This web page was compiled to accompany a library research workshop for Theater Studies 375- Topics in Drama and Performance: Henrik Ibsen and Theories of modern drama (Krasner).

Sarah Prown
Librarian for Film Studies and Theater Studies,
Research Services & Collections, Sterling Memorial Library
September 7, 1998

Table of Contents:

1. The Research Workstation and Subject Guides
2. Locating Secondary Sources (catalogs, bibliographies, indexes and other reference sources)
3. Locating Plays and Primary Source Material
4. People and Places to know about in the Yale Library
5. Web sites about Ibsen

Yale University Library Research Workstation

The Yale University Library Research Workstation is the primary gateway to all of the Library's electronic resources, as well as information about the rich print and manuscript collections. Connect to Orbis (Yale's online catalog), as well as many databases, subject guides and online library services.

Yale University Library Subject Guides

Use these guides, created by Yale Library Subject Specialists, to learn about collections, research tools, and internet sites useful for academic research.  For research  on Ibsen and related theories of modern drama, the following guides will be particularly useful:

• Theater Studies
• Scandinavian Studies Web Site
• Literature Subject Guides

2. Locating Secondary Sources (catalogs, bibliographies, indexes, and other reference sources)

Catalogs

• Orbis/Yale Library Catalogs
  Together, Orbis, Morris (the Law Library catalog) and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) catalog constitute the Yale University Library online catalog.
  Use these catalogs to determine what materials (books, journals, archival collections, etc.) are held by Yale, and where these items are located.
  • Materials published prior to 1977 that do not appear in Orbis (OPAC) can be located using the "union" card catalog in Sterling Memorial Library. More than half of the Library collection is represented ONLY in the card catalog.
  • There are also numerous Special Library Catalogs that provide unique access to the Yale Library collections. For example, Government Documents and Maps are NOT represented in Orbis or the SML card catalog.
  • The Law Library maintains a separate online catalog called Morris.
  • Additional materials purchased cooperatively are available through Interlibrary Loan from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).

• Eureka
  EUREKA offers easy-to-use online access to the Research Libraries Group's RLIN bibliographic database of more than 22 million titles. Use EUREKA to uncover a wealth of resources in almost any area of study, or to locate items in specific libraries and research collections. EUREKA provides catalog records for books, journals, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you. Use Eureka to locate materials outside of Yale.

• Libraries, Archives and Special Collections in Theater
  This list includes connections to Yale Library online catalogs, information about card catalogs, connections to library catalogs from around the world, and guides to important Theater and Drama archives and libraries.
  • New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
  • New York Public Library. The Research Libraries. Catalog of the Theatre and Drama Collections. (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1967-1796). 51 volumes.
    SML, Reference. Z6935 +N48 (LC)
    This is the most comprehensive printed catalog of theater and drama collections.  The catalog is divided into three sections: Author Listing; Listing by Cultural Origin (useful for finding works by Ibsen's contemporaries); and Books on the Theater (or subject listing).  
    

Bibliographies
In the course of your research, keep an eye out for Bibliographies. They are a terrific asset to research, because they provide a survey of what has been written already on a given subject.

• How to find bibliographies:
  •  In Orbis, search: K=[subject] and bibliography:
    k=norway and theater and bibliography or ibsen henrik and bibliography
  • Notice the Library of Congress Subject Heading used in the Orbis record:
    s=ibsen henrik 1828-1906--bibliography
  • Search the Subject heading in Eureka

• The International Ibsen Bibliography (Oslo: Centre for Ibsen Studies)
  Henrik Ibsen's writings in Norwegian and in translation printed both as independent editions and included in other publications. Rewritings and parodies of Ibsen's works. Documents on Ibsen's life and writings: books (biographies, doctoral dissertations, anthologies, etc.), chapters in books and entries in encyclopedias etc., periodical and newspaper articles and conference reports, theses, and theater programs. The bibliography includes references to video films and audio recordings as well as to printed documents.  The goal is to include all available literature about Henrik Ibsen and his works.

• Meyen, Fritz. Ibsen-Bibliographie.  Braunschweig : G. Westermann, 1928.   40 p. ; 26 cm. (Nordische Bibliographie. Hrsg. von dem Nordischen institut  der Universit_at Greifswald : Reihe 1, Norwegen ; Heft 1)
  SML, Stacks, Yale Classification. X705 G82n I,l

• Pettersen, Hjalmar Marius.  Henrik Ibsen [Bibliographia Ibseniana] ([Oslo] :Eget forlag ,[1928])
  SML, Stacks, LC Class.  Z8431 P47 (LC)

• Tedford, Ingrid.   Ibsen Bibliography 1928-1957. (Oslo, University Press [1961])
  SML, Stacks, LC Class. Z8431 T43 (LC)
  Part of the series Norsk Bibliografisk Bibliotek, bd. 20, this bibliography continues Hjalmar Petterson's bibliography: Henrik Ibsen .

Periodical and Newspaper Indexes
Use these indexes to locate scholarly and critical articles, performance reviews, dissertations, and other published information.

• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Philadelphia: Institute for Scientific Information, 1975- .)
  An international interdisciplinary index to the literature of the arts and humanities, indexing the contents of about 6,100 journals, covering about 1,000 fully and about 5,100 selectively. Those selectively covered are titles in the sciences and social sciences indexed by Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index, from which articles of possible interest in the arts and humanities are drawn. The database covers 1978 to the present, and the print volumes go back to 1975.
  Published in three parts: Citation Index (through which you can find what later articles have cited earlier books or articles); Source Index (an author index); and Permuterm Subject Index (which offers keyword access to the titles of articles)

• Dramatic Index, 1909-1949. (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1909-1949)
  SML, Stacks, LC Class. AI3 M343 (LC)
  Beginning with 1909 each volume is in two parts, each part having separate title page and paging: Pt. I. Annual magazine subject-index, a subject index to selected list of American and English periodical and society publications. Pt. II. The Dramatic index covering articles and illustrations concerning the stage ... in the periodicals of America and England, to which is added a record of books on the drama   and of texts of plays. The Dramatic index for 1912-16, 1919-49 accompanied by an   appendix: The Dramatic books and plays in English (title varies slightly). This bibliography was incorporated into the main list in 1917-18. The Dramatic index contains the cumulation of the dramatic   index published in the quarterly numbers of the Bulletin of bibliography.

• Humanities Abstracts(H.W. Wilson, 1920- )
  SML, Reference, Index Case. AI1 S63 (LC)
  Humanities Abstracts, produced by The H. W. Wilson Company, is a bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles from 400 English-language periodicals in the fields of archaeology and classical studies, art, dance, drama, and film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism and communications, language and literature, literary and political criticism, music and performing arts, philosophy, and religion and theology. Periodical coverage includes some of the best-known scholarly journals and numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines.
  Continues: Humanities Index: 1974-present; Social Sciences and Humanities Index: 1965-1974; International Index: 1955-1965; and International Index to Periodicals: 1920-1955

• International Bibliography of Theatre. ([Brooklyn, N.Y.] : Theatre Research Data Center, Brooklyn College, City University of New York ; New York, NY: 1986- .)
  SML, Reference. Z6935 +I53 (LC)
  Annual bibliography and index that covers "any aspect of theatre significant to research."  This subject-classified bibliography includes books, articles, dissertations, essays, etc. published in any language from 1982 to the present on all aspects of theater, performance and dance.  Volumes are indexed by author, subject and country.

• MLA Bibliography (New York: Modern Language Association of American, 1921- )
  SML, Reference, Index Case. Z7006 M63 (LC)
  The MLA Bibliography indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.The database (online and CD-ROM) provides access to citations from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide, as well as books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. The print volumes go back to 1921 and the database covers from 1963 to the present. The   MLA Bibliography continues the Modern Language Association Annual Bibliography.

• The New York Times Theater Reviews. (New York, New York Times, 1870- )
  SML Reference. PN2266 +N48
  This is a comprehensive index to all theater reviews which have appeared in the New York Times since 1870.  There is a cumulative index for the years 1870-1970, followed by indexes in each subsequent yearly volume.

• Periodicals Contents Index (PCI)
  PCI Web is an electronic index to the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1990/1991. Every article is indexed. The scope is international, including journals in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other Western languages. PCI Web currently indexes over six million articles in 1,595 journals. Every year, it adds records for more than two million more articles. It will grow to encompass 3,500 journals and fifteen million individual articles.

• Salem, James M. A Guide to Critical Reviews. (New York, Scarecrow Press, 1966-71.)
  SML, Reference. Z5781 S25 (LC)
  Salem's bibliogrpahy lists reviews of plays produced in New York.  Volume 3 covers  over 1,300 British & continental drama from Ibsen to Pinter.  

Other Reference Sources
Use these reference sources to locate facts such as biographical information, production information, historical essays, and concordances.  A concordance is a listing for word-use frequency in literary works.  

• Bryan, George B.   An Ibsen Companion : a dictionary-guide to the life, works, and critical reception of Henrik Ibsen. (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood  Press, 1984.)
  CCL, Reserve. PT8887 B79 1984
  
• Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature. (New York : Greenwood Press, 1990.)
  SML, Reference. PT7063 D5 1990

• Firkins, Ina Ten Eyck, 1866-1937.   Henrik Ibsen, a bibliography of criticism and biography, with an index of characters. New York : Wilson, 1921.
  SML, Stacks, Yale Classification.  Xz Ib7 921

• The Ibsen Concordance (Bergen: Computer Centre for the Humanities)
  From this page, it is possible to search [the Norwegian originals of] 26 of Ibsen’s plays and a collection of poems, a total of 630,00 words. It is also possible to scroll through the list of words and obtain some statistics of the most frequent words and word classes.
  
• McNeil, Barbara. Performing arts biography master index. (Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Company, 1981.)
  SML, Reference. PN1583 +M37 1981
  A consolidated index to over 270,000 biographical sketches of persons living and dead, as they appear in over 100 of the principal biographical dictionaries devoted to the performing arts

• Palmer, Helen H.  European drama criticism, 1900-1975. (Hamden, Conn. : Shoe String Press, 1977.)
  SML, Reference. Z5781 P35 1977 (LC)
  A bibliography of writings about important European playwrights and plays.  This volume includes a 19 page bibliography of critical writings about Ibsen and his plays.

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3. Locating Plays and Primary Source Material

A primary source is firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation.  For Theater Studies, primary source material includes play scripts, performance reviews, prompt books, production information, and other related artifacts (costumes, playbills, props, etc.).  For more information, consult the Yale Library Primary Sources Research Tutorial.

• American Theatre Periodicals of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries [microform]. (Reading, Berkshire, England ; Woodbridge, CT : Research   Publications ; Washington, DC : Library of Congress, 1989.)
  SML, Microtext. Film B16608
  SML, Microtext Desk.  PN2000 A3 +A43 1989  (Guide to Collection
  Features the most complete runs available of selected periodicals dating from 1805 to 1929, and issued from Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. A detailed listing of volumes included at the beginning of each reel.
  • The Thespian mirror; The Boston weekly magazine, then Weekly magazine ; The Theatrical budget, or, Actor's regalio; The   Dramatic mirror; Figaro! or, Corbyn's chronicle of amusements (reel 1)
  • The Prompter's whistle; The Prompter;   The Stage (Philadelphia); The New York clipper almanac/annual (reel 2)
  • The New York clipper almanac/annual; The Play bill (reel 3)
  • The Oriole tidings (reel 4)
  • The Stage (Philadelphia) (reel 5)
  • Le Chat noir; The Dramatic quarterly; Mahatma (reel 6)
  • The Burr Mackintosh monthly (reels 7 thru 10)
  • The Stage (New York); Conjurer's monthly magazine (reel 11)
  • St. Louis dramatic news (reel 12)
  • New York star; The Drama : a quarterly review (reel 13)
  • The Drama : a quarterly review (reels 14 and 15)
  • The Drama : a monthly review (reel 16)
  • The Drama : a monthly review, then The Drama : in combination with the Little theatre monthly and the Little   theatre news (reel 17)
  • The Drama : in combination with theLittle theatre monthly and the Little theatre news (reel 18)
  • The Theatrical weekly record; Gus Hill's national theatrical directory, then Julius Cahn-Gus theatrical guide and moving picture directory (reel 19).

• Eureka
  EUREKA offers easy-to-use online access to the Research Libraries Group's RLIN bibliographic database of more than 22 million titles. Use EUREKA to uncover a wealth of resources in almost any area of study, or to locate items in specific libraries and research collections. EUREKA provides catalog records for books, journals, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you. Use Eureka to locate materials outside of Yale.
  *USE LIMIT Command to locate Videos and Archival collections in Eureka

• Firkins, Ina Ten Eyck. Index to plays, 1800-1926 [with supplements]. (New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1927)
  SML, Stacks, LC Class. Z5781 F57 (LC)
  A guide to available editions of plays by 19th and 20th century authors. cf. Pref. In two parts, an author index and a title and subject index, with appendices: A. Books by one author containing more than one play.--B. Collections of plays by more than one author.  It includes over 7,800 plays by over 2,000 playwrights and includes plays in translation.

4. People and Places to know about in the Yale Library

• Reference Questions - Research Services & Collections
• Yale University Library Research Guide in Theater Studies
• Drama Library
• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
• Yale Library: Manuscripts and Archives Department
  • Guide to Primary Sources in the Arts
• Newspaper and Microtext Room
• InterLibrary Loan

5. Web sites about Ibsen

There is quite a lot of information about Ibsen on the Web: including a bibliography, concordance, electronic versions of plays, and other related material.  These gateways contain many links to Ibseniana on the Web.

• Ibsen Centre Collection of Web Sites
• IbsenLinks
• Ibsen.Net Links
• Norwegian Theatre -- More than just Ibsen (Norway Ministry of Foregin Affairs)
• Yahoo: Norge - Ibsen Links