Finding Free Literary Resources: Literature Throughout History
This guide is intended to acquaint you with how to access literary resources free of charge.
Cookbooks
Hofstra University's Special Collections contains hundreds of cookbooks, with some dating as early as the 19th century. Many of these books provide a documentation of the various communities and cultures living on Long Island. Browse through the majority of the titles in our collection here.
Repositories for historic cookbook archives are few. Listed below are some of the resources related to help locate accessible cookbooks online.
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Cookbook CollectionsA LibGuide by University of Wisconsin–Madison covering online archives and sites with cookbooks in their collection. Not all the links are freely accessible.
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Online Historic CookbooksCompiled on Author Cynthia D. Bertelsen's personal website, a list of resources for locating historic cookbooks and a collection of culinary memoirs.
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The Food HistorianHistorian Sarah Wassberg Johnson's website examines food history and includes a variety of resources. Among them is a list of recommended historic cookbooks.
Dime Novels and Pulp Literature
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Dime Novel and Popular LiteratureThis ongoing collection from Villanova University includes publications ranging from about 1860-1930. It is divided into eight collections and includes works that are part of series, mass-market fiction, non-fiction (including instructional and educational material), stories published in magazines, scholarship about dime novels and popular literature, audio editions, and ephemera relating to dime novels and popular literature.
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Edward T. LeBlanc Dime Novel BibliographyDatabase for searching for a particular dime novel and a link of where it can be read online if available.
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Nickels and Dimes: From the Collections of Johannsen and LeBlancThe digitized collections of Albert Johannsen and Edward T. LeBlanc and the Horatio Alger Society Repository at Northern Illinois University, this website makes thousands of dime novels available for reading.
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The PulpThe successor of the dime novel, this website provides resources of where to read pulp fiction online and learn more about its history. The site also includes a detailed bibliography on the topic.
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Women and the World of Dime NovelsProvides an overview of common tropes for female characters in dime novels and highlights individual heroines and stories.
Dime Novels
Poetry
Zines
Victorian Literature
Illuminated Manuscripts
Cookbooks
Illuminated Manuscripts
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Illuminated ManuscriptsA detailed, comprehensive guide to for researching illuminated manuscripts. This site covers resources from all over the world, many of them free, and open-access for an interested researcher.
Poetry
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Americans Saying Poems They LoveThis site is part of the Favorite Poem Project, founded by Robert Pinsky, 39th Poet Laureate of the United States. The site features videos of Americans from across the county, and representing a variety of demographic characteristics, reading the poetry that they find special and meaningful.
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e-poets networkProvides voice and video and text of Chicago-based spoken-word poetry. The creator of the site, Kurt Heintz, defines e-poets as " poets, artists, writers, and performers who embrace the electronic media as a venue and home for their art." The main sections of the site are the spoken-word poetry contained in the Book of Voices--to which The Women Made Gallery Poetry Archive has been added--and Videotheque, which contains poetry video. The e-poets network has partnerships in Canada, California, Australia and England.
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Poetry FoundationThe purpose of the Poetry Foundation is to raise the visibility of poetry and to broaden its audience. The Foundation's website includes a "Poem of the Day." It also organizes poetry by topic, theme, and poet. There are also audio recording of some of the poems.
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Poets.orgCreated and maintained by the American Academy of Poets, this site includes over 8,500 poems, 3,000 biographies of poets and essays about poetry. Find poems organized by occasion, theme, poetic form and poetry schools and movements. There are also audio recordings of poems and video of award-winning poets reading their works, delivering lectures or conversing about poetry.
Victorian Literature
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The Victorian WebWhile not exclusively limited to literature, this website delves into Victorian history and culture. The site includes a detailed bibliography and book reviews for those interested in researching this period further.
Zines
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Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP)An archive of zines made by LGBTQ+ artists.
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POC Zine ProjectA selection of zines made by BIPOC artists.