The Ames Library
uide to Selected Art Resources

Find Articles
Find Books
Reference & Web Sources
     General Reference Sources
     Guides to Web Sources
     Image Sources
     Museums
     Architecture
     Ceramics
     Graphic Design
     Photography
     Sculpture

For more information contact the Library Liaison for Art. 

Find Articles
Art Abstracts 1983 to the present
Art Index  1950-1994. Subject-author guide to art journal literature. Located in stacks. N1.A1A78
A & H Search 1980 to present. Indexes many of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
Humanities Abstracts 1984 to present. Indexes English language journals in a variety of areas including art and photography.

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Find Books
Option 1 - Ames Library Catalog

Search for books and other materials owned by IWU.

  • Best when searching by subject.
  • If IWU owns the item you may check it out.
  • If IWU does not own the item, use I-Share to check other CARLI libraries to see if it is available. If so, you may request the item. If not, see Option 2.
  • Need assistance searching Illinet Online? See the help pages.
Option 2 - WorldCat

A catalog of books and other materials worldwide.

  • Best when searching by title.
  • Choose the "Get This" button for availability.
Art Call Number Ranges

N 1-9165 Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
NA 1-9428 Architecture
NB 1-1952 Sculpture
NC 1-1940 Drawing. Design. Illustration
ND 25-3416 Painting
NE 1-3002 Print media
NK 1-9955 Decorative arts. Applied arts. Decoration and ornament Including antiques in general
NX 1-820 Arts in general Including works dealing with two or more of the fine arts media, i. e. literature, performing arts, and the visual arts. For works on any one of these subjects, see the subject, e.g., GV, M, N, P, TR
TR 1-1050 Photography

The Ames Library uses Library of Congress Classification.

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Reference & Web Resources

General Reference Sources
Credo Full-text reference collection of over 280 titles including art

Grove Dictionary of Art

 Ref. N31.D5 1996
Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art & Architecture Ref. N5610.G76 2007
Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts Ref. NK28.G76 2006
Oxford Dictionary of American Art Ref. N6505.M59 2007

Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art

 Ref. N6490.C5317 1998

Timeline of Art History

 Online.

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Guides to Web Sources
Art History Research Centre
Art History Resources on the Web
Art Source
The Mother of All Art History Links Pages
WWW Virtual Library: History of Art

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Image Sources
American Memory Digital images from historical collections of the Library of Congress.
Artcyclopedia Encyclopedia of museum quality art images on the Web. Searchable by artist.
ARTstor A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images from universities and museums around the world.
British Library Images Online Access to thousands of the greatest images from the British Library’s collections
Image Collections and Online Art
National Portrait Gallery Portrait Search Search for paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and photographs in the National Portrait Gallery and Catalog of American Portraits (CAP), collection, showing individuals who made significant contributions to US history and culture, many accompanied by digital images.
NYPL Digital Gallery Images from the New York Public Library's immense collection; includes Civil War photos, maps, sheet music covers, and more
Off the Map (from PBS) Website for the PBS show of the same name, exploring outsider art and visionary art around the world.
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection and exhibitions provide subject access to over 3000 images.
UNESCO Photobank

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Museums
Art Institute of Chicago
Art Museum Network
Gallery Guide
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tate Modern: Carousel This website will allow the curious user to weave their way through this large collection of perhaps one of the world's finest museums of modern art. The works are randomly generated on the site, and visitors can highlight images by clicking on them as they appear and also add them to their “favorites” list.
Virtual Library Museums Pages

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Architecture
Digital Archive of American Architecture
Great Buildings Online
Architecture and Interior Design for Twentieth Century America Online version of the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection which includes over 29,000 images.
Chicago Imagebase Architectural images of Chicago and vicinity

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Ceramics
Ceramics Web Includes glaze recipes and material analyses, links to other ceramics web sites, health and safety information, and a variety of educational materials related to ceramics.

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Graphic Design
American Institute of Graphic Arts
Center for Universal Design
Design Encyclopedia Ref. NK1370.B93 2004
Design-Engine.com Links to design articles, events, educational and commercial design resources.

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Photography
American Museum of Photography Online exhibits; information on early photographic processes, conservation and preservation of early photographs, buyer's guide to archival products, links to selected websites.
American Photograph The National Museum of American Art photography website, searchable by subject.
California Museum of Photography Online exhibits, biographical information.
Daguerreian Society Official society webpage includes a brief history of the Daguerreotype, an extensive bibliography, an illustrated description of the process, Daguerreian materials manufactory, and historical texts.
Focal Encyclopedia of Photography Ref. TR9.F6 1993c
History of Photography A brief history of photography through the 1920's.
Oxford Companion to the Photograph Ref. TR9.O94 2005
The Picture Collection Time Inc.'s photo archive. Login required for full access to the database.

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Sculpture
Sculptor.org  Lists resources related to sculpture on and off the internet.

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This service is maintained by The Ames Library. Please contact us with any problems or suggestions.Last revised: August 31, 2006