The Wright American Fiction (WAF) collection contains approximately 14,000 titles: novels, romances, tales, short stories, fictitious biographies, travels and sketches, allegories, and tract-like tales. It includes the notable, as well as the works of minor authors and is a gold mine for research in American culture and lifestyles and for rare editions as they first appeared.

The contents of this set are based on Lyle H. Wright's American Fiction: a Contribution Toward a Bibliography (three volumes to 1900, and early post-1900 works from the Library of Congress Shelf List of American Adult Fiction). The latter, post-1900 segments (to 1910) are not owned by Ohio University.

Finding specific works

Consulting ALICE for specific authors or titles is a good option. If you encounter an American Fiction record, the source and location of the material may not be readily apparent. Browse the full bibliographic record for a WAF item number (e.g., R689) and also note which volume of WAF is cited (e.g. volume I, II, or III.). Armed with this volume number and item number information, the staff should be able to locate the work (processing is incomplete). The microfilm is filed as Microfilm 43 (ALICE may say MICRO PS 1); Guides (MICRO REF Z1231 .F4 R4x).

ALICE has information on additional resources and guides and also see Wright American Fiction Online which is a project of Indiana University, which will include online every novel published in the United States from 1851 to 1875 (Wright's vol 2). When completed one will be able to view both the electronic text as well as the page images and the entire collection can be searched by keyword.