Major Research Tools

Art & Architecture Complete

Full-Text, Index

Index of journals, magazines, and other publications covering art, architecture, archaeology, and related fields. Coverage dates vary. Earliest indexing goes back to 1914; earliest full text back to 1930; majority of coverage begins in 1980s.


Art & Architecture ePortal

Full-Text, Visual Resource

Curated collection of scholarly art and architecture eBooks that can be browsed, or searched by topic or by image. Particular strength is finding scholarship based on a particular work of art or artist.


Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Index
Coverage: 1999-present

Index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Allows you to search for a topic, an author, or for articles that cite a known author or work.


ARTstor Digital Library

Visual Resource

Searchable image collection covering the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. Includes access to the Archivision collections and Lafayette's own collection of images. Capabilities include: user-created image groups that can be easily shared with others, export to Powerpoint and OIV (Offline Image Viewer) presentation tools, image citation export, and mobile device accessibility.


Bibliography of the History of Art

Index
Coverage: 1975-2009

Index of articles, books, conference proceedings, dissertations, and art exhibition and dealer's catalogs covering European and American art from late antiquity onwards. Note that this database is no longer being updated.


Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Full-Text

The Metropolitan Museum's chronological guide to the history of art spanning prehistory to the present, illustrated with pieces from its collections. Searchable, with thematic and geographic indexes. Includes detailed exhibition histories and bibliographic references for works in the Met's collections.


JSTOR

Full-Text, Visual Resource

Searchable collection of the back issues of scholarly journals, books from a variety of academic publishers, and images from art collections. The most recent 3-5 years of most journals are not included in JSTOR. (Alums can access JSTOR archival journals by signing in under "Lafayette College Alumni Access" on JSTOR's institution search page.)


Oxford Art Online

Full-Text, Visual Resource

Authoritative reference works on art, including Grove Art Online and Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Contains images of major works important to the study of art history as well as artists' signatures and monograms.


Oxford Reference Online: Art and Architecture

Full-Text

Collection of reference works on art and architecture from Oxford University Press. Includes Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture.


Other Suggested Research Tools

Architectural Digest Magazine Archive

Full-Text
Coverage: 1920-2011

Digitized cover-to-cover archive of Architectural Digest, a monthly publication covering interior design and architecture.


Archives of American Art: Terra Foundation Center for Digital Collections

Full-Text

Digital collection of papers and primary records of American visual arts and artists. From the Smithsonian Institution.


Archivision

Visual Resource

Images depicting world architecture and related arts via specially licensed collection accessible through ARTstor.


Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Reference

The Getty Institute's searchable vocabulary of terms for describing objects, textural materials, images, architecture, and material culture from antiquity to the present.


Art History Resources on the Web

Gateway
Survey of art history web sites arranged by time period and country or region, with most continents represented. Museum and research resources are also included.

Artsy

Visual Resource

Artsy provides one of the largest collections of contemporary art available online. Search over 125,000 contemporary works by over 25,000 artists from leading art fairs, galleries, museums, and art institutions.


BCIN

Index

The Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network (BCIN) provides access to bibliographic citations for conservation literature. It includes citations from the Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (prior to 1998), technical reports, conference proceedings, journal articles, books and audiovisual and unpublished materials. The database also includes previously unavailable material from private sources, as well as new information gathered by a worldwide network of contributors.


Cities and Buildings Database

Visual Resource

Collection of over 10,000 digitized images of buildings and cities throughout the world. Search by building name, city, country or other keyword. Provided by the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections project.


Dictionary of Art Historians

Full-Text, Reference

Biographical and methodological information about major art historians of Western art history, from Duke University.


Fashion Plate Collection

Visual Resource

Fashion plates from 1806-1914, originally published in some of the leading French and English fashion journals of the day. Publications include: La Belle Assemblee, Le Bon Ton, Le Follet, Journal Des Dames et Des Modes, and Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine. Provided by the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections project.


Getty Publications Virtual Library

Full-Text

Full-text books on art history and conservation published by the J. Paul Getty Museum.


Google Arts and Culture

Visual Resource

Partnership between Google and museums and cultural institutions around the world that uses advanced technologies to allow users to view art and cultural objects virtually.


Google Image Search

Gateway, Visual Resource

Broadly searches captions, adjacent text, and other descriptive elements for relevant images. Users can limit the results by time period and subject, as well as image size, reuse permissions, and composition.


Grand Tour

Full-Text
Coverage: c1550-1850

Primary source accounts of English young men and women travelling abroad. Good source of information on daily life in the 18th century and urban centers, particularly Paris, Rome, Florence, and Geneva.


Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

Full-Text, Visual Resource

Collection of measured drawings, large-format photographs, and written histories of historic structures and sites in the United States dating from the 17th through the 20th century.


Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective

Index

Coverage: 1907-1984

Index of major journals in the humanities and social sciences.


Index of Medieval Art

Index

Database of images and descriptive data related to the iconography of works of art produced between late Antiquity and the sixteenth century. Note: approximately 25% of images in the database are currently restricted and cannot be accessed. All other "public images" are available to view.


International Medieval Bibliography

Index

Multidisciplinary bibliography indexing journal articles and "miscellany volumes" (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) covering medieval studies in disciplines ranging from history to languages to art and music.


Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Index

Collection of databases, including Iter Bibliography, a bibliography and index of articles, books, essays, and book reviews on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Includes coverage of art and literature.


Kubikat

Index

Large database of references to art history articles, books, conference papers, and auction and exhibition catalogs from the holdings of four German art libraries.


Mapping Gothic France

Visual Resource

Detailed, high quality photographs, maps, floorplans, and descriptions of French and English cathedrals that began construction in the 12th-13th centuries.


Metropolitan Museum of Art

Visual Resource

Includes almost 500,000 high-resolution images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. Users can download these images for non-commercial use.


MoMA Library

Index

Online catalog of the Museum of Modern Art Library, Archives, and Study Centers. A good source for locating bibliographic information on exhibition catalogs.


NGA Images

Visual Resource

Digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art. You can search, browse, share, and download images of works in the public domain. More than 50,000 downloadable open access digital images are available free of charge for both commercial and non-commercial uses.


Quilt Index

Visual Resource

Extensive collection of images of quilts in museums, private collections, etc. Can be searched or browsed by pattern, quiltmaker, time period, colors, and many other fields.


VADS: The Online Resource for Visual Arts

Visual Resource

Over 120,000 images freely available for educational use. Features digital collections from numerous UK educational and cultural institutions with examples of fine art, textile design, industrial design, graphic design, and architecture.