Southern Studies Jumpgate

The Southern Studies Jumpgate is an annotated list of sites chosen either because they 1) provided useful tools and references for scholars of the South or 2) presented a critical perspective on the region, its culture and history. When another organization has ably documented sites on a particular subject (e.g. the Civil War), rather than duplicate these efforts, we have provided a link to their index. If you know of a site that has been overlooked, please send the URL.


| Research Centers | Literature | Economy | Civil War | Sports | Journals | Societies | Presses | Libraries | African Americana | General Academic | General Culture |


Research Centers

  • Center for the Study of the American South
    Located at the University of North Carolina, the Center's new site features a list of upcoming events, an annotated jumpgate to southern studies resources on the WWW, information on Center publications (The Road South, Southern Cultures, and the Southern Research Report), and several online exhibits featuring some of the University's remarkable sources in Southern history.

  • Institute for Southern Studies
    Located at the University of South Carolina, ISS sponsors the undergraduate program in Southern Studies, offering undergrates an intellectual framework for exploring the American South, providing them with new perspectives on their personal experiences, and establishing a basis for lifelong learning about the region. The Institute also supports new research, organizing conferences and sponsoring lectures that provide scholars with opportunities to present their current work and benefit from comments. ISS also contributes to the production of new scholarship by hosting visiting research fellows and administering two graduate fellowship programs.

  • Center for the Study of Southern Culture
    Located at the University of Mississippi, the center's home page is a virtual mall of programs, publications, media productions, conferences, and events. The site features information on Center publications (Living Blues, Southern Register, Mississippi Folklife, and CrossRoads), upcoming conferences, and the Southern Studies program at the University of Mississippi. A Southern Media Archive features the Cofield Studio collection, which includes many formal portraits of William Faulkner, and the Howard Collection, containing approximately 160,000 black and white negatives from the studio of Vic Howard, documenting everyday life in Harlan County, Kentucky, from the 1940s through the early 1970s.

  • The Center for Documentary Studies
    While this Duke University site does not focus on the South exclusively, the exhibits and programs often reflect quite poignantly on Southern life.

  • American Studies at the University of Virginia
    Homepage of the American Studies program at the University of Virginia.

  • Atlanta History Center
    Indian settlements . . . Cotton Fields . . . The Civil War . . . Coca-Cola . . . Gone with the Wind . . . Civil Rights . . . CNN . . . The Olympic Games . . .You'll find the inside story at the Atlanta History Center--the story of the people and events that have made Atlanta the South's most important city and home of the 1996 Olympic Games. With one of the country's largest history museums, two National Register houses, beautiful period gardens, and a research library/archives, the Atlanta History Center offers many ways to explore Atlanta's fascinating past. Site includes information on the Center and its publications as well as finding aids for the Center's manuscript collections and virtual tours of its museum.


Southern Literature

  • A Digitized Library of Southern Literature: Beginnings to 1920
    The late Professor Bain of the English Department at UNC-CH asked his colleagues in Southern studies to help him identify the one hundred most important Southern literary texts. The list he compiled forms the basis of this project. The first twenty-five texts come from the premier Southern collections of the libraries at UNC-CH: the North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and Davis Library. The project is a part of a larger database to document the cultural history of the American South, Documenting the American South, or, The Southern Experience in 19-th Century America. It offers diaries and memoirs, autobiographies, travel accounts, titles on slavery and regional literature drawn from the splendid Southern holdings of the UNC-CH Academic Affairs Library.

  • The Moonlit Road
    The Moonlit Road is a gateway into the dark and mysterious corners of the American South. Each month, we will feature new Southern stories of the curious and the paranormal, told by some of the region's best storytellers. By selecting a story, you embark on a journey to a storyteller's home in the land where the story was born. The Moonlit Road is also an interactive storehouse of Southern history and culture. Learn about New Orleans's mysteriously enticing "cities of the dead," the Appalachian mountain dulcimer, the Gullah people of Sapelo Island, the haunting blues music of the Mississippi Delta, and many other unique pieces of the Southern experience. New features will be added regularly, so we invite you to return often. We also invite you to join our mailing list and be among the first to know when new stories and features are up on The Moonlit Road.

  • The George Moses Horton Society and Conference
    The weekend of the North Carolina Literary Festival, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host a conference on the life and work of poet George Moses Horton. A North Carolina slave, Horton taught himself to read and write. His 1829 work, The Hope of Liberty, was the first volume of verse published in the South by an African-American.

  • The Kate Chopin Project
    The website for this outspoken and discerning Louisiana woman writer includes a biographical sketch, photographs and glossed story texts.

  • The William Faulkner Foundation, France, Home Page
    The Anglophone web pages of this Faulkner Studies organization include a filmography, access to manuscripts, and information on creative writing workshops.

  • William Faulkner on the Web
    This University of Mississippi-based site includes a Faulkner bibliography and filmography, and links to the Faulkner Centenary celebrations as well as the Faulkner e-mail discussion group.

  • The Walker Percy Project
    An on-line museum dedicated to the UNC-CH alumnus whom The New York Times Book Review called "our cool Dostoevsky," including a photograph gallery, scholarly resource guide, and an on-line bookstore.

  • Anniina's Alice Walker Page
    This website includes a biographical sketch, interviews, a selected bibliography, a small image archive, and excerpts from her poetry, essays, and short stories.

  • Richard Wright: Black Boy
    The website of the joint ITVS-Mississippi ETV television production marking the 50th anniversary of the autobiography that articulated, in the author's words, the lives of "voiceless Negro boys."

  • The Thomas Wolfe Website
    The site includes a Wolfe Bibliography, scholarly competition information, access to a virtual tour of the author's childhood home, and links to the Thomas Wolfe Review.

Southern Politics, Economy and Business

  • Southern Politics Home Page
    Provides links to the major government information server in each of the Southern states.

  • Southern Growth Policies Board
    The Southern Growth Policies Board is a public, nonprofit, 15-state organization charged with creating strategies for economic development. At this site you can find out more about the Board, its members and associate members, its projects and publications, and upcoming events. A Regional Economic Development Database allows real-time searches of the economic data of participating states, and a Gateway to the South provides direct links to participating states and to other organizations that serve the South.

Civil War


Sports

  • SportSouth
    This home page for UNC-CH's Program for the Study of Sport in the American South features an annotated bibliography of materials relevant to sporting in North Carolina, a directory of North Carolina sports organizations, and information on upcoming and past events sponsored by the program.

Journals, Magazines, and Reviews

  • DoubleTake
    This award-winning magazine of journalism, photography and fiction is published by Duke's Center for Documentary Studies.

  • The Mississippi Review
    One of the most prominent literary magazines in the United States, this review edited by author Frederick Barthelme regularly features the work of contemporary writers such as Margaret Atwood, Rita Dove, and David Lipsky.

  • Oyster Boy Review
    Published in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, this small literary review features a link to the Harry Crews home page.

  • Journal of Southern History
    Includes general information about the journal, its board, and submissions policy. Provides tables of contents for issues from February 1995 to the present.

  • Mississippi Quarterly
    A publication of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Research at Mississippi State University. Founded in 1948, MHQ is a refereed, scholarly journal which publishes articles on the life and culture of the South, past and present. In addition to the four regular issues, the journal publishes an annual "Checklist of Scholarship in Southern Literature" as a supplement." Site presents basic publication information, gives tables of contents for Summer 1995 to the present.

  • Southern Cultures
    Posing and discussing questions as varied as the region itself, Southern Cultures explores what makes the South the South--its history, politics, folklore, literature, art, and social structures. The journal attracts scholarly contributions from diverse disciplines and an audience of both scholars and the general educated public. Reviews of books, museum exhibitions, films, and sound recordings and feartures on souther food, music, research resources, personal reminiscence, and contemporary trends appear regularly. Site includes subscription and submission information, tables of contents for past issues, and thumbnails of upcoming articles.

  • The Southern Quarterly
    "For SoQ "the arts" is defined broadly, and we include in our pages the traditional arts--literature, painting, sculpture, music, dance, etc.--as well as popular culture. SoQ also publishes studies of southern culture from such disciplines as folklore, anthropology and history. Most issues of SoQ have a thematic focus." Site presents subscription and submission information, tables of contents for back issues and previews of upcoming issue themes.

Historical Societies

    http://www.vahistorical.org
  • Virginia Historical Society
    Site includes online catalog for the Society's holdings, a listing of available photographs, t.o.c.'s for the Society's journal--Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, and information on the Society itself.

  • South Carolina Historical Society
    Robust offerings too diverse to list here--your point of departure for South Carolina history. Includes information on the Society and its publications, online exhibits, searchable indexes of Society holdings, and slide shows on South Carolina in the Civil War.

  • Tennessee Historical Commission
    Site includes full list of Tennessee-related web offerings, a virtual museum, and on-line version of the Commission's newsletter.

Presses

  • Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
    From its first years in the garage of UNC-CH professor Louis D. Rubin, Jr., Algonquin has consistently published some of the finest fiction and nonfiction in America.

  • Duke University Press
    The publisher of approximately 95 book titles a year as well as some 20 journals, Duke prints some of the most innovative scholarship in the arts and humanities.

  • John F. Blair, Publisher
    Specializing in the Southeast, this Winston-Salem house publishes everything from notable Civil War histories to special-interest cookbook. Blair is also the home of several popular travel guides, including Historic Restaurants and Touring the Backroads.

  • North Carolina Wesleyan College Press
    This press specializes in books about Eastern North Carolina and writers associated with the Black Mountain School. Notable writers affiliated with NCWCP include Reynolds Price and Alan Gurganus.

  • Parvardigar Press
    This award-winning publisher produces lavishly illustrated books on Eastern religion for both children and adults.

  • Saint Andrew's Press
    This small press in Laurinburg, NC publishes both established and new writers of poetry and short fiction. Several of its books have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

  • University of North Carolina Press
    In addition to an exhibit on UNC's 75 years of scholarly publishing, this site features a Hurricane trivia quiz, a Southern IQ test, and an announcement of a major new intellectual biography of William Faulkner.

  • Louisiana State University
    Site features complete catalogs and ordering information for LSU books.

  • University of Missouri
    Provides complete catalogs and ordering information, including how to secure examination copies and permissions.

  • University of Texas
    Features some of the books and journals published by the press, as well as giving basic catalog and ordering information.

  • University Press of Virginia
    Includes information about the press, ordering and permissions, press news, information for authors, catalogs, and some related sites. The site also features two electronic publications: Timothy D. Pyatt, editor, Guide to African-American Documentary Resources in North Carolina. Charlottesville, 1996; and Michael Plunkett, Afro-American Sources in Virginia: A Guide to Manuscripts. Charlottesville, 1995.

Libraries


African Americana

  • Excerpts from Slave Narratives.
    This site, designed as a teaching tool for undergraduate students, is a topically organized collection of narratives from a variety of sources that shows the evolution of slavery over time, from the African slave trade to emancipation.

  • American Slave Narratives: An On-line Anthology
    This a an online anthology of American slave narratives taken from the WPA collection; it includes photographs alongside the narratives, as well as some sound files, so that readers may listen to an ex-slave's story as they read the text of the narrative.

  • Freedmen and Southern Society Project
    The Freedmen and Southern Society Project was established in 1976 to capture the essence of that revolution by depicting the drama of emancipation in the words of the participants: liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and the elite, Northerners and Southerners. Drawing upon the rich resources of the National Archives of the United States, the project's editors pored over millions of documents, selecting some 50,000. They are presently transcribing, organizing, and annotating them to explain how black people traversed the bloody ground from slavery to freedom between the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 and the beginning of Radical Reconstruction in 1867. The documents vividly speak for themselves, and interpretive essays by the editors provide historical context. Online versions of many of these documents are available at the site.

  • Recent Acquisitions in African-American History and Literature at the University of Virginia Library
    Well-groomed thumbnails of the collection's latest additions.

  • The Amistad Research Center (Tulane University)
    The Amistad Research Center is one of the nation's premier minority repositories. Named after a famed revolt by Africans on La Amistad in 1839 and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, the Amistad was organized by the Race Relations Department of Fisk University and the American Missionary Association in 1966. Now conveniently housed at Tulane, the Armistad has more than 10,000,000 documents, and is acknowledged as the nation's largest independent African-American archives. This site includes brief descriptions of the art, artifacts, and manuscripts held by the center.

  • African American History at Mississippi State University
    A historical text archive includes links to an array of African American sources on the web.

  • The Database of African-American Poetry, 1760-1900 (University of Virginia, Electronic Text Center)
    The database is a collection of over 2,500 poems, based on William French's bibliography, Afro-American Poetry and Drama 1760-1975. This site does not interface with the database, but provides information on how to purchase and access it.

  • African-American Resources from Special Collections at the University of Virginia Library (UVa Electronic Text Center)
    Features primary materials culled from the archive, reflecting 200 years of African American life.

  • Selections from The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
    The African-American Mosaic covers the nearly 500 years of the black experience in the Western hemisphere, surveying the full range, size, and variety of the Library's collections, including books, periodicals, prints, photographs, music, film, and recorded sound. This web exhibit is but a sampler of the kinds of materials and themes covered by the publication and the Library's collections.

  • The Archives of African American Music and Culture (Indiana University)
    Collections include audio and video recordings, photographs, original scores, and oral histories, among other artifacts and ephemera related to popular, religious and art musics, and Black radio. The archives conducts collaborative resarch with such units as the Afro-American Arts Institue and the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, the Smithsonian Institution and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. The site includes information about upcoming exhibitions and events, an impressive and annotated list of WWW sites related to African American music, and a (non-annotated) index to Indiana's archival holdings.

  • Retrieving African American Women's History, (Special Collections Library, Duke University)
    Site features a published guide describing the collections held at Duke University, but does not include scanned images or digitized text of actual archival documents.

  • Federal Information Exchange Minority On-line Information Service: Minority Colleges and Universities by State
    Easily navigated image maps guide the browser to information on every minority college or university in the United States.

  • African American History Archives in the World History Archives
    Provides links to historical and contemporary documents published on the WWW and related to African Americans.

  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
    The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a national research library devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout the world. The Center's collection, over 5,000,000 items, includes art objects, audio and video tapes, books, manuscripts, motion picture films, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, prints, recorded music discs, and sheet music. Site includes general information on the Center, its exhibitions, programs, and performances, a selected list of electronic sources on Africa and the African diaspora, and a multimedia music exhibit.

  • African-American Archaeology Newsletter (New South Associates)
    Includes electronic versions of the African American Archaeology Network's newsletter.

  • A Guide to Manuscript and Microfilm Collections of The Research Library of The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
    The Balch Library, which houses the largest multiethnic collection in the country, supports student study, advanced research, and genealogical investigation. Balch holdings contain material on more than 80 ethnic and racial groups, primary sources on more than 30 groups, including resources virtually undocumented elsewhere, and a body of research materials on multiculturalism, immigration, and diversity in the United States. The library contains approximately 60,000 volumes, 6,000 serial titles, 5,000 linear feet of manuscript collections, 6,000 reels of microfilm, 12,000 photographs, and other resources. Site provides guides to these collections as well as sample images and exhibitions of library materials.

  • National Association for Ethnic Studies
    The National Association for Ethnic Studies was founded in 1972. It provides an interdisciplinary forum for scholars and activists concerned with the national and international dimensions of ethnicity. The Association welcomes scholars and teachers at all educational levels, students, libraries, civic and governmental organizations, and all persons interested in ethnicity, ethnic groups, intergroup relations, and the cultural life of ethnic minorities. As a non-profit corporation, NAES provides a vehicle for interested members and donors to promote responsible scholarship and advocacy in the diverse fields of enquiry which constitute ethnic studies. Site provides basic information about the organization.

  • African Americana Webliography (LSU Libraries)
    Annotated list of African American resources on the WWW.

  • African-American Bibliography: History (State Library of New York)
    In honor of Black History Month, the New York State Library issued this African-American Bibliography: History. The bibliography lists selected resources of the New York State Library that document and comment on the experience of African Americans in the history of the United States. In addition to primary sources and significant historical works, the bibliography contains references to bibliographies and research aids. Site includes the full text.

  • Biographical Profiles of Some Important 19th-Century African Americans
    Site presents 250-500 word biographies of Alexander Crummell, Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland Garnet, Harriet Tubman, Henry McNeal Turner, John Mercer Langston, Mary Elizabeth Boswer, Mary Church Terrell, Mary Ann Shadd, Nat Turner, Richard Allen, and Sojurner Truth.

  • Third Person, First Person: Slave Voices From the Duke University Special Collections Library
    Multimedia exhibit featuring some of the collection's rich materials on slavery in the Americas.

General Academic

    http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~south/
  • H-SOUTH
    H-SOUTH is the H-Net discussion list dealing with the culture and history of the American South. The homepage provides links to discussion threads, bibliographies, conference information and calls for papers, exhibition reviews, and grant, scholarship, and fellowship information.

  • JSTOR, Redefining Access to Scholarly Literature
    JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It is dedicated to helping the scholarly community take advantage of advances in information technologies. Site allows the browser to view articles from major journals in ecology, economics, education, finance, history, mathematics, political science, and population studies. Flexible search feature.

  • History Reviews On-Line
    History Reviews On-Line is an electronic journal devoted to reviewing books on all fields of history. It is supported by the DePauw University and is issued three times a year--Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer.

  • American Historical Review
    Provides information on subscriptions, submissions, advertising, etc. Provides links to over 350 history department home pages across the world.

  • Organization of American Historians
    Site includes information on membership, programs and activities, awards, prizes, and lectureships, Organization publications (JAH, OAH Newsletter, OAH Magazine of History, and CONNECTIONS), employment listings, grants, fellowships, and job resources. Also provides a list of sites for the professional historian.

  • University Microfilms International
    Provides information for ordering reproductions of dissertations.

  • Library of Congress
    Includes information on legislative activity and features the online resource "American Memory" consisting of primary source and archival materials relating to American culture and history. Most of these offerings are from the Library's unparalleled special collections.

  • National Archives and Records Administration
    NARA is the government agency responsible for overseeing the management of the records of the federal government. NARA ensures, for the Citizen and the Public Servant, for the President and the Congress and the Courts, ready access to essential evidence that documents the rights of American citizens, the actions of federal officials, and the national experience. Site includes an array of online resources and exhibitions.

  • The Smithsonian Institution Home Page
    Accessible guide to exhibitions, holdings, and features of the Smithsonian museums.

  • Bibliography of Southern Literary Magazines, 1727-1900.
    This database includes bibliographic information about literary magazines of the American South. It begins in 1727, when William Parks published THE MARYLAND GAZETTE, the first "traceable" literary periodical, and ends in 1900. The bibliography is arranged by state and includes information on where to find extant issues of the magazine.

General Southern Culture

  • The Gumbo Pages
    The Gumbo Pages are a musical, culinary and cultural information source about New Orleans and Acadiana (or "Cajun country"). Site offers a wealth of information for the Louisiana-bound traveler.

  • The Bubba-l Receipt Archive
    BUBBA-L is an e-mail list that is devoted to the conversational language, culture, lifestyles, history, and humor of the Southern United States. The objective of BUBBA-L is to provide a relaxing and hopefully enjoyable opportunity for folks who live, (or used to live... or wish they lived :-) in the South... or for those who are just interested in the South... to swap anecdotes, ask questions, answer questions, discuss the proper plural of "y'all", wax nostalgic about the scent of magnolias, or most'all anything else that the subscribers feel like. Site includes a recipe and image archive and a list of Internet sites.

  • Southern Living Magazine
    An attractive buffet of information on travel, food, gardens, and home interiors.

  • The American South Home Page, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Includes a list of links to other Southern sites and features a list, alphabetic or by state, of the home pages of all the major colleges and universities of the South.

  • Y'all
    The "Webzine of the South" with a searchable index of all past features.


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