American History and Culture
In the scheme devised by Clifford K. Shipton to organize our
collections, the E and G classifications contain the core of the
Society's post-1820 holdings. The E classification provides a
chronological arrangement of works on United States history, the G
classification a topical arrangement. Each classification contains
both primary and secondary materials. Recent estimates indicate
that the E class contains 12,500 items, the G class 28,000.
In the E classification, which Shipton conceived as a
simplified version of the Library of Congress's E classification,
sections are arranged under both general and limited headings,
providing what is, in effect, a chronological outline of United
States history. Broad topic headings (e.g., E150, the Era of the
Revolution, 1764-83) are followed by narrower topic headings (e.g.,
E170, the Boston Massacre; E220, the Declaration of Independence;
E275, Loyalists). In addition to the chronological portion of the
classification (E100-E675), space is provided for works whose focus
is regional (e.g., E45, New England; E50, the Ohio Valley). The
largest of these, E85, is devoted to the West (Plains and Rockies)
and contains much of the collection of western Americana given to
the Society by Donald McKay Frost.
As noted above, the E classification contains both primary and
secondary materials. Since American printed materials for the
period through 1820 are located in the imprints collections, this
part of the classification generally contains secondary materials,
together with some early British and European imprints that pertain
to the subject. However for the period 1821-76, E is a trove of
historical materials, well supported by secondary works. The
collection of primary materials from the Civil War period is
especially strong, and includes an excellent collection of
regimental histories. The Society is necessarily selective in
acquiring modern historical writing on the Civil War, purchasing
only the best of the hundreds of titles published on the subject
each year. The Society's holdings relating to slavery are also
particularly strong, numbering over 4,000 titles.
The G classification accommodates works addressing particular
topics in American history. In this classification, Shipton
prepared an alphabetical list of 140 topics and assigned each topic
a number in the G class. His list reflects AAS holdings and is not
an attempt at a hierarchical or universal scheme. Topics range
from Advertising (G100), Aeronautics (G120), and Agricultural
History (G130), Architecture
(G150), through such topics as Indian Languages (G465),
Phrenology (G673), and Transportation (G840), to Whaling (G900),
the Whig Party (G925), and Zoology (G975). As with the E
classification, both primary and secondary works are included.
Works of Fiction (G526) and Poetry (G850) are included in this
class; (G526) is the largest section in G.
Access to materials in the E and G classifications is provided
in the Society's General Catalog. The quality of this
cataloging varies considerably. While every item is at least
nominally cataloged, some items are represented by no more than
the briefest of notes at the foot of a card describing an earlier
edition. Many items are represented by a single card, usually (but
not always) under author. Subject access often extends no further
than a single entry under a broad heading. Other items are fully
cataloged. Unfortunately, modern secondary works are likely to be
well cataloged, while uncommon primary materials may be
represented by cataloging that is nearly as old as the materials
themselves. In an effort to remedy this deficiency, the Society is
gradually undertaking the retrospective conversion of its older
cataloging to machine-readable form. Thus far the Society has
recataloged online all the books in these two collections
published in the 1820s and 1830s as well as its Architectural works
(G150),
its collections on Slavery and Afro-Americana (E455, G600), and the
preeminent collection of editions of the works of James Fenimore
Cooper (G526), regardless of their date of publication.
- Alan N. Degutis, Head of Cataloging
|
A chromolithograph from The Native Flowers and Ferns of
the United States, one of the items in the G220 collection
Related Websites
-
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National
Digital Library
memory.loc.gov
-
More than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical
collections relating to the history and culture of the United States.
-
Common-Place
www.common-place.org
-
An electronic journal of early American history and culture that
attracts scholars, musuem curators, teachers, and others interested in
American history before 1900.
-
Documenting the American South
docsouth.unc.edu -
A collection of sources on Southern history, literature, and
culture from the colonial period through the first decads of the twentieth
century.
-
DoHistory
www.dohistory.com -
A site based on research that went into the book and film of A
Midwife's Tale, both of which were based upon the remarkable
eighteenth-century diary of midwife Martha Ballard.
-
Making of America
moa.umdl.umich.edu -
A digital library of primary sources in American social history
from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
|
|
