Databases - Indexes & Abstracts - Art History - Research Guides at University of Delaware

Key Databases

Art Abstracts/Art Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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Indexing, abstracts & citations for hundreds of periodicals on art, art history & related disciplines. (Coverage: Abstracts, 1984 -- | Indexes, 1929-1984)
Subjects include art history & criticism, architecture & architectural history, archaeology, antiques, museum studies, graphic arts, industrial design, landscape architecture, interior design, folk art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, decorative arts, costume design, television & video, motion pictures, advertising art, non-western art, textiles, & related fields.
Bibliography of the History of Art This link opens in a new window
Open Access. Art history bibliography, covering European & American art. Indexes & abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings, dissertations, exhibition & dealer catalogs, & articles from more than 1200 periodicals. (Coverage 1975-2007)
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Indexes journal articles on architecture & design, covering subjects such as the history & practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, & interior design. (Coverage: 1741 --)
Index of Medieval Art This link opens in a new window
Includes images & descriptive data related to the iconography of works of art produced between late Antiquity & the 16th century.

Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
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Compilation of the Anthropological Index Online & Anthropological Literature databases. An extensive index of bibliographic materials covering the fields of anthropology, archaeology, & related interdisciplinary research. (Coverage: late 19th c. --)
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
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Index of scholarly literature covering the history & culture of the U.S. & Canada, from prehistory to the present.
Provides indexing of academic journals dating back to 1954, with some coverage for titles back to the early 20th century.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Index of literature covering world history (excluding the U.S. & Canada) from the 15th century to the present. Subjects include world history, military history, womens history, history of education & more. Indexes 2,300+ academic journals in over 40 languages. (Coverage: 1952 --)
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Citations for articles, books, book chapters, & more. When available, includes links to full-text resources from the library & in open access publications. Covers a range of humanities subjects, including world languages & literatures, linguistics, dramatic arts, film, folklore, rhetoric & writing, teaching of language, & history of publishing. (Coverage: 1926 --)
Can be searched in conjunction with the MLA Directory of Periodicals, which contains all information available on journals & series on the Bibliographys Master List. The Directory of Periodicals is included in the Bibliography.
Annee Philologique This link opens in a new window
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Bibliographic database of scholarly works relating to all aspects of Ancient Greek & Roman civilizations. Includes all volumes of the annual index, beginning with Vol. 1. (Coverage: 1928 --)
FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Covers hundreds of academic & popular film journals. Contains comprehensive television periodical indexing until 2000. TV-related articles from film periodicals continue to be indexed. (Coverage: 1972 --) See below for information about silent era film archives.
Also included is the Treasures from Film Archives dataset; a database containing credits & holdings information about the silent-era film holdings of film archives from around the world. It is conceived as a tool to aid the work of preservation & scholarly research, & provides brief identification information on over 40,500 works. Most records in this database describe films made before 1929, but there are also records for a few silent works produced during the sound era.
Philosophers Index This link opens in a new window
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Bliographic database covering scholarly research in all major fields of philosophy. (Coverage: 1940 --)

Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new window
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An index to the contents of journals & magazines in the humanities & social sciences, from their first issues through 1995, with links to the full-text of some articles. (Coverage: 1665-1995)
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive index to 19th c. books, periodicals, official publications, archives, & newspapers. (Coverage: 19th c.)
Eight Centuries This link opens in a new window
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Primary source material in the humanities, social sciences, engineering, history of science, law, economics, religion, psychology, government documents, visual arts, music, & the physical sciences. Detailed information about Eight Centuries Content is available. (Coverage: 1106-1960, varies by source)
Readers Guide Index / Readers Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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Indexing & full-text of popular periodicals.
(Coverage: Readers Guide Index, 1983 -- | Readers Guide Retrospective, 1890-1982)
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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Citations to articles in English-language periodicals. Covers some of the best-known scholarly journals & numerous lesser-known, but important specialized magazines. Subjects include a wide range of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad array of humanities & social sciences journals. (Coverage: 1907-1984)
Essay & General Literature / Essay & General Literature Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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Indexes single & multi-author collections, plus selected annuals & serials. Includes publications from the U.S., Canada, & Great Britain. (Coverage: Essay & General Literature, 1985 -- | Essay & General Literature Retrospective, 1900-1984)
Subjects include archaeology, architecture, art, childrens literature, classical studies, drama, economics, fiction, film, folklore, history, linguistics, music, poetry, political science, psychology, religion, womens studies.

Black Studies Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Content from international scholarly & popular periodicals in Black Studies & contains full-text coverage of core Black Studies titles. (Coverage:varies, some as far back as 1902; full text 1998 to the present))
Covers a wide array of humanities-related disciplines including art, cultural criticism, economics, education, health, history, language & literature, law, philosophy, politics, religion, & sociology.
Can also be searched as part of Black Studies Center.
International Medieval Bibliography Online This link opens in a new window
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Interdisciplinary bibliography of the European Middle Ages, covering Europe, the Middle East, & North Africa in the period 400-1500 (Coverage: 1967 --)
Limited to 3 simultaneous users.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new window
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A collection of materials pertaining to the Middle Ages & Renaissance. The platform contains databases, books, journals, & more. (Coverage: 1842 --) See below for more information about the resources included in Iter.
Iter Bibliography: Citations for journal articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogs, abstracts, discographies, monographs, & material published in monographs & collections of essays pertaining to the Middles Ages & Renaissance (400-1700).

Iter Italicum: Online version of Paul Oskar Kristeller’s Iter Italicum, the most comprehensive finding list available of previously uncataloged or incompletely cataloged Renaissance humanistic manuscripts found in libraries & collections all over the world.

Renaissance & Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme: A peer-reviewed quarterly journal, multidisciplinary & bilingual, on all aspects of the Renaissance & Reformation period.

Early Theatre: A peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles on medieval or early modern drama & theatre history, rooted in the records & documents of England, Scotland, Ireland, & Wales.

REED (Records of Early English Drama): (1976-1997) Published documentary evidence of early drama, items on records research, & requests by scholars for information. It was superseded by the peer-reviewed journal, Early Theatre.

Aestimatio: Provides critical, timely assessments of books published in the history of what was called science from antiquity up to the early modern period in cultures ranging from Spain to India, & from Africa to northern Europe.

The Electronic Capito Project: Provides access to the text of letters from & to Wolfgang Faber Capito (c. 1478-1541).
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
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Bbliographic database for womens studies & feminist research. A valuable resource for many disciplines, including sociology, history, international relations, humanities.
Provides indexing & abstracts for essential sources including: journals, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, reports, theses, dissertations, & grey literature.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
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Partial Open Access. Search engine specifically for scholarly publications. You can access the full-text of articles from open access & preprint publications, but you must be logged in to your UDel email account in order to access subscriptions provided by the UD Library.
Google Scholar is only one of many ways to identify & access scholarly publications. Consult the Databases page or the Electronic Journalspage for other possibilities.
Web of Science (WoS) This link opens in a new window
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A collection of databases that can be searched individually or in various combinations. WoS indexs the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, & humanities, as published in journals, conference proceedings, symposia, seminars, colloquia, & workshops across the globe.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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A citation & abstracting database covering thousands of active titles, primarily peer-reviewed journals. Also includes eBooks, major reference works & graduate level textbooks. Emphasis on social sciences, arts & humanities, but also includes science, technology & medicine. Includes thousands of Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, book series, and patents. (Coverage: Primarily 1970-present. Some pre-1970 records going back to 1788)
Learn more about using Scopus at Elsevier's Scopus LibGuide..
Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
Open Access. Non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, & more.

Other useful databases

Dissertations & Theses @ University of Delaware This link opens in a new window
This database is a subset of the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database. It contains only University of Delaware dissertations and theses. Detailed information about availability and dates of coverage is available.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
The world's most comprehensive curated collection of multi-disciplinary dissertations & theses from around the world, offering over 5 million citations and 3 million full-text works from thousands of universities.

Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
Access to a number of genealogical & historical resources, including images of the decennial U.S. census from 1790-1930.
Among specific kinds of resources included are:
- Census records
- Military records
- Court, land, and probate records
- passenger lists and other immigration records
- periodicals and newspapers
- birth, marriage, and death records (including the Social Security Death Index)
- biography and history
- reference and finding aids
- city directories
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Open Access. Helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums & historical societies. Millions of archival descriptions & finding aids from over 1,400 different institutions are represented.
Some collection descriptions include links to images, sound recordings, or other online materials. You can narrow your search results to those that have links to digital content.

AskART
Information on 65,000 American artists; some services on this site are fee-based.
Knoedler and Company Exhibition Catalogs
More than 800 Knoedler catalogs and checklists published between 1869-1946.
Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture - Smithsonian Institution
Getty Collecting and Provenance Research
Including Archival Inventories, Sale Catalogs, and Public Collections.
Getty Vocabularies
Including The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), The Cultural Object Name Authority (CONA), The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), and The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN).
Inventories of Amsterdam Art Collections: The Montias Database
Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America