*Art History Resources: Articles and Databases

Academic Search Complete Indexing and abstracts for more than 13,000 journals, with full text for more than 8,750 of those titles, over a broad spectrum of subjects.

ProQuest Research Library  A comprehensive database that indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines and newspapers in the social sciences, humanities and sciences.  The database includes more than 3820 titles -- over 2550 in full text -- from 1971 forward.  Topics covered include arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international studies, law, military, multicultural studies, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests.

Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select  Provides indexing, abstracting and full-text content to journal articles in a variety of disciplines.

JSTOR (To access PDF articles, your browser must allow pop-ups for this site)  Provides image and full-text online access of core academic journals in a variety of disciplines in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals A bibliographical research tool for architecture, urban design, historic preservation, and urban planning history; surveys more than 700 U.S. and foreign journals.

RIBA British Architectural Library. Catalogue Includes an index to over 300 architectural periodical titless; a catalog of the books and a/v materials; a catalog of the RIBA Library Photographs Collection; a catalog of drawings and other materials acquired by the RIBA Library Drawings Collection;  a catalog of the RIBA Library Manuscripts Collection; and a biographical database of architects.

Dissertations are the final research project for PhD students and a thesis (in America) is usually the project done by a Masters student. These may focus on a limited topic with an extensive bibliography.   

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Provides online access to over 3.8 million dissertations and master's theses with 1.7 million available in full text for immediate downloading. Citations are available for dissertations dating from 1861 and full text online from 1997 for over 1,000 schools. More than 90,000 new citations are added to the database every year.

Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations, Contains more than one million records of electronic theses and dissertations.

Ethos (Electronic Thesis Online Service) The United Kingdom's national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses; coordinated by the British Library.

Frequently historic newspaper accounts can be primary sources for exhibitions and other reception documentation.  Also good for patronage verification and biographical/obituary accounts.

New York Times Provides access to full page and article images with searchable full-text from 1851 to 4 years ago.

Times Digital Archive (London) Full-text and full-image articles from the Times of London for the years 1785-2006; a digital reproduction, cover to cover, of the paper in PDF files. 

Some LibGuides are available that provide links for additional newspaper options are Historic American Newspapers and Current Newspapers.

Art Full Text Contains indexing and abstracting dating from 1984 for more than 600 periodicals and 13,000 dissertations on the subjects of art, architecture, urban planning, & design; journals are primarily but not exclusively English-language; full-text articles from over 300 journals dating from 1995; also indexes nearly 200,000 art reproductions that appear as illustrations for articles or advertisements. Can be combined with Art Index Retrospective to extend coverage to 1929

ArtBibliographies Modern Abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Covers all aspects of modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on 20th & 21st century art.

Bibliography of the History of Art Indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealers' catalogs, and periodical articles. Also includes the contents of two predecessor art indexes: Répertoire d'Art et d'Archéologie (1973-1989) and International Repertory of the Literature of Art (1975-1989).

AskART: Listing of over 270,000 artists with an emphasis on American artists from the early 16th-Century through the present. Includes extensive biographical information extensive biographical information about American artists as well as book and periodical references, along with International artists' auction records and images. Over 7,400 museums and dealers are also referenced.

Census of Antique Works of Art & Architecture Known in the Renaissance: This multi-tiered database has more than 20,000 Renaissance Documents (inventories, guide books, lives of artists, archival documents, etc.) related to more than 10,000 Antique Monuments (sculptures, architecture, vases, etc.) that are accompanied by 30,000 photographs or illustrations. The database can be utilized for its collection of images, but more extensive information is provided in the database.

Index of Christian Art: Contains over 20,000 work of art records which are accompanied by over 60,000 images; records works of art produced without geographical limitations from early apostolic times up to A.D. 1400 (extended in the case of the Morgan and Princeton Library projects to include this manuscript holdings up to the end of the sixteenth century) with particular emphasis on art of the western world.

International Bibliography of Art: The successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) database, IBA coverage begins in 2008 and includes the literature documenting European art from late antiquity to the present, American art from the colonial era to the present, and global art since 1945. The visual arts in all media are covered: painting, sculpture, drawing, video, installations, new media, decorative and applied arts, museum studies and conservation, archaeology, folk art and material culture, classical studies, antiques, architectural history.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (part of Web of Science) Access to the bibliographic and citation information for articles from 1700 journals in the arts & humanities; use the "Tips for Searching" link to learn things such as: when searching by author, enter the last name first followed by a space and the author's initials and, when searching by topic, enter your search terms in any order (results will include every record containing all your search terms) and when looking for an exact phrase, use quotation marks.

FRANCIS A multilingual, multidisciplinary database covering the humanities and social sciences with more than 1 million records, abstracts in French or English, and descriptors in both languages; includes coverage of journals, books, conference papers and other documents.

Historical Abstracts A bibliographic database to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada.)

America, History & Life Indexes and abstracts the world's scholarly literature in the history of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present.

Bibliography of Asian Studies Citations to Western-language periodical articles, chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, and Festschriften for humanities and the social science subjects pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia.

Anthropology Plus Indexes bibliographic materials covering the fields of anthropology, archeology, and related disciplines; particularly helpful for finding bibliographic information on areas of ethnic art such as African, Native American, and Oceanic.

ATLA Religion Database Indexes religious studies periodicals, essays in multi-author works, reviews in religion; useful for research on Christian art or art commissioned by religious bodies.

MLA International Bibliography The Modern Language Association Bibliography (MLA) provides a classified listing and subject index for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics; coverage includes literature from all over the world--Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America