Reference sources include encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries. They are a great place to begin your research, since they can help with the following:
Library Catalog
Use this box to search the Geisel Library catalog for books and other materials in the library collection.
Women and music in America since 1900: an encyclopedia by 
Musical AKAs: assumed names and sobriquets of composers, songwriters, librettists, lyricists, hymnists, and writers on music by 
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians by 
The new Grove dictionary of jazz by 
The Oxford companion to music by 
The Harvard dictionary of music by 
A dictionary of musical quotations by 
Music reference and research materials: an annotated bibliography by Jazz-bibliography: international literature on jazz, blues, spirituals, gospel and ragtime music with a selected list of works on the social and cultural background from the beginning to the present by