Guides: Advice, Conduct and Etiquette Literature: Sources

Sources

Defining Gender Online
Database of several hundred digitized works of advice literature for women and men published in the United Kingdom.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Enormous online collection of English Language books published between 1701 and 1800. Because of the enormity of the database and inadequacies of the search interface persistence in trying different terms is necessary.
19th and 20th Century Books Online
Advice Literature in America [Microform]
Van Pelt Microtext Center: Microfilm 4459.
The Schlesinger collection of etiquette and advice books, from the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920
Database of digitized historic publications about social dance and other issues involving dancing. Includes information on appropriate behavior and etiquette for social dances.

EEBO: Early English Books Online
Enormous online collection of English Language books published between 1475 and 1700. Use the subject keyword search feature on the advanced search page to limit your search. Try limiting by subjects such as etiquette, conduct of life, and other terms in the above list of subject headings.

Early American Imprints, Series I and II 1639-1819
Enormous database of works published in the United States prior to 1800. Browse for advice literature by clicking on the Subjects tab and choosing 'Society, Manners and Customs.' Relevant subject headings include: Clothing and Dress, Courtship, Etiquette, Manners and Customs, Masturbation, and Sexual Ethics.

Readers' Guide Retrospective
Not an online collection but an index to articles from mainstream periodicals published from 1890-1980. Try doing subject searches for etiquette and conduct of life.

Sunday School Books - (American Memory from the Library of Congress)
"163 Sunday school books published in America between 1815 and 1865, drawn from the collections of Michigan State University Libraries and the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University Libraries. They document the culture of religious instruction of youth in America during the Antebellum era."
The Nineteenth Century in Print: the Making of America in Books
Online database of about 1,500 books from the 19th century. To browse works of advice literature try clicking on the 'self-help and self-improvement' section or looking in the subject index for some of the headings listed in the first section of this guide.
Women advising women
Call#: Van Pelt Library Microtext Microtext Microfilm cont 703
Large set of works of prescriptive literature, including works on raising children, marriage, diet, health, education, and similar topics. The collection consists of books and periodicals published in the United Kingdom. Some of the works in this set can be found online in the Defining Gender collection listed above.
Women Working
Database of digitized documents relating to womens' roles in the U.S. economy. It includes etiquette and advice books meant to assist women who are entering the work world. Try using the catalog records section of the search feature to do subject searches for etiquette or conduct of life.