Library Research Guides: ENG 111: Making Gloriana: Imagining Elizabeth I in Literature: Home

Welcome!

Queen Elizabeth I ('The Ditchley portrait') by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, oil on canvas, circa 1592. NPG 2561 © National Portrait Gallery, London. Creative Commons license.

Welcome to the Research Guide for ENG 111: Making Gloriana: Imagining Elizabeth I in Literature. This guide aims to point you to some useful starting places for your research. Please feel free to contact me for additional help navigating these resources or finding sources for your individual research topics. I'm happy to work with you on any aspect of the research process, whether in person, by email, or through a chat or video conference. See my contact information on this guide.

Background & Context

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
Biographies of British figures worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Explore the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words across 1000 years of English.

Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance
Biographies and topical essays that describe the contributions of women to the science, politics, and culture of the Renaissance. (2007)
The Kings and Queens of Britain by John Cannon; Anne Hargreaves
This guide to the British monarchy spans the Romano-British rulers of 55 BC to the House of Windsor. Includes maps, photos, paintings, and genealogies. (2009)
A Handbook of English Renaissance Literary Studies by John Lee (Editor)
Provides a detailed map of contemporary critical theory in Renaissance and Early Modern English literary studies beyond Shakespeare. Contributions from leading international scholars focus on most major figures, as well as some lesser-known writers of the period. (2017)
The Oxford Handbook of the Age of Shakespeare by R. Malcolm Smuts (Editor)
Call Number: Clapp Library PR421 .O95 2016

Selected E-Books on Early Modern History & Culture

Spectacular Performances: Essays on Theatre, Imagery, books, and Selves in Early Modern England by Stephen Orgel

SuperSearch

To search with more focus and precision, use one of the key databases recommended on this guide.

Key Databases for Scholarly Articles

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
This is the most comprehensive database for finding scholarly articles, books, and book chapters on literature and related fields, from the latest scholarship back to the 1880s. Use the "Find it! @Wellesley" link to get the full text. If we don't have it, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This database contains scholarly journal articles in many disciplines, including language and literature. For most journals, it does not contain articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Articles on all periods of world history
- Limit by time period under "Historical Period"
- Use the "Find it! @Wellesley" button to get the full text of the article
Art Full Text This link opens in a new window
Articles on all aspects of art, 1984 to present (abstracts), 1995 to present (full text). The database covers fine, decorative and commercial art, folk art, photography, film, and architecture.

Go to the Library's Databases A-Z list and use the Subjects menu to find other databases relevant to your topic.

Primary Sources: Texts and Images

Elizabeth I's Monarchy
A collection of documents from the National Archives of the UK related to the reign of Elizabeth I.
EuroDocs: The Reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Digitized primary source documents from a variety of collections
Portraits of Queen Elizabeth
From the National Portrait Gallery, London, England. Includes short films featuring works and themes from the National Portrait Gallery.
English Reformation
A collection of documents from the National Archives of the UK, with an historian's introduction and a reading list of other sources.

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
EEBO contains searchable and browsable page images of virtually every work printed in the English-speaking world from 1473 to 1700, as well as some items printed after 1700.
British History Online This link opens in a new window
Digital library of primary and secondary sources on the history of Britain and Ireland from libraries, museums, archives, and scholars, with a focus on 1300-1800. Premium content (Calendars and Parliament Rolls of Medieval England) is not freely accessible.
Artstor This link opens in a new window
Digitized images of art, architecture, and other forms of visual culture from around the world, from museums, archaeology, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference works, dating from B.C.E. to present.

Requires creation of an Artstor account to download images. This account also grants you off-campus access for 60 days. If your account is inactivated or you need to create an account, make sure to use a library link (such as this one) to get to Artstor so that you will be recognized as a Wellesley user.

HathiTrust Digital Library
Large collection of digitized books from major research institutions & libraries. Contains public domain as well as copyrighted content.

Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
The Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form, including texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages.

Tips on Finding & Using Books

Use the Wellesley Library Catalog to find books (including e-books), videos, and journals (but not individual articles).

A subject search can help you narrow in on materials relevant to your topic. Here are some useful subject terms for this class:
- Elizabeth I Queen of England 1533 1603 and related subtopics
- Elizabeth I Queen of England 1533 1603 in Literature
- English Literature Early Modern 1500 1700 History And Criticism
- Reformation England
- Great Britain History Tudors 1485-1603
- Mary Queen of Scots 1542 1587 and related subtopics

Or start with a keyword search, and
- find a book that looks useful, click on the title, and look at the subject terms
- click on each subject term to find "more like this"

Change the default Entire Collection to Online/electronic to see only material available online.

Keep in mind that your topic may be covered in one section or chapter of a book on a broader topic.

Be sure to "mine" the footnotes and bibliography of a relevant book for additional sources on your topic.

National Portrait Gallery: Elizabeth I & Her People

"Elizabeth I & Her People" Film Series
A series of short films introducing portraits and themes in the National Portrait Gallery exhibit

Your Subject Librarian!

Karen Storz

Email Me

Contact:

781-283-3372
kstorz@wellesley.edu

Research & Instruction Librarian
Office: Clapp Library 218B

Subjects: Africana Studies, American Studies, Cinema & Media Studies, Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages & Cultures, East Asian Studies, English, German & German Cultural Studies, Italian Studies, Latin American Studies, Portuguese, Russian & Russian Area Studies, Spanish

Search Tip

Use AND to combine multiple concepts in your search. This will narrow your results.

Elizabethan poetry AND gender AND power

Use OR to find different ways your topic could be expressed. This will expand your results.

Elizabethan poetry AND

(gender OR femininity) AND power

Use an asterisk * to find variant endings, or as a wild card. This will expand your results.

wom*n feminin*

Use quotation marks " " to search words as a phrase. This will narrow your results.

"Elizabeth I"

Selected E-Books on Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I and Her Circle by Susan Doran
Presents the inside story of Elizabeth I's inner circle and the crucial human relationships which lay at the heart of her personal and political life. (2015)
The Heart and Stomach of a King by Carole Levin
Levin interrogates the gender constructions, role expectations, and beliefs about sexuality that influenced her public persona and the way she was perceived as a female Protestant ruler. (2nd edition, 2013)
Elizabeth I: The Voice of a Monarch by Ilona Bell
Combines literary interpretation, gender analysis, and cultural, political, and diplomatic history to examine how Elizabeth I used the discourse of love to establish her political power, assert her right to marry or not, and rule the country herself either way. (2010)
Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation by Susan Frye
Based on a variety of extant historical and literary materials, this study examines Elizabeth I's struggle for authority through the representation of her female body. (1993)