The identification and bibliographic control of publications by African-American women writers in New Jersey

This dissertation develops and evaluates a process for identifying African American women writers in New Jersey who published books between 1836 and 1990. It analyzes the importance of published and oral sources in the identification process. The published sources included bibliographies, biographies, bio-bibliographies, and bibliographic utilities, while the oral sources were members of the local community primarily, and a few out-of-state people. Members of the community were identified through: (a) interviews with individuals known to the investigator, (b) mail solicitation, and (c) field work involving visits to libraries, historical societies, schools, individuals' homes, conferences, and professional and social gatherings. This study used the "small world" method to analyze the characteristics of this predominantly African American community's social networks that provided links to the writers. The characteristics of the authors are also described. The assessment of bibliographic control was accomplished by studying bibliographic coverage and analyzing both author and source coverage.Three major findings emerge. One, published sources, however essential and extensive, were far from definitive for identifying the African American women writers in New Jersey. Two, the local community is an invaluable source of information for the identification of local women writers. Three, African American women writers in New Jersey are poorly covered by the existing reference sources. In light of these findings, the local community will always be needed to gain bibliographic control over literatures that are not yet part of the bibliographic universe.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio