Library Research Guides: ENG 294: Writing AIDS: Home

SuperSearch

SuperSearch is a great place to start for journal articles, books and almost everything else the library has, in one easy to use interface.

For searching with more focus and precision, try one of the databases recommended on this guide.

Because SuperSearch contains so much content from so many different kinds of sources and disciplines, it can sometimes be hard to focus a search to get the most relevant results. At the same time, SuperSearch is also not comprehensive and can miss key sources. To search with more focus, precision, and depth, also try the specialized databases recommended on this guide, or the library catalog for books and films.

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Find Historical Reviews & News

SuperSearch can be a helpful starting place for finding primary sources that provide historical evidence about your cultural artifact. Use the publication date limiter to find mentions of the artifact during a particular time period — e.g., around the time of its creation or publication. Limit by content type, such as newspaper and magazine articles, to look at evidence in the popular press.

Important Note: Many sources from of our historical news databases and primary source collections do not come up in SuperSearch results, so be sure to check out the databases on our Historical News guide as well as the primary source collections on this guide for more options.

Find Analysis of Your Film, Text, Artwork, etc. (Databases)

These databases are a good place to find articles and chapters from scholarly journals and books, and some also contain content from newspapers, magazines, and other sources. It's always a good idea to search in more than one database. Even when there's considerable overlap in content, the different features of each database can help you find different sources. Check out our full Database A-Z list and sort by Subject to find other databases for your topic.

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Multidisciplinary

LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
Index to literature on topics pertaining to sexuality and gender identity, including full text for over 140 of the most important and historically significant LGBTQ+ journals, magazines, and regional newspapers.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
Scholarly journal articles, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, and NGO, government and special reports, dating back to 1970 in some cases. Content focuses on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas.
Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new window
Articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press, 1995 to present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This database contains scholarly journal articles in many disciplines, including literature, film, and history, but it doesn't include articles from the most recent 3-5 years for many journals.

Art

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.
ARTbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new window
Modern & contemporary artists, art movements, art history and theory, design, photography, new media and crafts, 1974 to present
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.

Film & Television

Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Articles on film and television theory, writing, production, cinematography, reviews, and more, 1914 to present
FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals This link opens in a new window
An index to articles on film and TV from 300 academic and popular film journals, including full text from the most important journals, from 1972 to present.

Literature

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.

MLA Search Tip: MLA is an index, so you're searching a small amount of information about each source, rather than the source itself. Trying a variety of keywords is often essential to getting the best results in MLA. Make note of relevant keywords and subject terms that come up in your initial searches, and use those terms to find more.

Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new window
This is another good database for literary criticism, focused on literature in English. It also includes key reference works and literary texts.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
A good place to find biographies and overviews from a variety of sources, including Contemporary Authors and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

Music

Music Index This link opens in a new window
Citations to articles on all aspects of music, with links to the full text, 1973 to present.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts for significant writings on music: journal articles, conference proceedings, Festschrifts, books & dissertations, 1967 to present

See the A-Z Databases page and filter by subject for additional options.

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Find Background & Context (Encyclopedias & More)

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
An interdisciplinary research tool that allows you to search over 300 reference works simultaneously, including limiting to audio or visual materials.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Includes the peer-reviewed Dictionary of Art, continually updated, with links to museum-quality images.
Biography (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window
Over 650,000 biographical entries covering international figures from all time periods and areas of study; search by name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender.

Viral Cultures: Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS by Marika Cifor
Publication Date: 2022
Charts the efforts activists, archivists, and curators have made to document the work of AIDS activism in the United States and the infrastructure developed to maintain it.
AIDS At 30: A History by Victoria A. Harden
Publication Date: 2012
Presents an accessible discussion of the history of HIV/AIDS and analyzes how aspects of society advanced or hindered the response to the disease. Includes chapters on "AIDS as a Cultural Phenomenon" and "Communicating AIDS."
Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History
Publication Date: 2019
Provides a global view of LGBTQ history, covering significant figures and events worldwide.
Historical Dictionary of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movements
Publication Date: 2013
A cross-referenced dictionary with over 1000 entries on specific countries and regions, influential historical figures, historical terms, events, and legal decisions. Includes a comprehensive chronology and bibliography.
Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered History in America
Publication Date: 2004
A survey of more than 400 years of lesbian and gay history and culture in the United States, presented through over 500 alphabetically arranged entries. Coverage includes people, public policy, economics, social issues, identities, and culture, and more.
After Silence: : A History of AIDS through Its Images by Avram Finkelstein
Publication Date: 2018
Cofounder of the collective Silence = Death and member of the art collective Gran Fury, Avram Finkelstein tells the story of how his work and other protest artwork associated with the early years of the pandemic were created.
Protest!: A History of Social and Political Protest Graphics by Liz McQuiston
Publication Date: 2019
This richly illustrated history of six centuries of global protest art includes a chapter on "The AIDS Crisis and Other Global Tensions (1980–2000)."
The Cambridge Companion to American Gay and Lesbian Literature
Publication Date: 2015
This Companion introduces readers to the range of debates that inform studies of works by lesbian and gay writers and of literary representations of same-sex desire and queer identities. Includes a chronology and guide to further reading.

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Find Primary Sources and Context (Archives & Websites)

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AIDS History Project
Begun in 1987 as a joint effort of historians, archivists, AIDS activists, health care providers, and others to secure historically significant resources reflecting responses to the crisis in San Francisco. Includes digitized collections
Act Up Oral History Project
"The ACT UP Oral History Project is a collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York."
AIDS in the DPLA
Materials tagged with AIDS in the Digital Public Library of America. Includes images, video, text, and more.
Gay & Lesbian History: NYPL Digital Collections
Over 1000 images of queer activists, organizations, and protests in New York spanning from the 1950's to the 1990's.
GLBT History: Digital Collections
Collections of queer activism and life in the US.
Independent Voices
Alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals from the latter half of the 20th century, including some produced by LGBT activists
National AIDS Memorial
Includes a virtual exhibition and history of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives
"Founded in 1952, ONE Archives currently houses over two million archival items including periodicals, books, film, video and audio recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records and personal papers."
UTSA Digital Collections: LGBTQ Publications
Images and text from LGBTQ publications.
Visual Aids
Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS raises AIDS awareness and creates dialogue around HIV issues, by producing and presenting visual art projects, exhibitions, public forums and publications, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS.
Face of Aids Film Archive
Online film archive of almost 700 hours of documentary film material about the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Based at Karolinska Institutet University Library in Stockholm, Sweden.

Gender: Identity and Social Change This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from 19th century to present documenting changing representations and lived experiences of gender. Includes pamphlets, speeches, newsletters, diaries and correspondence, and visual materials. Requires Wellesley login
Sex & Sexuality: Research Collections from The Kinsey Institute Library & Special Collections This link opens in a new window
Research collections sourced from the Kinsey Institute Library & Special Collections documenting changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender, and sexual behaviors throughout the 20th century. Requires Wellesley login

Find more on the Queer History page of our Primary Sources - History research guide.

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Find Books & Films with the Catalog

Library Catalog Search Tips

Try a keyword search. Once you find a book that is relevant to your topic, use the subject terms for that book to help you find "more like this" and explore different aspects of a broader topic.

Example keyword search: aids AND artist*

Subject terms for books from this keyword search lead you to many more books on aspects of the topic, for example:

ACT UP (Organization)

AIDS (Disease) and the arts > United States.

AIDS activists > United States.

AIDS (Disease) > United States > History.

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Selected Books

Remembering the AIDS Quilt by Charles E. Morris (Editor)
Publication Date: 2011
Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde by Robb Hernández
Publication Date: 2019
AIDS and the Distribution of Crises by Jih-Fei Cheng (Editor); Alexandra Juhasz (Editor); Nishant Shahani (Editor)
Publication Date: 2020
With "the AIDS crisis" re-emerging in historical memory as a coherent past moment, contributors to this volume insist on considering HIV/AIDS as an ongoing scattering of many local and specific crises, structured by enduring colonial, racialized, and gendered violence.

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AIDS Literature and Gay Identity: The Literature of Loss by Monica B. Pearl
Publication Date: 2012
Discusses the significance of late twentieth century and early twenty-first century American fiction written in response to the AIDS crisis and interrogates how sexual identity is depicted and constructed textually.