Skip Navigation Menu
Catalogs & Databases
» Harvest UC Davis Catalog
» Melvyl
» Databases A-Z
» Subject Guides
» more...
Libraries & Collections
» Peter J. Shields
» Physical Sciences & Engineering
» Carlson Health Sciences
» Blaisdell Medical
» more...
Donate
» Information
» Give Now
» Honor With Books
Skip Navigation Bar

Subject Guides

Catalogs & Databases

Find

Quick Links

Facebook YouTube iTunes

Skip News Bar

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences — Arts & Humanities
Theatre & Dance

Librarian Subject Specialist

Michael Winter
mfwinter@ucdavis.edu — (530) 752‑3058 — Humanities, Social Sciences, and Government Information Services (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/)

On This Page

  • [Restricted] Restricted to UC Davis Campus and authenticated VPN/Proxy users
  • [Restricted] Library Use or On-Campus Use Only
  • Click on VPN to access resource via Library VPN (requires Kerberos login)

Subject Specific Databases

IIPA Full Text: International Index to the Performing Arts [via Proquest] (http://iipaft.chadwyck.com/) [Restricted] VPN
IIPA Full Text draws content from more than 210 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, and also indexes a variety of documents such as biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events. The database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry-including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more. Full text contents are selective.
Coverage: 1864-present
Music & Performing Arts Online [via Proquest] (http://mpaonline.chadwyck.com/home.do) [Restricted] VPN
The Music & Performing Arts Online portal brings the International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) and the International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) together in one site, enabling users to search both resources simultaneously. Together, these databases offer coverage of music, theatre, dance, television, film, and other performing arts.
MLA International Bibliography [via Proquest] (http://search.proquest.com/mlaib/advanced) [Restricted] VPN
The Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB) covers international scholarly materials on all languages, literatures, linguistics, and folklore from around the world. It includes citations to items from journals, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. MLAIB does not index book reviews.
Coverage: 1926-present
Related:
Gale Literature Resource Center (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/ucdavis?db=LitRC) [Restricted] Proxy Server
Full-text biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combines core literary resources such as Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online (http://www.worldshakesbib.org) [Restricted] VPN
The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online is a searchable electronic database consisting of the most comprehensive record of Shakespeare-related scholarship and theatrical productions published or produced worldwide between 1963 and the present. Also includes book reviews.
Date: 1960-present
Periodicals Index Online (PIO) (http://uclibs.org/PID/6848) [Restricted] VPN
Periodicals Index Online is a retrospective database (1665-1995); over 300 philosophy titles are included. It also provides access to a smaller set of titles in fulltext electronic form.
Coverage: 1665-1995
Related:
DAAI (Design and Applied Arts Index) [via Proquest] (http://search.proquest.com/daai/advanced) [Restricted] VPN
DAAI indexes more than 500 design and craft journals and newspapers. It also includes two directories--one is a directory of academic design and craft programs in colleges and universities, the other is a directory of design and craft journals.
Coverage: 1973-present
Play Index [via H.W. Wilson] (http://uclibs.org/PID/113654) [Restricted] VPN
Play Index searches publication details of over 30,000 plays published after 1949 and written from Antiquity to the present. Search for plays by title, author, subject, style, genre, cast type, and more. This database searches for copies of plays published both separately and in collections/anthologies.
Related:
  • The print version of Play Index is available for the years 1949-2002 in H/SS Reference, 2nd floor Shields Library, Z5781.P53
Inter-Play (http://www.lib.pdx.edu/systems/interplay)
Inter-Play is an on-line index to plays in collections, anthologies, and periodicals. Separately-published plays are not included, but this is the fastest way to find play titles buried in anthologies and other compilations.
Coverage: approximately 1800-present
Physical Education Index
Print index to scholarly articles about Physical Education, Dance, Sports, Recreation, and the Health and Medical issues associated with them. Issued quarterly, with the fourth issue an annual cumulation.
Coverage: 1970-77; v.9, Mar.1986-present
Location: Humanities/Social Sciences Reference, Shields Library 2nd Floor, GV201.P534
ARTstor (http://uclibs.org/PID/44518) [Restricted] VPN
ARTStor is a library of digital images, associated information, and software tools designed to enhance teaching, learning and scholarship. It contains a searchable database of more than 500,000 digital images, covers many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design, as well as many other forms of visual culture.
Related:
  • ARTstor
    For off-campus access, first register with ARTstor from a computer on campus. Then, you may login from off campus with your ARTstor ID by going directly to www.artstor.org. Or, you may use the VPN or the Proxy Server.
  • If you would like to join a UCD community of ARTstor users to share discoveries and help solve problems, please join our ARTstor Users Group on Smartsite.

General Databases

Academic Search Complete [via EBSCO] (http://uclibs.org/PID/126936) [Restricted] VPN
The multi-disciplinary database Academic Search Complete (ASC) provides full-text access to more than 5,500 periodicals, including over 4,600 peer-reviewed journals, and indexing and abstracts for an additional 9,500 journals and 10,000 publications, including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers coverage of information in many areas of academic study including, but not limited to: animal science, anthropology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology and many other fields. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format.
Coverage: 1887-present
Related:

Full-Text Resources

Black Drama [via Alexander Street Press] (http://uclibs.org/PID/31413) [Restricted] VPN
Black Drama contains the full text of hundreds of plays by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Also contains theatrical production information.
Coverage: 1850-present
Related:
Asian American Drama [via Alexander Street Press] (http://uclibs.org/PID/31412) [Restricted] VPN
When complete Asian American Drama will bring together more than 250 plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information.
Coverage: late 19th century-present
Related:
North American Women's Drama [via Alexander Street Press] (http://uclibs.org/PID/108526) [Restricted] VPN
North American Women's Drama includes full text of over 1000 plays, together with detailed information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Approximately 20% of the titles have never been previously published. The collection begins with the works of Mercy Otis Warren and Susanna Haswell Rowson in the colonial period and spans the 19th and 20th centuries to the present.
Related:
Twentieth-Century Drama [via Proquest] (http://uclibs.org/PID/42489) [Restricted] VPN
When complete, Twentieth-Century Drama will contain 2,500 plays from throughout the English-speaking world, covering the history of modern drama. The current release includes over 230 plays from Britain, Ireland and Australia.
Coverage: 1890-present
Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare, 1591-1911 (http://collections.chadwyck.com/eas/htxview?template=basic.htx&content=frameset.htx) [Restricted] VPN
Eleven major editions from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than one hundred adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
American Drama [via Proquest] (http://uclibs.org/PID/11558) [Restricted] VPN
Offers the searchable full text of more than 1,100 plays from the colonial period to the beginning of the twentieth century. This database is also available through Literature Online (LION).
Coverage: 1714-1915
Related:
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Historical coverage of the following U.S Newspapers. The include both full page and individual article images. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Years included varies by title.
Related:
ProQuest Current Newspapers (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=403&COPT=SU5UPTAmREJTPTM@&JSEnabled=1&TS=1074627928&DBId=G5#sform) [Restricted] VPN

Current full-text of the Los Angeles Times, New York Times (including the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review), and the Wall Street Journal.

For historical backfiles, see ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Related:
Times of London Digital Archive (http://uclibs.org/PID/112897) [Restricted] VPN
Includes full text and page images of the entire newspaper, including articles, editorials, advertising and images (excluding the Sunday Times) for 1785-2006. The "Access World News" database contains both the daily and Sunday Times, 1985-present.
Coverage: 1785-2006
Eighteenth Century Collections Online [via Gale] (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/ucdavis?db=ECCO) [Restricted] VPN
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) provides full-text searchable access to the digital images of 150,000 books and other materials published during the 18th Century. Based on the English Short Title Catalog bibliography, it includes English-language and foreign-language titles printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.
Coverage: 1701-1800
Related:
Individual Literature Collections from Literature Online (LION) (http://collections.chadwyck.com/) [Restricted] VPN
Search the full text of the following Chadwyck-Healey literature databases: 20th Century African-American Poetry, 20th Century American Poetry, 20th Century Drama, African-American Poetry (1750-1900), American Drama, American Poetry (1600-1900), The Bible in English (990-1970), Early American Fiction, Early English Prose Fiction (1500-1700), Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare (1591-1911), Eighteenth-Century Fiction (1700-1780), English Drama (1280-1915), English Poetry (600-1900), The Faber Poetry Library, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, The W.B. Yeats Collection (1885-1995)
Drama Criticism
Full text reprints of drama reviews and criticism for a wide range of famous plays.
Date: 1991-present
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference PN1601 D59
American Memory [Library of Congress] (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/)
American Memory provides open access to full text historical documents and materials from the Library of Congress. Includes written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
North American Theater Online
A comprehensive reference work covering all aspects of the Canadian and American Theatre. It includes some 40,000 pages of major reference materials, together with records to approximately 30,000 plays, 57,000 people, 5,400 theatres, 22,000 productions, and 2,500 production companies. Each year we'll add more than 20,000 new records. The collection also includes approximately 10,500 images, playbills, postcards, scrapbooks and other resources.
Coverage: Colonial period to the present
Related:
  • Help (http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/atho/atho.help.html)
Theatre in Video (http://ucdavis.ativ.alexanderstreet.com/) [Restricted] VPN
Theatre in Video contains more than 250 definitive performances of the world's leading plays, together with more than 100 film documentaries, online in streaming video. Collection content is being augmented and updated regularly.
Coverage: 1930s-end of 20th Century
Related:
  • Help (http://ucdavis.ativ.alexanderstreet.com/video/help/)

Guides to Electronic, Print, and Other Resources

About the UC Davis Theatre and Dance Collection [via UCD Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/theatre-dance/index.php)
This page contains information on the collection available for research at Shields Library, as well as links to related collections and local performance venues.
Internet Resources in Theatre & Dance: General and Comprehensive Sites [via UCD Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/theatre-dance/internet-resources.php)
This site provides annotated links to freely available general internet resources in theatre and dance
Internet Resources in Theatre [via UC Davis Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/theatre-dance/theatre/theatre-internet-resources.php)
Internet Resources in Dance [via UC Davis Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/theatre-dance/dance/dance-internet-resources.php)
Fashion, Costume, and Textiles Subject Guide [via UC Davis Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/resources/guides/fashiontextiles.php)
This pathfinder provides information on reference books, internet resources, suggested subject headings, and related library subject guides available from Shields Library.
New York Times Guide to the Arts of the 20th Century
This four-volume work is divided into 10 sections – one for each decade of the 20th century. Each section is prefaced by a 15,000 word essay, followed by articles, features, reviews, and photographs.
Coverage: 1900-1999
Date: 2002
Location: NX456 .N495 2002, Humanities/Social Sciences Reference
Core Collection in Dance
This bibliography to print, video, and electronic materials on a variety of dance topics was published by the ARTS Section of ACRL.
Date: 2001
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference GV1594 C685 2001
Research in Dance: A Guide to Resources
An annotated bibliography that includes collections and archives, reference sources, recommended periodicals, and sources of performance reviews.
Date: 1994
Location: GV1594.B6 1994
Dance on Camera: A Guide to Dance Films and Videos
A list, with credits, of filmed dance performance. Also includes some brief essays on choreography and teaching, as well as multiple index entry points and distributors.
Date: 1998
Location: GV1595.D342 1998
Performing Arts Encyclopedia (Library of Congress) (http://www.loc.gov/performingarts/encyclopedia/)
A guide to the performing arts collections (both print and digital) and exhibitions at the Library of Congress. Includes digitized items from the collections, with some works by composers Amy Beach, George W. Chadwick, Charles Ives, Edward MacDowell, Gerry Mulligan and several others. Also topical material, such as Civil War Sheet music and American Choral Music.
International Bibliography of Theatre (IBT)
Year by year bibliography of articles, reference works, and books on wide range of theatre subjects.
Coverage: 1982 - 1999
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference PN1561 I53,
Essay and General Literature Index
This index cites essays and articles contained in book collections and series that have been published in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. Focus is on the the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Coverage: 1900-present
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference Z5871 E8
Bibliographic Index
Designed as a "cumulative bibliography of bibliographies" in yearly volumes, this source indexes bibliographies published in books and periodicals. Covers English and some foreign languages.
Coverage: 1937-present
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference Z1002 B5

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

International Encyclopedia of Dance
A six-volume set that is one of the most comprehensive print resources for starting dance research, which includes short articles and bibliographies on a range of international topics.
Date: 1998
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference GV1585 I586 1998
World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre
A six-volume set of comprehensive articles on the international history of theatre since 1945. Each volume is dedicated to a different geographical region, and includes bibliographies for further reading.
Coverage: 1945-1994
Date: 1994
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference PN1861 W67 1994

Other Resources

Dictionary Catalog of the Dance Collection (http://catnyp.nypl.org/search~b1o1c1i1p1r1a1) [Restricted]
An enormous bibliography of books and article citations gathered from the New York Public Library collection. Covers all aspects of dance, from performing art to ritual, from all cultures and countries and in all media, without limitation as to format, language, or date. Supplemented by annual Bibliographic Guides to Dance (New York: G.K. Hall, 1975-1990). Now cumulated in the Dance Collection Catalog (freely available online).
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference Z7514 D2 N47
IBDB: Internet Broadway Database (http://www.ibdb.com/)
IBDB provides records of Broadway productions, with details on pertinent people involved and production statistics. Useful for tracking the production history of a play.
International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA) (http://web.ku.edu/idea/index.htm)
Developed at the University of Kansas, IDEA is a repository of primary source English language dialect recordings for actors and other artists in the performing arts.
HotReview.org (http://www.hotreview.org/)
An online forum for critical writing about contemporary theater. This site is published by the Hunter College Theater Dept., and includes reviews, essays, interviews, and more. Especially good for current New York theater.
MLA Style Guide [UC Davis Library] (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/mla.php)
Guide to basic guidelines for using MLA Style in research papers, with link to printable PDF version of page.
Related:
  • For more information, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2nd floor Shields Library, H/SS Protected Reference, LB2369 .G53 2003; older editions in general stacks)
Clothing and Textile Arts [CD-ROM]
A guide to the behavioral, historic and artistic periodical literature dealing with clothing and the textile arts. This version contains over 25,000 citations published in over 2300 serial titles since 1970. See also the print index in H/SS Reference at call number TT507.C61.
Coverage: 1970-1993
Location: H/SS/GIS Reference
Videos & DVDs on the UC Davis Campus: A Location & Information Guide (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hss/resources/guides/ucdvideos.php)
This guide describes the scope and policies of different media collections on the UC Davis campus, and includes a printable PDF handout.
The WATCH File (http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/index.cfm)
WATCH (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders) is the project of the Harry Ransom Center and Reading University Library. It is a "database of copyright contacts for writers, artists, and prominent figures in other creative fields."