Getting Started
There is plenty of information on African American art and artists available in the Morris Library, although finding information on lesser-known artists will require considerable research. This select bibliography can be used to identify online information, books, newspaper and periodical articles, and encyclopedia entries on this topic. A few good starting points are:
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Academic OneFileAn online database which provides references and/or abstracts to articles from more than 8,000 scholarly and general interest periodicals. It also provides the full text of many articles
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African American Visual Artists DatabaseAn online database of artists of the African Diaspora and Africa who have lived, worked, studied or exhibited in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. The database contains bibliographical references to books, parts of books, journals, and exhibition catalogues.
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Art Abstracts/Art Index RetrospectiveThis index to major American and foreign periodicals and museum bulletins (1929-present) covers the fields of art, archaeology, architecture, art history, arts and crafts, ceramics, decoration and ornament, graphic architecture, painting, and sculpture.
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Biography in ContextA comprehensive database of biographical information on more than one million people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It includes entries from the following print directories: Contemporary Black Biography, Notable Black American Men, Notable Black American Women, the St. James Guide to Black Artists, and Who's Who Among African Americans.
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Biography Reference BankFull-text biographical profiles of people from antiquity to the present.
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Black Studies CenterBlack Studies Center contains several component databases: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, scholarly essays on various topics; the International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), which indexes current and retrospective Black Studies journals and provides full-text coverage of core periodicals; the Chicago Defender (1910 to 1975),and the Black Literature Index which indexes fiction, poetry and literary reviews published in black periodicals and newspapers from 1827-1940.
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DELCAT DiscoveryIncludes entries for books, journals, databases, and other research materials in the University of Delaware Library and also in other libraries. Search using phrases such as: "African American art", "African American artists", "African American printmakers", "African American sculptors", or the name of an individual artist (e.g. Romare Bearden).
Newspaper Articles
Newspapers are excellent sources of information on artists and their work. Below are a few indexes which can help you locate information on artists and exhibitions as reported by the local media. Often newspaper sources can help researchers learn of museums that hold a particular artist's work. Additional indexes are available in the Reference Department.
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Ethnic NewsWatchA comprehensive, full-text database of the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic press. It provides a rich collection of articles, editorials, and reviews with a broad diversity of perspectives often at variance with the mainstream media. Coverage is from 1960 to the present.
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Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic)LexisNexis Academic provides full-text information from major U.S. and world newspapers, news wire services, television and radio broadcast transcripts, and blogs. The materials contained in the database are date from the 1970s to the present.
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Black NewspapersBack files of several important Black newspapers including the Amsterdam News (New York), Baltimore Afro-American, Chicago Defender, Philadelphia Tribune, and the Pittsburgh Courier.
Other Resources
The following biographical dictionaries, encyclopedias and indexes may further assist you in your research.
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African American Biographical DatabaseA searchable database of historical black biographical dictionaries published before 1950. It includes geographical and occupational indexes.
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America: History and LifeA database (1982 to the present) covering scholarly journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations in United States and Canadian history.
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Black Thought and Culture: African Americans from Colonial Times to the PresentA full-text database of selected books, journals and newspapers pertaining to African American history and culture. It contains issues of the publication Artist and Influence, which is a good source for interviews with African American artists.
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HistoryMakers Digital ArchiveAn extensive online database of over 10,000 hours of full-text and video interviews with African Americans distinguished in the fields of science, culture, politics, the arts, and public life.
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Periodicals Index OnlineAn online index to the contents of thousands of journals and magazines in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1995. The scope is international. Every article is indexed and some citations are linked to the full text in JSTOR.
Subject Librarian
Carol Rudisell
Contact:
Librarian and Head,
Reference & Instructional Services
Subjects:Africana Studies, General Reference
Reference & Instructional Services
Subjects:Africana Studies, General Reference
Additional Art Resources
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ArtstorAn image library that includes "Image of the Black in Western Art," a collection of 30,000 images that examines how people of African descent have been represented in Western art. ArtStor also includes images by African American artists.
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Oxford Art OnlineA dictionary of art and artists. A brief guide on
"African American Art" is available within the database.