Classical Scholarship :
a guide to Library Resources

Contents:

Starting points | Finding books | Finding journal articles| Web resources

STARTING POINTS

The following dictionaries/encyclopedias are starting points for biographical information on classicists:

Biographical dictionary of North American classicists (1994) [print]
[Biographical sketches (with bibliography) of classicists (deceased) from the USA & Canada. Covers from the 17th century to 1993]

Classical scholarship : a biographical encyclopedia (1990) [print]
[Selective coverage (including bibliography) of 50 influential scholars]

Biographical information is also contained in standard classical dictionaries and encyclopedias

 Researchers undertaking a literature survey may also want to consult the following surveys:

Continuity and change in classical scholarship : a quantitative survey 1924-1992 [electronic]
[Published in volume 28, 1997 of Ancient Society. Also available in print format]

Professional historians of classical antiquity in the English-speaking world: a quantitative survey [print]
[Published in volume 13, 1999 of the Ancient History Bulletin]

Philologisches schriftsteller-lexikon (1882) [print]
[Source for biography of European classical scholars from the 15th century to the late 19th century]

FINDING BOOKS USING THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE

Browse the following catalogue searches for books on classicists and classical scholarship:

Classicism

Classicists
Classicists Biography
Classical education

Classical literature Study & Teaching

Classical philology History

Classical philology Study & Teaching

To find books about individuals or individual classical institutions, use the Subject Heading index option in the library catalogue.  Here are some examples:

American Classical League
British School at Rome
Bowra, C.M.
Murray, Gilbert

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES USING DATABASES & BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

Searching databases and bibliographies is a good way to locate journal articles (& sometimes books) on classical scholarship. For most topics the databases listed in the Databases for Classics guide should be sufficient.

Researchers needing to undertake a more comprehensive literature search may also wish to consult the following bibliographies:

L'Annee philologique [print]
[The premier index for Classics - if it's unfamiliar, read this description before attempting to use it. See especially Section IX : Les Etudes Classiques in each annual printed volume for classical scholarship. The Index des Noms D'Auteurs Modernes in each volume can be used for identifying book & journal article publications by individuals]

Bibliography of classical scholarship in the Middle Ages & the Early Renaissance (9th to 15th centuries) [print]
[A 1997 bibliography published in Medieval and Renaissance scholarship : proceedings of the second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance]

Cambridge ritualists : an annotated bibliography (1990) [print]
[Includes Gilbert Murray & F.M. Cornford]

Introductory bibliography to the history of classical scholarship chiefly in the XIXth and XXth centuries (1992) [print]

WEB RESOURCES

Web-sites of classical associations and research institutes often contain historical information on aspects of classical scholarship -  see for example the Brief history of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States and The Classical World: 1907-1980. The American Philological Association provides links to many of these web-sites.

This page is maintained by Jennifer Osborn
Last update:  9 August 2007