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Popular Culture

Popular Culture is the inter-disciplinary study of the unofficial, non-elitist (i.e., often mass-produced) culture and values of the general public. Popular culture is generally, though not necessarily, disseminated by the mass media.

Background information || Articles || Core journals || Books || Style guides

General || Advertising || Cartoons/Comic books || Design || Ephemera || Fashion || Festivals || Food || Illustration

Mass media || Motion pictures || Musical theatre || Popular literature || Popular music || Sexual material || Sport

Find Background Information — Reference Materials

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks are excellent resources for gaining an overview of an unfamiliar subject. Entries in these sources explain concepts, terminology, points of view, and offer historical perspective. Annotated bibliographies offer a comprehensive listing of works about the subject, with a short description of each, as a guide for further research. The library holds many more relevant titles than those listed here, so browsing the shelves near these resources can be very helpful.

American Popular Culture Through History (series)
(various call numbers in the McHenry Reference Collection; conduct a keyword or title search for the series title)
Titles in this series cover a significant period in US history, from the Revolutionary War era through the Gilded Age at the end of the 19th century to each decade of the 20th century. Each title includes chapters on signficant political and social issues, advertising, fashion, food, leisure activities, the arts, and more, as well as a timeline of major events and the cost of typical products of the period.

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America
Ref E169.1 B7825 2002
Five-volume encyclopedia—each book covering two successive decades of the 20th century—featuring shorter entries on events, commercial products, performances in the mass media, trends, and fads, as well as contextual overviews and timelines of the period.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures (series)
(various call numbers in the McHenry Reference Collection; conduct a keyword or title search for the series title)
Each book in this eight-volume set focuses on the cultural traditions and particulars of a region of this vast country, addressing the built and natural environments, art, fashion, mass media and entertainment, folklore, food, language, religion, and recreation. Entries also list printed and Web resources, associations, and archives to consult for further information.

The Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture
Ref E169.1 G7555 2002
Throughout its four volumes, this set offers chapters on every aspect of popular life in the US, including architecture, leisure pursuits, electronic and print media, food, and transport, as well as the study of popular culture itself. Each essay provides an overview, historical outline, and comprehensive literature review of the topic, followed by a lengthy bibliography for further study.

The Guide to United States Popular Culture
Ref E169.1 D399 2001
Approximately 1600 brief, straightforward entries on the breadth of 20th-century popular culture, with an emphasis on entertainment, the mass media, popular literature, and prominent personalities involved in their production.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
Ref E169.1 S764 2000
Five-volume set containing shorter entries on the people, events, movements, artistic productions, and sports that have made a significant impression on the consciousness of the American public throughout the 20th century.

NOTE: In addition to general sources on US popular culture, the Reference Collection contains holdings on the popular cultures of other countries and cultures such as Latin American, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Brazilian.

Advertising

A Century of American Icons
Ref HF6161 B4 C46 2002
Presents, decade-by-decade of the 20th century, 100 products and brand-name figures (e.g., Betty Crocker, the Jolly Green Giant) characteristic of their period in American advertising and consumer culture. Entries detail product history, advertising strategy, significant competitors, and reception by consumers.

The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising
Ref HF5803 A38 2003
Published by the most influential journal in the field, this three-volume set offers marketing histories of brands and the corporations that produce them worldwide, profiles of agencies and historical figures in advertising, and essays on the theories and methods underlying this fundamental art of capitalist consumerism.

Cartoons/Comic books

Editorial Cartooning and Caricature
Ref E183.3 S66 1998
Reference guide to this form of illustration employed for political commentary in the popular press. Historical background—from the colonial period to present-day America—is provided, along with literature reviews of historical and critical works, reference books, periodicals, and research collections.

The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons
Ref NC1766 U5 L46 1999
Beginning with a lengthy essay on the history of the animated cartoon in the US, this work then approaches animation by type—silent, theatrically-released sound features and series, television series and specials—giving a brief history of the cartoon, along with its animators, actors, and studios, and a detailed list of episodes.

The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Ref NC1325 W67 1999
Seven-volume international survey of the entire cartoon field—caricature, editorial and political cartoons, sporting cartoons, syndicated strips, animation—offering aesthetic, commercial, cultural, historical, ideological, and sociological analysis of these works and their creators. Companion piece and same editor as The World Encyclopedia of Comics.

The World Encyclopedia of Comics
Ref PN6710 W6 1999
Global compendium of comic strips and comic books, comprising over 1200 alphabetical entries on the comics themselves, and the artists, writers, and editors who produce them. Copiously illustrated, it also includes a history of the medium, a world chronology, an analytical essay, a glossary, and the transcript of the 1954 US Senate hearings on juvenile deliquency and comics. The seven-volume World Encyclopedia of Cartoons (Ref NC1325 W67 1999) by the same author adds additional essays to this material.

Design

The Design Encyclopedia
Ref NK1370 B93 2004
Providing information that highlights the links between technology and culture, this work surveys the past 130 years of significant design concepts, studios, designers, and products. Entries include designers' biographical details, list exhibitions of their work, and offer bibliographies for further reading.

Ephemera

Encyclopedia of Ephemera
Ref NC1280 R52 2000
Histories and details of every conceivable sort of work-a-day, transitory document of popular life, such as bookmarks, greeting cards, posters, and much more, from Britain and the US.

Fashion

Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion
Ref GT507 E53 2005
Part of the Scribner Library of Daily Life, the 640 essays comprising this three-volume set take a global and inter-disciplinary approach to the subject, addressing not only specific types of clothing, modes of dress, and fashion designers but also fashion in societal context.

Fashion and Costume in American Popular Culture
Ref GT605 O45 1996
Reference guide featuring literature reviews and extensive bibliographies on every type of resource (encyclopedias, histories, museums and collections, periodicals) and aspect (psychological, sociological, cultural) of the topic.

Fashion, Costume, and Culture
Ref GT511 P46 2004
Concerned with more than merely clothing, this set explores the entire range of items of human decoration including headwear, footwear, and body decoration. The five volumes address different periods in history across the globe, from the ancient world to the present day, placing fashion in cultural, religious, and societal perspective.

Festivals

Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary
Ref GT3925 T46 1997
Compendium of information on more than 2,000 holidays and festivals of religious, secular, historical, or cultural signficance from over 100 countries in every part of the world. Brief entries are listed alphabetically and include origins and current practices, along with sources for more information. Extensive indexing also by geography, religion, chronology, or subject.

Traditional Festivals
Ref GT3925 R69 2005
History, symbolic significance, and practice of major festivals, feasts, and rites of all world religions and of indigenous cultures, from antiquity to the present. Entries in these two volumes include bibliographic references, and appendices provide upcoming dates for festivals in the major world religions.

Food

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture
Ref GT2850 E53 2003
With subjects arranged alphabetically, this three-volume resource—another in the Scribner Library of Daily Life—covers all essential aspects of food throughout the world: staple foods; prepared and processed foods; food systems (production, storage, and distribution); nutrition; feasts and festivals; and influential figures in food history.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
Ref TX349 E45 2004
In 770 entries, these two volumes approach American culinary history through chronological surveys from the pre-Columbian era to the present; both staple and prepared foods; the breadth of ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural contributions; biographies of important chefs, critics, authors, and writers in American gastronomy; and political and social movements concerning food.

Illustration

American Popular Illustration
Ref NC975 B45 1984
Reference guide containing a historical overview of the topic as well as literature-review chapters on critical and aesthetic theories, major illustrated works and illustrators, and works placing illustration in social and artistic context. Includes lengthy bibliographies.

Mass media

Encyclopedia of Communication and Information
Ref P87.5 E53 2002
While the scope of this work includes every facet of communication and information, many of the 280 essays within focus on the effects of mass media, including advertising, subliminal advertising, attachment to media characters, and body image; the effect of media on children, the elderly, racial and sexual minorities; biographies of influential individuals in media history; and histories of specific media. Bibliographies include relevant books, articles, and Web sites.

Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications
Ref P87.5 E532 2003
In detailed, statistically supported essays, this four-volume set thoroughly examines types of media, formats, modes of dissemination, genres, concepts and issues, histories, and the status of media in countries world-wide.

Encyclopedia of Radio
Ref TK6544 M84 2004
Published by the Museum of Broadcast Communications, these three volumes detail in shorter entries the prominent programming, personalities, historical figures and inventors, formats, stations, and networks throughout the world involved in the broadcast aspect of this first electronic medium, from its beginnings to the present day.

Encyclopedia of Television
Ref PN1992.18 E53 2004
Four volumes from the Museum of Broadcast Communications that present the innovative and the quintessential in television programming, in the US (primarily) and throughout the English-speaking world, including casts, programming times and dates, and bibliographies for further research. Also surveys important personalities, networks, historical and technological developments, social issues, and the state of the medium in countries throughout the world.

History of the Mass Media in the United States
Ref P92 U5 H55 1998
In short entries with references for further reading, considers the entire history of all forms of mass media in the US, from colonial times to the present. Books, broadcasting, the press, motion pictures, magazines, photography, advertising, public relations, and more are each examined by a series of articles.

Library in a Book: Power of the News Media
Ref PN4888 B74 H46 2004
One of the Library in a Book series, provides comprehensive insight into the mass media and its effects, through a historical overview and chronology, an explication of perspectives and issues, and the relationship of the news media to the law. Includes an entire chapter on researching the news media, as well as an extensive annotated bibliography.

World Press Encyclopedia
Ref PN4728 Q53 2003
Arranged alphabetically by country, these two volumes profile each nation's press system, giving historical background and characteristics, economic context, legal and censorial situations, relations with the state, and attitude toward foreign media. Entries also list news agencies and broadcast media, and bibliographies include relevant books, articles, and Web sites.

Motion pictures

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
Ref PN1997.8 I58 2000
Features critical synopses and production and cast credits for significant films produced in every language and country throughout the history of world cinema. Each entry lists books and articles about the film.

Magill's Cinema Annual
Ref PN1993.3 M34
Compilation of shorter reviews of the year's cinematic output, including box-office figures, production and cast credits, and a list of reviews in the popular press.

NOTE: Along with general film resources, the Reference Collection contains a vast array of materials specific to the cinemas of every country, numerous racial and ethnic groups and under-represented populations, as well as various genres (horror, film noir, westerns, and many more).

For a more comprehensive guide to film resources, see Film Studies: A UCSC Library Subject Guide (http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/instruction/refguides/film.html).

Musical theatre

The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre
Ref ML102 M88 G3 2001
Three-volume set offering synopses and critical commentary on musical productions of the past 150 years, principally from the countries most prolific in the field: Austria, Britain, France, Hungary, and the US. Writers, lyricists, and composers are given for each work, along with venue and date of first performance, and lists of resultant films and recordings. Also includes biographical entries of artists and creative personnel, directors, and producers, accompanied by bibliographic references.

Popular literature

100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors
Ref PS374 P63 D74 2005
Biographical sketches and bibliographies of 100 of the most popular, most successful English-language authors currently active, along with a selection of past writers of continuing interest. References include articles, Web sites, and books.

NOTE: The Reference Collection also contains many works on specific fiction genres (e.g., science fiction, mystery, gay).

Popular music

Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World
Ref ML102 P66 C66 2003
Seven-volume set discussing—in substantial, footnoted articles—every facet of popular music: social and cultural dimensions; industry, performance, and production; and historical background and contemporary details of the music itself, by continent, country, region, and cultural grouping. Entries conclude with bibliographical and discographical references.

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Ref ML102 P66 G84 1998
All-encompassing, multi-volume resource of nearly 50,000 entries chronicling the artists, writers, producers, publications, and recordings making up the entire history of rock, soul, blues, rhythm & blues, country, and jazz music in the UK, US, and beyond. Entries include biographical data, critical commentary, and star-rated discographies.

Sexual material

Pornography and Sexual Representation
Ref HQ472 U6 S53 2001
In three volumes, this work offers lengthy scholarly articles on every aspect of the topic in the American milieu. Chapters includes a chronology; histories of both American pornography and sexual representation in general; reference works, social and medical research, and collections; sexual representation in the arts and mass media; economics; and censorship. Includes abundant bibliographies.

Sport

Encyclopedia of World Sport
Ref GV567 E56 1996
Three volumes on the history and evolution of sport as a societal institution, as well as the development of individual sports, from ancient times to the present. Entries also offer details of basic rules, equipment, and playing environment, along with bibliographies.

Sports Culture: An A-Z Guide
Ref GV706.5 C383 2000
In short articles, examines sport's issues, events, individuals, and groups in societal and cultural contexts. Brief bibliographies follow each entry.

Find Journal and Magazine Articles

NOTE: All online resources are available by connecting to the Library Research Web page (http://library.ucsc.edu/research.html) and searching for the name of the resource in the Fast Find Online Resources & Databases by Title text-entry box.

Expanded Academic ASAP
Contains citations for articles in popular magazines and scholarly journals on every subject in the humanities, general sciences, and social sciences. Indexes articles from 1980-present. Many records have abstracts and full text. Published by Gale.

Art Full Text/Art Retrospective
Indexes and abstracts articles from art periodicals published throughout the world. Topics include advertising art, architecture and architectural history, art history, computers in art, fashion design, folk art, graphic arts and design, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, motion pictures, non-western art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, television, textiles, video. Art Full Text indexing: 1984-present; Art Retrospective indexing: 1929-1984.

Film Literature Index
Complete indexing of articles, reviews, and book reviews from 150 scholarly, critical, and popular periodicals on film, television, and video published in 30 countries, along with selective indexing of 200 additional titles. Coverage: 1976-2001.

International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP)
Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 420 international music periodicals, plus full text for 83 selected journals. Coverage: 1874-present.

International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA)
Abstracting and indexing of around 230 journals in dance, film, drama, television, the arts and entertainment industry, stagecraft, magic, musical theatre, and performance art; full text is provided for 62 publications. Coverage ranges from as early as 1864 to the present.

LexisNexis Academic
Provides full-text documents from over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications, including national and regional US newspapers, international news and wire services, broadcast transcripts, and non-English-language sources. Book, film, music, and theatre reviews, as well as entertainment and sports news, may be searched from the Guided News Search tab, Arts & Sports News category.

Literature Resource Center (LRC)
Full-text access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of 122,000 authors from antiquity to the present. Subjects include novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers. Genres can be selected in advanced search.

MLA International Bibliography
Citations to articles, books, and book chapters in languages, linguistics, folklore, and literature, compiled by the Modern Language Association; 1963-present.

ProQuest Newspapers
Offers full text of the Los Angeles Times, New York Times (including the book review and magazine sections), and the Wall Street Journal. Every issue of each title includes the complete newspaper, cover-to-cover; historical issues includefull-page and article images in downloadable PDF files. Database coverage: ProQuest Newspapers—Los Angeles Times (1985-present), New York Times (1995-present), Wall Street Journal (1982-present); ProQuest Historical Newspapers—Los Angeles Times (1881-1985), New York Times (New York Daily Times, 1851-1857; 1857-2002), Wall Street Journal (1889-1988).

Sociological Abstracts
Contains citations and abstracts for articles from journals, books, conference papers, and dissertations in sociology and other social and behavioral sciences. Indexes articles from 1963-present; citations after 1974 contain abstracts. Published by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA).  

NOTE: The UC-eLinks icon in most online databases will lead you to the text of journal articles. UC-eLinks will provide links to online text when available, the call numbers for print copies of journals, and forms for requesting items through interlibrary loan if UCSC doesn't own the journal. See the UC-eLinks Guide (http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/elinks.html) for more information.

Find Core Journals

NOTE: Most of the journals—nearly all peer-reviewed—listed here are indexed in the Expanded Academic ASAP database. These are only a few of nearly 250 popular-culture-related journals, in print and online, in the library's collection. (Titles without call numbers listed here are online-only journals.)

Find Books

CRUZCAT (http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu) is UCSC's online library catalog. It includes books, periodicals, maps, videos, government publications, CDs, music scores, and more materials located in both McHenry and the Science & Engineering libraries. Although it contains links to full-text journal titles, do not search for article titles in CRUZCAT.

The Melvyl Union Catalog (http://melvyl.cdlib.org) contains the library holdings of all 10 UC campuses. It also has links to request items UCSC does not own, through interlibrary loan. Although it contains links to full-text journal titles, do not search for article titles in Melvyl.

Try the following Library of Congress subject headings to find books in Popular Culture:

Advertising	Caricatures and cartoons	Comic books, strips, etc.
Design	Fashion	Festivals
Food	Mass media	Motion pictures
Popular literature	Popular music	Pornography
Press	Sports	Television

Style Guides

How to Use the APA Style Guide (http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/apa_citations.html)

How to Use the MLA Style Guide (http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/mla_citations.html)