4663 Creative Nonfiction

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4663 Creative Nonfiction

• Autobiography

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Finding Sources

• Books What is available for my use in the
  library?
• Reference Collection
• Literary Criticism
• Keywords for searching
• Authors name
• Criticism
• http//swosu.edu/library/

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Finding Sources

• Timelines How does what has happened in
  literature or in other peoples lives relate to
  my experiences?
• Books
• Examples from Reference Collection
• Databases
• Literary Reference Center (EBSCOhost)

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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

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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.

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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.

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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/flwpab
  ib_at_field(AUTHOR_at_od1(Hurston,ZoraNeale))

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More from the Library of Congress

• Link to Webcasts
• http//www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/webcasts/j-r.htm
  l
• See and hear Joyce Carol Oates
• http//www.blinkx.com/video/joyce-carol-oates-prev
  iew-clip/3SqE2jz-qrKtJUlQg5kW-A

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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.

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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

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• 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. Thats when I began to write down the
  tales my father and others had told me.
• http//www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php
  ?rec4203

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• Here is a link to listen to Dr. Momaday at the
  2007 National Book Festival
• http//www.loc.gov/bookfest/2007/authors/Momaday.h
  tml
• It is important to keep our stories alive, so
  autobiographyin both oral and written formsis a
  significant way for this to be accomplished.

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Questions??

• Please contact me
• Jane Long
• jane.long_at_swosu.edu
• 774-3030
• Have fun with your research and your
  autobiographical writing