We have a new online catalog fall semester, 2022, which is undergoing various improvements. It does not work exactly the way these older directions below portray. Some of the information about subject headings may still be useful.
It is possible to do a quick and dirty, one box keyword search of the contents of the MSU Libraries' web site, starting at the top left of the Libraries' home page. The results will be sorted into several categories to follow up on: articles from journals, books/media from our online catalog, databases, library research guides like this one, other. To do a more traditional search, read on.
Use Books and Media (online catalog). For works about Paris use the subject heading “Paris” paying attention to the multitude of sub-headings, such as “Paris--architecture,” “Paris--American Literature,” “Paris France--history,” “Paris France--expatriate…,” “Paris France—description and travel,” “Paris France description views,” “Paris France in literature,” “Paris France—intellectual life—20th c,” “Rive gauche Paris…”
Search for works by a person (author search) or about a person (subject search). Pay attention to sub-headings: archives, correspondence, diaries, pamphlets, periodicals, personal narratives, personal observations, pictorial works, sources, as these indicate primary sources.
Keyword searches combining a writer or author’s name with various (French) words in the titles of the works such as letters, sound recording(s), voice(s), interviews, correspondence, diaries, photographs, works, memories, memoires, lettre(s), journals, correspondance, entrevue(s), oeuvre(s), ecrits, for example, also yield primary sources. Keyword searches such as “Paris and (pict* or illus*),” are also useful; in this case, to find works with illustrations.
Pay attention to the title words, because the L.C. sub-headings are not always employed.
Here are some subject headings that should prove useful:
African-Americans—France—Paris—history—20th c.
American literature—France—Paris—history and criticism
Americans—France—biography
Americans—France—history—20th c.
Americans—France—Paris
Americans—travel—France—Paris
Authors, American—homes and haunts—France—Paris
Bohemianism—France—Paris—history—20th c.
Expatriate artists—France—Paris
Literary landmarks—France—Paris
Literature publishing—France—Paris—history—20th c.
Paris (France)—intellectual life—20th c.
Paris (France)—social life and customs—20th c.
Rive gauche (Paris, France)—intellectual life
