Keyword Searching

Identify keywords that capture different different aspects of your topic. Look for additional concepts, names, and terminology as you go - and add those new words to your search toolkit!

In the images below, I show a search of the keyword combination gender OR women OR feminin* AND 1930s OR nineteen thirties.

• Note that I didn't include a search term for clothing or fashion. I will look at those articles from my results list too, but I also want more general information about women during that era to help me understand the context for clothing.

My keyword search:

Here are some of the articles - and the encyclopedias they came out of - I saw in my search. Just by looking over my results list, I get ideas about different aspects of women's lives in the 30s, including dress. I also get a sense of some of the intersectional lenses I can consider gender through, such as race. (Click on the image to enlarge)

This article about the impact of the Great Depression on women says that women found more work than men during the Great Depression and women's employment rates even rose, though that labor was less well paid and in fields stereotypically seen as women's work. The article also notes that there was a wide discrepancy between the work White women were hired to do and the jobs Black women and other Women of Color could find. In all cases, women's wages were essential to the survival of families.

For my second search, I added in the keywords clothing OR dress OR fashion to capture articles more specifically on that topic. 

I found articles on youth, women's dress, high fashion, fashion designers, western fashion, fashion accessories, men's dress, African American clothing, work clothing, pants, cocktail dressing, and much more.

This article on women's trousers makes the connection between women's increasing independence during the 1920s and 30s and the adoption of pants and other more comfortable fashions for women. 

American Decades

Reference articles can help you understand the intersection of history and fashion. Check out the examples below from American Decades - and then scroll down for information on how to search effectively in that collection.

the 1920s:

the 1940s:

the 1960s:

How to find the correct volume of American Decades:

1. Open American Decades directly with the link below or through Gale eBooks.
2. Select Table of Contents and the appropriate Decade, as in the image.
3. Select a Topic - such as Fashion.
   • Tip: Be sure to read about more than fashion for your decade. Additionally, I recommend doing a little reading about the previous decade to see what changes your decade is responding to!