Library Guides: English 1310: Introduction to American Literature : Home

Finding Sources for Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Background Resources -- This page provides links and information to both print and elecdtronic dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works that cover literature and historical context from the era of Uncle Tom's Cabin's publication.

Finding Primary Sources -- This page lists several databases for accessing materials such as newspapers, journals, and magazines produced in the 19th century. It also includes pointers for searching for primary sources and contemporary book reviews.

Research & Criticism -- This page provides a list of useful databases and journals for finding scholarly articles about Uncle Tom's Cabin and Harriet Beecher Stowe. It also provides a list of suggested subject headings for searching for books in the catalog.

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Guide to English 1310: Finding Sources for Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
ISBN: 0140390030
Published in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel was a powerful indictment of slavery in America. Describing the many trials and eventual escape to freedom of the long-suffering, good-hearted slave Uncle Tom, it aimed to show how Christian love can overcome any human cruelty. Uncle Tom's Cabin has remained controversial to this day, seen as either a vital milestone in the anti-slavery cause or as a patronizing stereotype of African-Americans, yet it played a crucial role in the eventual abolition of slavery and remains one of the most important American novels ever written.

This guide is designed to lead you to useful sources for finding information about Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin: historical context, biographical information, and articles and reviews from the time of its publication, as well as current and historical scholarship.

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Publication Date: 1852
Original edition. Image from Hathi Trust Digital Library (version digitized by Google).

There is also a first edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin available for in-library viewing in the Special Collections Department of Ellis Library. (http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b2237597~S1)
Uncle Tom's cabin in ruins! Triumphant defence of slavery! In a series of letters to Harriet Beecher Stowe by Nicholas Brimblecomb, esq.
Publication Date: 1853
Life in the South : a companion to Uncle Tom's cabin by C.H. Wiley
Publication Date: 1852
A key to Uncle Tom's cabin; presenting the original facts and documents upon which the story is founded. Together with corroborative statements verifying the truth of the work. by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Publication Date: 1853

Websites

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center website has information on the background, context, influence, and reactions to Uncle Tom's Cabin, biographical information on Harriet Beecher Stowe, and several links to other relevant resources.
The Classic Text: Harriet Beecher Stowe
This online exhibit has information on the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and presentation of primary sources and reactions from the time of publication.
Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-Media Archive
This archive hosts a variety of primary sources from the era surrounding the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin. They include Christian and anti-slavery texts from the time, responses and reviews of the text, editions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and information about various representations and adaptations of the book.

Subject Guide

Carrie Carter