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American Literature: Library Resources

The American Literature guide contains different books, articles, and websites that deal with American literature, or are considered American literature.

Library of Congress Call Numbers

PR1 → 56 English Literary History & Criticism
PR161 → 488 English Literature by Period
PR500 → 614 English Poetry
PR750 → 890 English Prose
PR1098 → 1369 Collections of English Literature
PR1490 → 9680 English Literary Periods (Anglo-Saxon through 21st Century)
PS1 → 3626 American Literature
PS301 → 326 American Poetry
PS360 → 380 American Prose
PS501 → 689 Collections of American Literature
PS700 → 3576 Individual Authors

Library Reosurces

The Library of Congress Digital Collections: Literature and Poetry

A wonderful resource on the history of literature in America, the Library of Congress holds digital collections that include manuscripts, audio recordings, papers, and plays. Some of the outstanding collections include "Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature," "Cabinet of American Illustration," and "The Walt Whitman Papers."

Modern American Poetry

The Modern American Poetry Site is a comprehensive learning environment and scholarly forum for the study of modern and contemporary American poetry.

A Brief Guide to the Black Arts Movement

The Academy of American Poets offers this short guide to the literary history of the Black Arts Movement and its writers, which include Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Mari Evans.

Texts from the Academy of American Poets

Browse hundreds of essays, interviews, and articles about poets and poetry. This includes a wide swath of literary movements and poets, from the American Romantics to currently publishing writers.

Annenberg Learner: American Passages

American Passages: A Literary Survey provides professional development and classroom materials to enhance the study of American Literature in its cultural context. It is organized into 16 Units; each exploring canonical and re-discovered texts, and presenting the material through an Instructor Guide, a 30-minute documentary video series, literary texts and an integrated Study Guide.