Library Art & The History of Art 236

Try these databases first to find journal articles. Also see the Web tab in this guide for free, online databases.

• JSTOR
  Full-text backfiles of over two thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. (Alumni access)
• Arts & Humanities Database
  Full-text publications that focus on art, architecture, design, history, philosophy, music, literature, theatre and cultural studies.
• BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art (1973 to present)
  Bilingual database on the history of post-classical western art. Also includes RAA (Repertoire d'Art et d'Archeologie) from 1973 to 1989 and RILA (International Repertory of the Literature of Art) from 1975 to 1989.
• Art & Architecture Source (1914 to present)
  Index to leading publications in the world of the arts, including full-text coverage for several hundred titles.
• International Bibliography of Art (IBA) (1973 to present)
  Covers scholarly literature on western art including traditional visual arts as well as new media, architectural history, museum studies and conservation, archaeology, and classical studies.
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text (1955 to present)
  Scholarly literature about world history since 1450 (excluding the United States and Canada).
• Project Muse
  Online database of more than 200 journals from nonprofit publishers. (Alumni access)
• Art Index Retrospective (1929-1984)
  Index to leading English-language publications in the world of the arts.
• ARTicles Online (Arthistoricum.net) (date coverage varies)
  Index of art historical articles, compiled by the University Library of Regensburg (Germany).
• Cambridge Histories
  Provides political, economic and social history, philosophy and literature of selected countries and subjects.
• EEBO: Early English Books Online (1473-1700)
  Full text of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).
• Electronic Enlightenment (18th century)
  Full text of over 53,000 letters and documents from the best critical editions.
• WorldCat
  Search thousands of library catalogs for books and more.
• Center for Research Libraries
  Search serials, dissertations, and newspapers in CRL member institution collections

Use these encyclopedias and reference works to get started on a topic. Also see the Web tab in this guide.

• Reference Universe
  Searchable index of the library's entire reference collection, both print and electronic.
• Oxford Art Online
  Oxford Art Online is the access point for Grove Art Online, and other Oxford art reference works covering all forms of the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic and decorative arts, and photography from prehistory to the present.
• Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art
  Provides information on a wide range of current and historical materials and techniques in both traditional and nontraditional media.
• The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts
  Covers decorative arts production throughout western and non-western cultures
• The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
  Covers Covering Western art from the ancient Greeks to the present. Contains entries on styles and movements, materials and techniques, and museums and galleries.
• Art & Architecture Thesaurus® Online (AAT)
  Thesaurus of terminology and other information about objects, artists, concepts, and places important in art, architecture, and material culture. From the Getty Research Institute.
• Getty Union List of Artist Names® Online (ULAN)
  Resource with artists' given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in multiple languages, names that have changed over time (e.g., married names), and preferred names. From the Getty Research Institute.
• Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon / Artists of the World
  Authoritative, up-to-date biographical information on more than 1 million artists.

Title Keywords to search in Five College Catalog to find reference texts:

bibliography                           atlas
dictionary                               encyclopedia
guide                                     history

Find images and streaming audio and video in these collections (also see the Images Research Guide, and the Web tab of this guide).

• Amherst College Digital Collections
  Digitized art works, photographs, manuscripts, books, and other media from Amherst College Archives & Special Collections and the library’s Art & Architecture Collection.
• ARTstor
  Image database including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual culture.
• Bridgeman Education
  A visual resource offering digital images of art, history, and culture from museums, galleries, private collections, and contemporary artists.
• Cambridge Histories
  Provides political, economic and social history, philosophy and literature of selected countries and subjects.
• Electronic Enlightenment (18th century)
  Full text of over 53,000 letters and documents from the best critical editions.
• EEBO: Early English Books Online (1473-1700)
  Full text of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).

Also see the Primary Sources research guide.

• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) (1701-1800)
  Page images and full-text searching for more than 136,000 key English- and foreign-language titles printed in Great Britain during the 18th century, based on the English Short Title Catalogue.
• EEBO: Early English Books Online (1473-1700)
  Full text of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).

Start with these recommended freely available resources.

• Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
  A chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of global art history represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collections
• Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections database
• British Museum research page
  Landing page for searching the British Museum collections database, and accessing their research catalogs.
• National Art Library catalog at the Victoria and Albert Museum
• Royal Institute of British Architects British Architectural Library Catalogue (1986 to present)
  Indexes articles in 300 journals as well as books, drawings, photographs, manuscript and archival materials in the library collection on all aspects of architecture.
• Winterthur Library Catalog (Wintercat)

Search in the Five College Catalog for books. Use the Advanced search to look for more specific subjects, and try searching for multiple keywords or subject keywords. Example:

A note on searching for exhibition catalogs:
Almost all Five College Library catalog records for exhibition catalogs contain the word "exhibitions," either as a subject term, or in the description. To find a catalog focused on a specific artist or topic, perform a keyword search that includes the artist's name (last name is often enough) or the topic word(s), and the word exhibition* (using the truncation symbol * searches for both the word exhibition and the subject term exhibitions).