4663 Creative NonfictionAutobiography

Finding Sources Books – What is available for my use in the

library? Reference Collection Literary Criticism

Keywords for searching Author’s name Criticism http://swosu.edu/library/

Finding Sources Timelines – How does what has happened in

literature or in other people’s lives relate to my experiences? Books

Examples from Reference Collection Databases

Literary Reference Center (EBSCOhost)

Search for Scholarly Articles Initial Step

Create an EBSCO folder for LRC sources LION, JSTOR, and Project Muse sources can be

archived Database Resources

Literary Reference Center (EBSCOhost) LION: Literature Online Complete JSTOR Journal Archive Project Muse

Oral Tradition Other ways to record autobiographical

information StoryCorps – the opportunity to record family

stories http://www.storycorps.net/ Since 2003, over 35,000 people have shared life

stories with family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share. The conversation is preserved at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind.

WPA Collections During the Great Depression (October 1929 to around

1939 and the beginning of World War II), President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to employ as many people as possible on projects that would provide long-term benefit to local communities. One of these projects was the Federal Writers’ Project. Through this project, many American stories were recorded and are available to us today.

More WPA Information American Memory from the Library of Congress:

American Life Histories of the Common People http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html

American Folklife Center Collections are available to us online.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html Here is Zora Neale Hurston:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/flwpabib:@field(AUTHOR+@od1(Hurston,+Zora+Neale))

More from the Library of Congress Link to Webcasts

http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/webcasts/j-r.html See and hear Joyce Carol Oates

http://www.blinkx.com/video/joyce-carol-oates-preview-clip/3SqE2jz-qrKtJUlQg5kW-A

Oklahoma Connections Oklahoma Historical Society:

Oklahoma Journeys via podcast http://www.okhistory.org/podcasts.html This source includes many stories related to the

people of Oklahoma and their relationships to the history of the state.

A Western Oklahoma Voice Born in Lawton, Kiowa Pulitzer Prize-

winning author and English professor N. Scott Momaday discusses the importance of telling our stories

Momaday says, “‘My father was a great storyteller and he knew many stories from the Kiowa oral tradition. He told me many of these stories over and over because I loved them. But it was only after I became an adult that I understood how fragile they are, because they exist only by word of mouth, always just one generation away from extinction. That’s when I began to write down the tales my father and others had told me.’”

http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4203

Here is a link to listen to Dr. Momaday at the 2007 National Book Festival http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2007/authors/Moma

day.html It is important to keep our stories alive, so

autobiography—in both oral and written forms–is a significant way for this to be accomplished.

Questions?? Please contact me: Jane Long

jane.long@swosu.edu 774-3030

Have fun with your research and your autobiographical writing