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Research Guides@Tufts

Art History: For Seniors and Grad Students (COVID-19 ed): Home

 

Welcome to my Research Sources page for Art & Art History!

Chao Chen, Humanities Research and Instruction Librarian
Email: chao.chen@tufts.edu; Tel: 617• 627• 2057; Schedule a virtual meeting

This COVID-19 edition emphasizes ebooks and full-text articles.

   chao chen

Books

1. JumboSearch for Books 

The library's catalog includes ebooks from the following collections, which you can search separately as well:

Note: WorldCat (renamed to be Libraries Worldwide on the Tisch Library homepage) is still a better place to get a fuller picture of  books on a topic, even though interlibrary loan service is currently very limited.)

2. Check the Boston Public Library's catalog for eBooks (and  sign up for a BPL eCard , Tufts students and faculty eligible)

3. "Digital books" on Internet Archive

4. Open Educational Resources (OER)
online alternatives that are accessible and free to all students

More Book Catalogs:

Articles

    Journal and Magazine Articles 

A. All-Subject Databases

B. Art and Art History Databases

C. Related Subjects Databases

D. Period Studies Databases

**Search by the title of the article in JumboSearch when the full text is not readily available in the two Art History databases.

Select e-journals

 

    Magazine and Newspaper Articles 

Current Newspapers

Historical Magazines and Newspapers

Overviews (with bibliographies)

  • This type of sources offer overviews and summaries; use them to gather, possibly, the following information:
    1. An art historian's contribution in the field of art history.

    * his/her "new" approach/method/theory
    * his/her "impact" on the scholarship of a particular type of art
    2. Seminal publications by and about an art historian (as mentioned in the essays and listed in the bibliographies)

    * note authors/scholars who are experts on the art historian or the theory
    * note major journals in the fields, where you are likely to find current scholarship on your topics.
    * Are there scholars/journals from other fields as well?
    3. People, events, ... related to an art historian

    * how an art historian is shaped by his/her education;
    * who or what influenced their theory;
    * what was the field of study like prior.

 

Bibliographies & Review of Books

  • 1.  You might consider such questions as:
    • Does the reviewer agree or disagree with the book’s theses and approaches?
    • Does the  reviewer provide new evidence not included in the book?
    • What does  the reviewer see as the relevance of the book?
    • What  questions not included in the book does the reviewer identify?
    • Based on  this book review, what do you think are a few of the major questions or  methodologies being used in your chosen field? 
    2.

    What's the next larger context?

    When there Aren't any (or many) books published on your topic, try place your idea in the knowledge hierarchy. For examples:

    connect Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling with 16th-century Italian art, focusing on patronage in Rome during the Renaissance and Baroque periods;

    or, dealing with influential Italian artists through history, etc.?