LASS 934:
1968: The Year that Defined a Generation //
This is a guide on how to begin research related to 1968, using selected resources in the Greenfield Library and Music Library at the University of the Arts. Use it as a jumping-off point in your research. Once you have found names, places, titles, etc., you can consult many additional sources not listed in this guide. Send any questions about this topic to Sara MacDonald, Reference Librarian, SMacDonald@uarts.edu.
You may also be interested in our subject guide on African American History.
Timelines and Reference Materials
The following books contain information organized by year. Most cover the 20th century up to the mid-1990s.
REF before the call number indicates location in the reference section and library in-use only.
Parker and Nelson. Facts on File, 1983.
REF D840 .P27 1983 v. 1-2
Just what it says: a day-by-day listing of events from 1960-1969 from around the world. Interesting introduction in volume 1.
David M. Brownstone. HarperCollins, c1994.
REF NX447.5 .B76 1994
John W. Kirshon, editor. Dorling Kindersley, c1995.
REF D422 .C53 1995
Lois G. Gordon. Crown, c1990.
REF E169.1 .G664 1990
Fitzroy Dearborn, 2002.
CONTENTS v.1. 1900-1929 --v.2. 1930-1959 --v.3. 1960-1979 --v.4. 1980-1999.
REF NX456 .N49 2002 v.1-4
Contains full-text reprints of reviews and articles from the New York Times. Use the index in volume 4 to look for your topic.
George Ochoa and Melinda Corey. H.W. Wilson Co., 1998.
REF N5306 .O26 1998
Lorraine Glennon., editor in chief. Turner Pub., c1995.
REF D422 .O89 1995
The following titles are reference books and are a great place to get started.
Paul Finkelman, editor. Routledge, c2006.
REF KF4747.5 .E53 2006 v. 1-3
Great for issues such as censorship and privacy.
Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast, editors. St. James Press, c2000.
REF E169.1 .S764 2000 v.1-5
A good starting point for topics such as hippies, yippies, and Woodstock.
Paul Finkelman, editor in chief. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Available Online
Use encyclopedias like this to get a bibliography of books and articles on your topic.
Buhle et al. Oxford University Press, 1998.
REF HX86 .E58 1998
Covers diverse areas such as folk music, the disability rights movement, labor, radio, psychology, and more.
Finding books: searching the library catalog
One way to get started in the catalog is to do a keyword search on all the ways in which to say "the sixties":
This yields a lot of results, so try to narrow it down, for example:
- (sixties or 60s or 1960s or "nineteen sixties") and "civil rights"
- (sixties or 60s or 1960s or "nineteen sixties") and music*
- (sixties or 60s or 1960s or "nineteen sixties") and (theater or dance)
CIVIL RIGHTS--UNITED STATES
COUNTERCULTURE--UNITED STATES
FEMINISM--UNITED STATES--HISTORY
FOLK MUSIC--UNITED STATES--HISTORY AND CRITICISM
NINETEEN SIXTIES
NINETEEN SIXTY-EIGHT, A.D.
POPULAR MUSIC--POLITICAL ASPECTS
PROTEST MOVEMENTS--UNITED STATES--HISTORY
RADICALISM--UNITED STATES
SOCIAL CHANGE--UNITED STATES--HISTORY
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS--UNITED STATES--HISTORY
UNITED STATES--HISTORY--1961-1969
UNITED STATES--RACE RELATIONS--HISTORY
UNITED STATES--SOCIAL CONDITIONS--1960-
VIETNAM WAR, 1961-1975
WOMEN'S RIGHTS--UNITED STATES--HISTORY
Magazine and journal articles will always be the best place to look for current information on your topic. Periodical indexes are research tools that allow you to search for articles in journals and magazines.
Go to the library's Article Databases and Indexes page for a list of the UArts Libraries' subscription databases.
I've found articles I want to read. Now what?
There are different ways to find an article once you retrieve a citation in the index:
- See if there is a link in the index you're using to a full-text article online and download it or e-mail it to yourself.
- Check to see if our library holds the journal title. Look up the journal title or the ISSN*** in the catalog and look at the holdings.
- ***What is an ISSN? ISSN stands for International Standard Serial Number and is a unique number for a magazine or journal (not individual articles, but the magazine/journal title itself). You can use it in the UArts Libraries catalog and in many periodical indexes and databases. Searching with a number is much more precise than typing out a long title.
- Use WorldCat to make interlibrary loan requests for materials not owned by the UArts Libraries. Please ask staff if you have questions.
Photos, Films, and Artwork: Primary Sources
Would photos, artwork, or films enhance your research and studies? Check out the following sources.
- Academic Video Online. More than 23,000 complete streaming videos. We recommend using Advanced Search.
- AP Images. AP Images is a database of news photos dating back to 1826 and is updated constantly. Access is limited to on-campus only. We recommend using Advanced Search.
- ARTstor. ARTstor is a huge database of art images, including photography, city planning, architecture, and archaeology. Check out the features in Advanced Search.