Muns, Raleigh. "Stuff on the Internets "

The Current (University of Missouri-St. Louis) February 20, 2006 (vol. 38, no. 1176), p. 5

"I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —George W. Bush, second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004

A common misconception is that EVERYTHING is on the Internets. I date this idea to an early Buffy the Vampire Killer episode where Buffy and the Scooby Gang needed some information so they break into the Public Library which is closed. After, oh, three or four seconds of randomly pounding on the keyboard they retrieve reams of relevant newspaper articles and police autopsy reports from the 1930’s. Who knew that in the mid 1990's that public libraries had fiber optic internet bandwidth, lightning fast quantum computers, and historic police autopsy reports readily available on the Internets? You wish.

The truth is that more and more information IS available on the Internets, and a lot of it is truly cool stuff, if you know where to look (or whom to ask - hint - I am a reference librarian). In any case, here are a few of my favorite online resources:

NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture is available via the Library's Project MUSE database. I'm currently reading Lawrence Baldassaro's "Dashing Dagos and Walloping Wops: Media Portrayal of Italian American Major Leaguers before World War II" (Fall 2005, pp. 98-106). Baldassaro discusses the use of "benign" pejorative terms for Italian ballplayers, such as "spaghetti bender." NINE counts as a "scholarly journal" for those looking for interesting paper topics.

Journal of the History of Sexuality (also available via MUSE) is another obvious favorite. Granted, nothing makes sex more boring than a scholarly analysis, but dang it, this is the only place you'll find articles like Glenn Olsen's “Sodomitic Lions of Granada” (January 2004, pp. 1-25). Something about gay lions.

The Library's home page lists databases alphabetically and links to the ever fascinating Ad*Access resource. This Duke University project contains high resolution scans of ads from 1911 through 1955 in categories such as radio, transportation, and the ever popular "Beauty and Hygiene.” I leave it to you as an exercise to find the 1945 ad wherein the "Army doctor's call to action!" is to recommend a Camel cigarette. Why? Because "Camels are such a big favorite with fighting men in all the services."

You should also check out the holdings of the University of Missouri Digital Library (digital.library.umsystem.edu). If you browse around you can find all copies of Mizzou's yearbook, The Savitar. Why would this be interesting? Well, if you search for "Brad Pitt" you can find him in a 1986 group shot with the good brothers from Sigma Chi. He's the one wearing the "Where's Waldo?" shirt in the front row.

In the end, there's still tons of stuff you still can't get via the Internets. For instance, the journal Maledicta, the ultimate scholarly source for studies of crude, insulting, and aggressive language, does have a web site (www.maledicta.org). However, if you want to read articles by convicted felon Reinhold Aman on topics like "Catalan Blasphemies" (no. 7, 1983) or "Attorney-Hunting Permit and Bag Limits" (no. 10, 1988-89) you're going to have to find copies in the real worlds, rather than on the Internets.

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Email Address: muns@umsl.edu

WWW Home Page URL:http://www.umsl.edu/~muns