT: Revolutionary literature
8. Manuscripts, American
1. UF: American manuscripts
9. Manuscripts in literature
10. Gay and Lesbian studies
11. Lesbian culture
1. BT: Gay culture
12. Lesbian feminism
1. BT: Feminism
2. NT: Lesbian Feminist theory
13. Lesbian Feminist theory
14. Lesbian heroes: (works on lesbians who have performed courageous acts or are admired for bravery, great deeds, or noble qualities.  Works on principal female characters of literary works who are lesbians are entered under Lesbian heroines in literature)
15. Lesbian heroines in literature
16. Lesbian
1. UF: Female homosexuality
17. Lesbianism in literature
18. Lesbians’ writings, American
19. Continuum: use continuity
20. Continuity in literature
21. Female friendship
1. UF: 
1. Friendship between women
2. Friendship in women
3. women’s friendship
2. BT: Friendship
22. Female friendship in literature
23. Women—Identity
24. Women’s studies
25. Females in literature
26. Femininity in literature
27. Femininity in popular culture
28. Feminism
1. NT: Feminist theory
29. Feminism and literature
1. NT: Feminist literary criticism
30. Feminism in literature
31. Feminist fiction, American
32. Feminist poetry,  American
33. Friendship—Religious aspects
34. Friendship in literature
35. Delaware River Valley (N.Y. – Del. And N.J.)
1. UF: Delaware Valley
2. —History
3. — —Revolution, 1775-1783
36. Quaker—Pennsylvania
37. American poetry—Quaker authors
38. Quaker women
39. Quakers
1. RT: Society of Friends
40. Quakers in literature
41. Queer theory
1. RT: Gender identity

As you can see, I went from a list of 14 issues to 41+ authorized subject headings that will, hopefully, yield better search results.  I should mention that lesbian continuum, female homosocial, homosocial, and commonplace book were not located in the subject heading books, but I feel confident that I’ll be able to track down these key areas of study for my project through other avenues, or through the broader subject headings (such as Queer theory and Feminist literary criticism).  The subject heading for “Female offenders in literature” made me laugh out loud because it made me think of our course title, Unruly Women in Early American Literature.  

I first checked under commonplace book, which would seem logical, but it was missing.  So then I thought to check under book, but alas, it was still not listed.  Pictorial proof included (pardon the blurriness, I used my iPhone).

I plan on extracting sources from the works cited and footnotes of books and articles I already have in my possession (Shields, Stabile, Rich, Smith-Rosenberg, etc.).  I should note that I also searched through the two booklets from the Library of Congress that include additional vocabulary, and found they’ve added —Blog as a secondary heading.  It should be interesting to see if anything pops up using this heading, especially for newer theories such as Queer and Feminist.  I’ll also be using the secondary heading of —Bibliography to find additional sources for my preliminary bibliography.  Now that I’m armed with the appropriate keywords, I’m off to find sources for my research project.      

 

Call numbers for the Library of Congress Subject Headings books:

• Volume 1: A-C, Volume 2: D-H, Volume 3: I-M, Volume 4: N-R, and Volume 5: S-Z: Z695.Z8 L524.

• Free-floating subdivisions: an alphabetical index (2010).  LC 30.2.F.87/

• Library of Congress Subject Headings: supplementary vocabulary (2009)