Librarians at Schaffner Library on the Chicago campus have compiled the following list of Art History resources that can be obtained from the Schaffner Library print collection or accessed remotely through one of the computers at Schaffner Library (or from your home). These resources are designed to answer basic questions in Art History as well as serve as a jumping off point for further research. The journals listed here contain some of the most current research in the field.
Materials from the Main Library in Evanston can also be obtained for your use. You can either come to Schaffner and fill out a Book Request Form or an Article Request Form, or you can use the online forms from Schaffner’s Web site at http://www.library.northwestern.edu/schaffner/book.html (for book requests) and http://www.library.northwestern.edu/schaffner/article.html (for article requests).
GENERAL DATABASES
 Academic Search Premier
This multidisciplinary database provides citations and abstracts from nearly 2,900 scholarly journals, as well as full text access to over 1,200 journals. Users can search in a number of ways including, author, title, subject, geographic terms, company entity, journal name, and ISBN. The advanced search feature lets you narrow your search down to type of publication, document type, or by date. Another special feature of this database is the ability to search for images.
Expanded Academic ASAP
Covering current affairs, humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences, this database has citations, abstracts, and some full text from over 1,000 periodicals, including some popular magazines such as People, Time, and Newsweek. Searching can be done by subject and subject subdivisions, as well as by keyword and journal title.
Humanities Abstracts
Humanities Abstracts contains citations from more than 450 periodicals in topics such as archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, and world literature. The database can be searched by keyword, author, title, and a variety of other fields.
JSTOR
JSTOR offers historical access to back runs of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, most going back to a journal’s first issue. Users can search by keyword, limiting their search to journals in a particular field, by author or by journal. JSTOR users can also limit their search to articles, reviews, opinion pieces, or other materials.
PCI Full Text
PCI provides complete historical coverage of selected journals in the humanities and the social sciences from 1770-1995. Many of the journals PCI provides access to are no longer published. In addition to English, this database also provides access to articles in a number of Western European languages. Users can search by keyword, article title, author, journal title, language, and journal subject.
Web of Science
Despite its name, Web of Science is a database of citations to arts & humanities, social sciences, and sciences articles. These indexes allow users to search for references within articles. Users can search by topic, author, journal title, or cited reference. The database also provides access to the Social Sciences Citation Index, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and the Sciences Citation Index.
Wilson Select Full Text Plus
This database has citations, abstracts, and full text articles from a number of scholarly and non-scholarly periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, general sciences, and business. Users can search by keyword, subject, author, and title. They can also limit searches to articles, reviews, and literature. Wilson Select Full Text Plus also provides access to non-English language publications. Finally, users can limit their search to items that are provided full text or items that are held in the Northwestern University Library collection.
ART HISTORY DATABASES
Art Abstracts
Providing citations and some abstracts, this database covers subjects in art and art history, as well as related subjects such as city planning, interior design, and landscape architecture. Indexed publications include American and international journals. This database includes popular art periodicals and allows the user to limit the search to peer reviewed publications.
Art Index Retrospective
This database provides citations to American and foreign art journals as well as journals in related fields. Citations come from volumes 1-32 of the Art Index which cover the years 1928-1984. The database also indexes reproductions of works within periodicals.
ARTbibliographies Modern
Artbibliography Modern covers contemporary and modern art from the late 19th century through the 20th century. Types of art studied are installations works, crafts, artists’ books, and video art. Materials cited are in English, French, and German although users can limit their search to English language materials. In addition to searching by keyword, title, and journal name, users can search by gallery name or file format.
ARTstor
ARTstor is similar to a digital slide library. The database contains images and descriptions to nearly 300,000 images from art, architecture, and archeology. The database allows for zooming and panning in order to better look at the artworks shown. Users can search for artworks by keyword or by artist name. The database also allows users to limit their search to a number of internal collections such as the Art History Survey Collection, the Carnegie Arts of the United States, and the Huntington Archive of Asian Art.
BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art
Covering sources from 1973 to the present, BHA contains citations and abstracts of books about art, dissertations, and museum catalogs. The database focuses primarily on Western art but also includes art-related subjects such as architecture and material culture. Users can search the database by subject, journal, or author. They can also send their search results to themselves via e-mail.
Design and Applied Arts Index
This database, which is international in scope, includes citations to articles in design and craft journals. While primarily focused on research articles, the database does include references to brief articles, reviews, and obituaries. In the returned records from a search, there are hyperlinks to the authors name and the subject headings for that item. Users can click on these hyperlinks to find other articles by the same author in the database or find articles that are under that same subject heading. DAAI also provides access to an education directory, an organization directory, an archives directory, and a periodicals directory.
Index of Christian Art
Focusing primarily on Western Art, the Index of Christian Art records works of art depicting Christian themes in 17 different media. The records include information such as the artist’s name, title of work, and medium. Also included are locations of reproductions of the work. There are some color reproductions of the work included with the record.
Index to 19th Century American Art Periodicals
Covering the period of 1840 to 1907, this database completely indexes articles from almost all art journals published in the United States during this period. Indexing also covers notes, illustrations, and advertising. Through advanced searching, users can do Boolean searching to combine search terms such as subject, author, or title. They can also limit their search results by date.
SCIPIO: Art and Rare Books Sale Catalogs
This database provides bibliographic information about art auction and rare book catalogs going back to the 16th century. In addition to keyword and title searching, users can search by auction house, seller, and sale code.
BOOKS
The following are a selection of general print resources available at Schaffner Library. However, Schaffner can obtain books from the Main Library in Evanston. Patrons need to fill out the “Book Request Form” available in the Schaffner Library or on the Schaffner Library Web site.
Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post-Modernism
Call Number: 709 C689a
Circulating Collection
The authors examine Western art, including architecture, from the classical period to present-day post-modernism. The book looks at the history of each period as well as its influences and evolution.
Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960s to the Early 1990s
Call Number: 709.045 S217a
Circulating Collection
The author examines a number of artistic movements in the late 20th century. Also included in this title is a bibliography.
Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Call Number: L 709 H335a 1989
Circulating Collection
This work looks at art through various time periods, beginning with Paleolithic art through the 1980s. Although this work focuses primarily on Western Europe, there is a small section on art from India, China, and Japan. Within each section are biographies of major artists of the period.
Dictionary of Art (Grove’s)
Call Number: 703 D554
Reference Collection
This 34 volume encyclopedia attempts to cover all mediums of art from several geographic areas. This work examines the earliest forms of cave drawings to 20th century art. The signed articles also include bibliographies for further research. In addition to its information about art, the Dictionary of Art also includes entries on other fine arts such as theater. Also available is a searchable online version of this work.
Dictionary of 20th Century Art
Call Number: 709.04 C535d
Reference Collection
This single volume work includes short biographies of 20th century artists, information about artistic styles and movements, as well as organizations.
Greek Art
Call Number: 709.38 B662g 1996
Circulating Collection
The fourth edition of this title provides a history of Greek Art. The author attempts to examine what the artworks meant to the artists and the original viewers. The author also tried to instruct the reader on what Greek art looks like and how to look at it.
A History of Western Art
Call Number: L 709 A214h
Reference Collection
Divided into six sections, this one-volume work begins with the question why do we study art, discusses the language of the visual arts, and then moves to sections about individual time periods. Within the discussion of the time periods are chapters on particular movements of that era. Also included are a glossary, bibliography, timelines, and maps.
Research Guide to the History of Western Art
Call Number: 709 K64r
Reference Collection
This title is divided into two sections “The Field of Art History” and “Reference Works.” The first section looks at art history and its related disciplines, writing art history, studying the art object, perspectives on change, psychological approaches, and art and society. The reference works section covers titles such as bibliographies, biographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. This section is also divided by historical period.
EBOOKS
Oxford Companion to Western Art
This book gives information about artists and their works, artistic styles and movements, and definitions of art terms. Covering the classical period to the 20th century, the contributors (more than 100 of them) provide information about more than 1,700 artists as well as 49 feature articles.
The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists
With an international focus, this dictionary examines 2,500 artists, paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, schools and movements. Also included are entries about art techniques and terms. This new edition includes information on more recent types of art as well as contemporary artists.
The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms
This title is a concise source of definitions of art terms including various art movements and artist techniques. The dictionary covers terms from architecture, sculpture, photography, and other art mediums.
SERIALS
A number of art history journals are indexed and available full text through Academic Search Elite, Wilson Select Full Text Plus, and Expanded Academic ASAP. Patrons can request copies of articles from print journals at the Main Library through the “Article Request Form” available at the Schaffner Library or on the Schaffner Library Web site.
WEB SITES
The Dictionary of Art Historians
The Web site provides information about the research and methodology of art historians, as well as general biographical information. Users can search by art historian’s name, methodology, country of origin, or birth or death year.
Conservation and Art Material Encyclopedia Online
This database provides information about materials used in the preservation of art works.
The Getty Provenence Index Databases
These freely available databases allow users to search matieral from auction catalogs and archival inventories from the 16th to the 20th century.
For questions about this page, please contact Qiana Johnson, Reference and Instruction Librarian, q-johnson@northwestern.edu, 312/503-6617.
Last updated 08/29/07 |
