Some Important Research Tools for the Early Modern Period

Take a look at two things: 1) Early English Books, 1475-1640, and 2) Early English Books, 1641-1700. These are among the two primary resources that a researcher in this period of literature will use the most often. The printed index that goes along with these, the STC (Short Title Catalogue) (sometimes called the ESTC, or English Short Title Catalogue), will allow you to search through microfilm reproductions of 17th-century English texts (the two important names to remember here are Pollard--for 1475-1640--and Wing--for 1641 to 1700). The problem is that CSUN has an incomplete collection of each series.  EEBO (Early English Books Online) is a much easier way to search through this material, as they have turned these texts into PDF files that can be viewed over the web...but CSUN doesn't subscribe to the database--they say it is too expensive (though they are apparently looking into negotiating some kind of deal for it in the future). UCLA does subscribe, as does USC, so this database can be accessed locally, but it will require some driving.

What I am hoping for here is this--you will do some digging into the printed material of Milton's own lifetime in terms of some issue raised in Paradise Lost (and this would be something important to do no matter what the author/time period). Since this poem raises nearly all issues, this pretty much means the field of inquiry is wide open. If the relationship of Adam and Eve is what interests you, then what was being said about marriage (or divorce) in the time period? If it is something political--kingship, government, tyranny, rebellion, etc.--then what can you find in the contemporary texts that are available that talks about those issues? (Whatever the interest, what are people saying about that issue in print at the time?)

Now, how can you find this material? How can you know--or look up--who is saying what about what? Here, it helps to find a library search engine that will allow you to search these old texts by keyword. CSUN's won't. UCLA's will, but only to a limited extent (it only indexes printed material that it owns, not the material that is included in its microfilm collection). One of the best library search engines that I know of for this sort of thing is at at Stanford. Go to their library’s catalog:

http://jenson.stanford.edu

When you get there, you have reached a simple search page. Don’t use that. Click the link that says “Combined Search.” That’s the page you really want. Then, do some searching.

Try, for instance, finding something written about the London Fire of 1666 through the keyword search function. (Search with London and Fire and 1666) You will end up finding a number of things, chief of which are sermons by preachers named Elborough and Vincent. Now, you can't access this stuff through the Stanford library, but you can use the information they give you to find it at CSUN (through microfilm) or at UCLA/USC through EEBO.

When doing the above search, even before dealing with the EEBO or no-EEBO issue, one thing you might find is a sermon by Thomas Vincent, called "God's Terrible Voice in the City." It was printed several times after the 1666 fire, and the information below is from a 1668 version.

If CSUN subscribed to EEBO, you could click the highlighted link from a CSUN-connected computer, and it would take you right to EEBO. Once there, you could find and click the  "Add this record to your Marked List" box, and then click the link that says "Marked List" (near the top of the page). That would take you to a page that would facilitate downloading a PDF of your chosen file. That would all be lovely…but CSUN does not subscribe to this database (talk to your Humanities Librarian today!). You will have to go to UCLA or USC to see how this works .

(I use this example, because I know this can be found within CSUN's microfilm collection.)

The most important information for your purposes (other than the EEBO link which will only work for you at UCLA or USC) would be this--Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 620:4. That tells you what microfilm series you would have to look for in CSUN's collection, and what reel (of film) the sermon would be found in. Since CSUN's collection is incomplete, you will need to find a low enough reel number (in this case, 620:4 stands for the position on the reel, meaning that the Vincent text is the fourth thing found on the reel of microfilm) that fits within the parameters of what CSUN has purchased.

EEBO makes this all much easier, of course, but CSUN does not yet have it, and the places that do have it make it difficult--though not impossible--for "outsiders" to access it.

P.S. Below are links to CSUN's collection of microfilm for the 1475-1640 and 1641-1700 collections:

1475-1640
English books, 1475-1640 [microform] : Shipment 1, Reels 1A-4A; reel 1- : University Microfilms. (CSUN has up to reel 1564)
http://suncat.csun.edu/search?/aUniversity+Microfilms./auniversity+microfilms/-3,-1,0,B/holdings&FF=auniversity+microfilms&12,,16


1641-1700
Early English books, 1641-1700, selected from Donald Wing's short-title catalogue; a cross index to  (CSUN has up to reel 667)
http://suncat.csun.edu/search?/X1641-1700&searchscope=9&SORT=D/X1641-1700&searchscope=9&SORT=D&SUBKEY=1641-1700/1,32,32,B/holdings&FF=X1641-1700&7,7,