Research Librarian
Primary Sources
Find primary sources for Art and the History of Art in the following collections:
- Smithsonian Archives of American ArtDedicated to collecting, preserving, and providing access to primary sources that document the history of the visual arts in America. Holdings include more than 20 million letters, diaries and scrapbooks of artists, dealers, and collectors; manuscripts of critics and scholars; business and financial records of museums, galleries, schools, and associations; photographs of art world figures and events; sketches and sketchbooks; rare printed material; film, audio and video recordings; and the largest collection of oral histories anywhere on the subject of art.
- Black Studies Center (25,000 BC to present) This link opens in a new windowCross-searchable gateway to black studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and more.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) (1701-1800) This link opens in a new windowPage images and full-text searching for more than 136,000 key English- and foreign-language titles printed in Great Britain during the 18th century, based on the English Short Title Catalogue.
- Feminist Art Base, Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn MuseumProfiles, images, audio and video of contributors to feminist art from the 1960s to the present.
- Digital ScriptoriumImage database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts.
- MoMA Archives Image Database (MAID)Materials digitized from MoMA's collections, including letters, art documentation and ephemera, images of artists and art-world personalities, installation photographs of MoMA and MoMA PS1 exhibitions, historical views of the Museum building and Sculpture Garden, administrative records, and more.
- The Studio Museum Digital ArchivesMaterials digitized from The Studio Museum in Harlem's exhibitions, programming, special events, and Artist-in-Residence program.
- ICAA Documents of Latin American and Latino Art (Museum of Fine Arts Houston)Documents of 20th and 21st-century art in Latin America, the Caribbean, and among US Latino communities
- World Hertiage Sites: Africa (Aluka)Visual, contextual, and spatial documentation of African heritage sites.
- Digital Public Library of AmericaCatalog of public domain and openly licensed images and other digitized materials from archives, libraries, museums, and other U.S. cultural heritage institutions.
- Europeana CollectionsTexts, videos, sound, and images from many European museums, archives, and libraries. It does not include collections outside of Europe, commercial projects, or websites otherthan libraries and museums.
- GallicaThe French aggregator for the European Digital Library, Europeana. Developed and maintained by the Bibliotheque Nacional de France, Gallica provides access to over one million items, including books, manuscripts, scores, audio files, and more. While Gallica is not exclusively dedicated to Medieval and Early Modern works, it maintains a very strong collection in this time period. The interface is accessible in both English and French.
- MetPublications (1964 to present)Full-text access to out-of-print exhibition catalogues, collection catalogues, museum guides, and educational materials from the the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Internet Archive (archive.org)Digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
Artist Interviews and Talks
Artist Interviews and Talks Online:
- ICA Boston Artists' Talks
Audio and video recordings of artists' talks and exhibitions from 2012. Includes performance art and film.
- Audio Arts at the Tate
Established in 1972 by Bill Furlong as an audio cassette-magazine, Audio Arts includes 30 years worth of recorded interviews with world famous artists, andd is available here digitally for the first time.
- MoMA Multimedia Lab
Audio and video recordings of artist talks, exhibitions and programming. Includes detailed interactive walk through of museum exhibitions.
Tip: What are primary sources?
A primary source is essentially any record or artifact from a given era that provides original documentary evidence of the time—like a snapshot of a given experience, taken by someone who was there. Secondary sources, such as books or articles, often draw heavily from primary sources, such as letters, diaries, or interviews, to make representations or interpretations of a period under study.
A few examples of primary sources include diaries, photographs, letters, government documents, and newspaper and magazine articles (from the period under study).
Want to learn more? Visit the Primary Sources Research Guide.