Finding Historical Context
There are many places you can search to find information to provides historical context about artists, works of art, materials, media, technologies, and techniques. Below are a few of the databases most likely to provide you with what you're looking for.
- Oxford Art Online
Also known as: Grove Dictionary of Art| Grove Art Online| This database contains articles on every aspect of the visual arts - painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts, and photography from prehistory to the present day. There are peer-reviewed articles with supporting materials including bibliographies, media, and links to related resources. The search engine has options to refine by source, type, subject, and availability.
- Bibliography of the History of Art
Contains indexes and abstracts of art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from 1975 to 2007. Includes coverage of its two predecessor art indexes: RAA (Répertoire d'Art et d'Archéologie) from 1973 to 1989 and RILA (Répertoire International de la Littérature de l'Art) from 1975 to 1989. For material published after 2007 see the International Bibliography of Art.
- International Bibliography of Art (IBA) This link opens in a new window
The International Bibliography of Art (IBA) is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), and includes the most recent index records that were created by the Getty Research Institute as part of BHA.
- Adam Matthew - All Collections This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections in the social sciences and humanities. Collections the University of Alberta Library subscribes to are also listed individually in the database lists.
- America: History and LifeAmerica: History and Life provides abstracts covering all aspects of the history of Canada and the United States from prehistorical times to the present. Coverage is very broad and takes in many areas including: popular culture, anthropology, folklore, sociology, cultural studies, business, the arts, law, education and genealogy. Published since 1964.
- Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts with Full Text covers world history from 1450 to the present, excluding the United States and Canada. Coverage is very broad and takes in many areas including: religion, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political science, the arts, law, education and geneology. Published since 1954.
- JSTOR
JSTOR contains fulltext academic journals in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. JSTOR provides complete journal backruns from the date of initial publication up to a date defined, on a publisher by publisher basis, by a "moving wall". The moving wall is a fixed period of time ranging, in most cases, from 2 to 5 years, that defines the gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR.
