Best Databases for Art
Consult these databases first for articles on Art and Art History. Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective can be combined to search together and maximize results.
- Art & Architecture Source This link opens in a new windowExplore all genres of visual arts including a broad range of related subjects, from fine, decorative and commercial art, to various areas of architecture and architectural design. This collection includes journals, books, images, dissertations and art reproductions. Coverage: 1900s to present. Full text, Jumpstart searchable.
- Art Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Search international journals published between 1929-1984, covering all genres of visual art. Coverage: 1929-1984. Citations only.
- Artbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new windowSearch full abstracts from art journals published from the late 1960s to today, covering modern and contemporary art including fine art, digital art, crafts, design and photography. Coverage: late 1960s to present. Citations only.
- International Bibliography of Art (IBA) This link opens in a new window
Explore European art from late antiquity to the present, American art from the colonial era to the present, and global art since 1945. Coverage: varies. Citations only.
- OpenBibArt This link opens in a new windowSearch descriptive records for books, journals, and exhibition and auction catalogs, covering literature on arts from Late Antiquity to the mid-2000s. This bibliography brings together the records from the following databases: The Répertoire d’Art et d’Archéologie (RAA); International Repertory of the Literature of Art (RILA) and the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA). Coverage: 1910-2007. Citations only.
Supplementary Databases for Art
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new windowAccess a scholarly encyclopedia for art and art history. This encyclopedia includes thumbnail art images and line drawings, image links, and bibliographies. This encyclopedia is cross-searchable with the Benezit Dictionary of Artists using Oxford Art Online. Coverage: antiquity to present. Full text.
- Index of Medieval Art This link opens in a new windowAccess images of Christian, secular, and other religiously oriented Medieval art, in color and black and white images. This collection includes art from medieval Jewish and Islamic culture. Coverage: late antiquity to the 16th century, contains primary sources. Full text.
- Archives of American Art This link opens in a new windowExplore primary resources, such as original letters, photographs, transcripts and audio materials on people and institutions that helped found American art. Coverage: 1800s to present, contains primary sources. Some full text.
- Berg Fashion Library This link opens in a new window
Access eBooks, museum exhibitions, images, lesson plans and bibliographic guides on fashion and related fields, including the full text of the Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion and an extensive color image bank through Bloomsbury Fashion Central. Coverage: varies, contains primary sources. Full text.
Databases for the Humanities
- Humanities Source This link opens in a new windowAccess journals, books and other published sources from around the world in all aspects of the humanities, including archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, dance, film, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, and religion. For citation searching: click "Cited References" at the top of the search screen. Coverage: late 1800s to present. Some full text.
Multidisciplinary Databases
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Explore historical and recent journals, books and images in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, with some natural science coverage. Coverage: varies - historical up to 1-5 years from current date, contains primary sources. Full text.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowAccess scholarly journals and ebooks in both the humanities and social sciences. Most journals covered are up to date. Ebooks include titles in Global Cultural Studies, Poetry, Fiction & Creative Non-Fiction. Coverage: historical and current. Full text.
- Pascal and Francis This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles, patents, maps, conferences, books, reports, and theses in exact sciences and technology, biological and medical sciences, art, archaeology, economics, ethnology, geography, history of science and technology, literature, linguistics, administrative and legal sciences, education and religion sciences. Coverage: 1972-2015. Citations only.
- WorldCat (FirstSearch) This link opens in a new windowSearch for books and other materials in libraries worldwide. This tool is useful for discovering books that our library does not own that you can borrow via interlibrary loan (EZ-Borrow or ILLiad). Coverage: before 1000 BC to the present. Citations only, except for links to freely available e-books, government documents, and web sites.
See also Open WorldCat and Dickinson on Worldcat for alternative search box options. - Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
Search this online version of "Anthropological Literature" from Harvard University plus "Anthropological Index" from the UK's Royal Anthropological Institute to find citations for essential anthropological literature. In addition to journal articles, this collection includes citations for reports, commentaries, edited works and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture and interdisciplinary studies. Coverage: 1879-present, but varies by publication. Citations only.
Journals & Other Publications
- ArtforumCovers the contemporary art world, with sections on architecture, music, advertising, and reviews of contemporary exhibitions worldwide.
- Trout Gallery PublicationsDickinson's art museum publications. Includes PDFs of museum publications, exhibition catalogs by studio art and art history students, and more.