Databases
- Most Important Resources
- Related Sources: Education, History, Music
- Dissertations
- Biographies
- Library Catalogs
Most Important Resources
Academic OneFile (InfoTrac) (1980 to present)
Indexes and, for the most part, abstracts articles for a few thousand journals covering nearly all subject areas. The full-text of many articles is available in the database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. This database indexes thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
Ebsco Databases (1984 to present)
At the initial screen, choose Academic Search Premier and MasterFILE Premier to search simultaneously popular magazines and scholarly journals. The full-text of many articles is available in the database; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
ProQuest (dates vary according to database) 
ProQuest covers popular magazines and newspapers as well as scholarly journals. The full-text of many articles is available in these databases; in addition, there is a link to Journal Finder in order to determine if the full-text is available in another database. These databases index thousands of articles on theatre topics, including reviews of play performances. More info
LexisNexis Academic (dates vary but earliest is 1970's; most beginning dates are later)
The main source for searching newspapers beyond the approximately half-dozen national newspapers and a few North Carolina newspapers. Choose News as the category and then choose from General News, Today's News, and Arts and Sports, with the last specifically containing performance reviews. These indexes cover interviews with theater personnel as well as reviews of performances. More info.
North American Theatre Online Plus (NATO)
North American Theatre Online Plus brings together in one place many primary resources for U. S. and Canadian theatre. First, it is a major reference work containing biographical information about theatre personnel and historical information about play productions, production companies, theatres, characters, and related topics. Included also are playbills, postcards, and scrapbooks. NATO also serves as an index to five separate online databases (Asian American Drama, Black Drama (1850 to Present), Latino Literature, North American Women’s Drama, and Twentieth Century North American Drama) with texts of plays and information related to their performance. NATO is by far the most comprehensive database for historical information about North American drama. More info.
International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance (IBTD)
Covering the early 1980s to date, the International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance indexes theatre and dance articles in magazines and journals, books, chapters in books, and dissertations. The citation is followed by a sentence or two—or perhaps only phrases—describing the content of the material. Many of the materials are not in English, though there is no way to limit to English only articles. More info.
Humanities International Index (1925 to date, but mainly from 1960s to date)
Indexing journals, books, and reference sources in the humanities (including theatre), this database includes journals that publish original creative works (including plays) and interviews with playwrights. More info.
Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890 to 1982)
Indexes popular magazines and high-circulation periodicals by author and subject, including reviews of plays and films and biographical information. More info
International Index to the Performing Arts
Providing current indexing to approximately 200 popular magazines and scholarly journals in the performing arts, this index lists reviews of performances, critical and biographical information, interviews, and some proceedings of meetings. While the indexing of most titles is from around 1996 to date, the retrospective indexing includes about a half dozen theatre titles, e.g. Theatre Arts (1916-1964), Theatre Journal (1949 to date), and Theatre Magazine (1901-1931). More info
MLA International Bibliography (1926 to present)
The Modern Language Association's International Bibliography indexes books, essays, in books, articles from over 3000 journals, proceedings, dissertations as listed in Dissertation Abstracts International, and many other materials. Although it excludes book reviews and performance reviews, it includes many articles on theatrical production, stage history, performance, theory, and literary aspects of plays. More info
Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective (1907-1984)
Covers hundreds of English-language journals in classics, art, performing arts, philosophy, history, music, and literature. Indexes articles, book reviews, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction (including dramas and poems), and reviews of plays and television and radio programs. More info
Art Index (1929 to present)
This index covers art, design, and architecture journals, including articles on theatre production and design, lighting, architecture, costume design, and interviews with theatre personnel. More info
Arts and Humanities Search (1980 to present)
Indexing over 1300 journals in arts and humanities subject areas-- including performing arts, this index is primarily a keyword in title, citation (it indexes the sources cited in bibliographies at the end of articles), and author index. Many articles pertaining to various aspects of theatre are indexed, including reviews of performances ("theater review" is the label for a performance review of a play). More info
Full text of hundreds of newspapers published from 1690-1879. Includes only a few papers at the present time; text will be added on an ongoing basis. More info
Historical Index to the New York Times (1851 to 1999)
Contains the full-text of articles from the New York Times since it began in 1851! No subject headings or descriptors are used, thus searches are of the title and full-text of the article. (More recent dates are available through other databases; enter New York Times in Journal Finder.) More info
Times (of London) (1785-1985)
Contains the full-text of articles from The Times from 201 years! Since no subject headings or descriptors are used, searches are of the title and full-text of articles. Searches can be limited by date and by broad category of type of article, e.g. Editorial & Commentary, Features, etc. More info
American Periodicals Series (1740-1900)
Provides the digitized text of approximately 1,100 magazines and journals that began publication prior to 1900, including 89 journals published between 1740 and 1800; more than 900 titles from the first 60 years of the nineteenth century; and 118 periodicals published during the Civil War (1861-1865), Reconstruction (1865-1877), and the remaining years through 1900. List of magazine and journal titles. More info
British Periodicals, 1680s through 1930s
Provides the digitized text of many British periodicals from the origin of magazines in the 1680s through the Victorian period and into the early 1930s. The database is “in process” with new fulltext being added regularly. Includes all types of magazines and journals published in England. List of magazine and journal titles with dates of coverage. More info
World Shakespeare Bibliography (1971 to present)
Provides annotated listings for books, journal articles, dissertations, reviews of books and theatrical productions, electronic media and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare; international in coverage. More info
Related Sources: Education, History, Music
Education Fulltext (1984 to present) & Education Index Retrospective (1929 - 1983)
Indexes hundreds of educational journals and, in some cases, provides the fulltext of the article. Theatre students who need information on theatre in K-12 or higher education--teaching, productions (including technical aspects), or use of drama to teach themes (AIDS, health education, etc.)--should use this database. More info
ERIC (education) (1966 to present)
Provides citations, abstracts, and, for more recent material, links to texts of journal articles, conference proceedings, and other non-journal literature such as curriculum guides (ERIC documents). It covers information on drama in educational settings K-12 and higher education. More info
America: History and Life (1964 to present)
Indexes and abstracts journals, books, and dissertations on U.S. and Canadian history and culture. The best source for finding journal articles on United States and Canadian history. Also useful for architectural history; cultural history including music, art, theatre; history of ethnic groups; and topics in American Literature. Includes book reviews. More info
Historical Abstracts (1967 to present)
Indexes and abstracts journals, books, and dissertations on modern history (1450 - present) for all regions of the world except North America. The best source for finding journal articles on non-North American history and also useful for architectural history including theater, cultural history and ethnic groups. Does not include book reviews. More infoInternational Index to Music Periodicals Full Text (IIMPFT) (indexing 1874 to present; full text 1996 to present)
Indexes and abstracts over 380 international music periodicals, plus music articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Includes full text from about 42 music journals. More info
RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature (1969 to present)
English abstracts of articles, books, bibliographies, catalogs, dissertations, films/videos, conference proceedings, and other materials on music published worldwide; is based on the print title "Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale." More info
Dissertations
Indexing all doctoral dissertations accepted at colleges and universities in the United States along with some dissertations from other countries and a few masters theses, DAI contains indexing from 1861 and abstracts since 1980. More info
Biographies
Provides full-text biographical information on deceased figures from American history who have lived since 1450. Each entry contains a bibliography which includes citations for primary sources, as well as the location of a playwright's papers.
Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford)
Provides full-text biographical information on deceased figures from the UK and the British Commonwealth who have lived since the 4th century BC. Each entry contains a bibliography which includes citations for primary sources, as well as the location of any archives, existing likenesses, and, in some cases, wealth at death.
Provides the full-text of biographical and critical materials from Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography and portions from Contemporary Literary Criticism and other Gale literary criticism sets covering the classical period to the present; also provides links to author web sites. For playwrights, the listing of plays often includes the date, city, and theatre of the first performance.
Provides full-text biographies on thousands of individuals--including theatre personnel--from around the globe. Sources include Contemporary Dramatists; Contemporary Theatre, Film, & Television; International Dictionary of Theatre; and some relevant journals.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)
Indexes more than 12 million biographical sketches in more than 3400 reference-type books, including persons from all walks of life.
Biography Index (BI)
Although all volumes of Biography Index are indexed in BGMI, BI provides the actual citation to biographical information in journal articles and chapters in books.
Library Catalogs
A searchable index to archives and manuscript holdings in more that 4,400 U.S. repositories and 100,000 special collections in libraries and private holdings. More info
WorldCat
A type of union catalog for academic, public, and special libraries listing books, titles of journals and newspapers (not articles within journals or newspapers), manuscripts, musical scores, visual materials, computer files, internet resources, sound recordings, and maps. It indicates which libraries own a specific title. Indexed subject headings make searching for similar materials quite easy. More info
Theatre Resources
Questions? Ask Us!
Mark Schumacher
Theatre Librarian
