Guides: Databases: Visual & Performing Arts

Periodical Article Indexes - Magazines, Journals, Newspapers

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains a comprehensive backfile (current issues not available) of scholarly journals, current open access articles, and select current scholarly journal subscriptions spanning more than 20 disciplines including business & economics, education, science, history, and language & literature - all in full text
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database has records for nearly 18,000 periodicals - journals, magazines, and newspapers - of which nearly 16,000 are peer reviewed. It provides full text for more than 5,000 journals, and you can use Journal Finder to locate articles that do not have a PDF readily available.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.

Art Books in Full-text

Getty Museum Art Books This link opens in a new window
Free digital backlist titles from the Getty Publications Archives.

Art Images

Artstor This link opens in a new window
The Artstor Digital Library is a nonprofit resource that provides over 1.6 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Our community-built collections comprise contributions from outstanding international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates.
Bridgeman Art Library This link opens in a new window
A dedicated service that supports the use of high-quality images in teaching, research or reference. The website allows you to search across all media including photography, fine art, engravings, sculpture, architecture, archaeology & ethnography, history, science & medicine, the decorative arts, artifacts and applied arts.
accessCeramics This link opens in a new window
A growing online collection of over 2,800 images from more than 360 contemporary ceramic artists from around the world. Organized by artist's name, geographic location, forming technique, glazing surface, firing temperature, material, object type, institution, and collection, this keywords-searchable database is managed by the Watzek Library at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
ArtCyclopedia This link opens in a new window
A searchable index of websites displaying images of fine art works, specializing in painting and sculpture, also browsable by artist's name, medium, subject, nationality, and art movement.
Google Arts & Culture (Google Art Project) This link opens in a new window
A visual resource that uses Google's Street View technology to enable the user to explore virtually 17 of the world's top museums, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the Frick Collection, Moma, and Metropolitan Museum in New York. Users may create their own Artwork Collection by saving a particular view of over 1,000 images available within the site.
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog This link opens in a new window
The New York Public Library has digitized over 923,000 items, many of which are in the public domain
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History This link opens in a new window
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated by the Museum's collection. It is an invaluable reference and research tool for students, educators, scholars, and anyone interested in the study of art history and related subjects.

Trial Databases

Reference Materials - Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

African American Music Reference This link opens in a new window
African American Music Reference will bring together 50,000 pages of text reference, biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies which chronicle the diverse history and culture of the African American experience through music. The database is constantly expanding to include comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
Classical Music Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Classical Music Reference Library brings together more than 30,000 pages of essential reference materials, spanning the entire history of Western classical music, in a unified online database. Included are the authoritative reference titles Baker's Dictionary of Music, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, and Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music, which have never before been available in electronic form.
Classical Scores Library This link opens in a new window
Classical Scores Library contains 400,000 pages of classical scores from both in-copyright and public domain editions. The major composers output is represented, as well as many lesser known composers and works. The collection includes works spanning time periods from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Coverage of score types is comprehensive with full scores, study scores, piano and vocal scores, and piano reductions.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new window
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) This link opens in a new window
A virtual library that aspires to contain all public domain music, as well as music from composers who are willing to share their work with the world without charge.
Internet Broadway Database This link opens in a new window
IBDB (Internet Broadway Database) archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.
Music Online: Reference This link opens in a new window
Most comprehensive database in streaming audio, video, reference, and scores on the web. Allows users cross search all of the music databases published by Alexander Street Press, including African American Music Reference, Classical Music Library, Classical Scores Library, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music and more.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
[formerly Grove Art Online] Web access to the entire text of The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner (1996, 34 vols.) and The Oxford Companion to Western Art, ed. Hugh Brigstocke (2001). Offers ongoing additions of new and updated articles, over 1,500 thumbnail art images and line drawings displayed in the text of articles, extensive image links, and sophisticated search and navigation tools.
Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Formerly Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online is a new gateway that offers users the ability, for the first time ever, to access and cross-search the vast resources of Oxford's music reference in one location. The cornerstone of Oxford Music Online is Grove Music Online, but also includes The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Oxford Companion to Music.
Sibley Music Library: Music Scores This link opens in a new window
Scores and books in the public domain. Many of these are unique to the Sibley Music Library collection at the University of Rochester.

Sound Resources

Classical Music Library This link opens in a new window
An ever-growing, fully searchable classical music database of distinguished classical recordings. It includes tens of thousands of licensed recordings that are cross-referenced to a database of supplementary reference information. Classical Music Library is the only audio service developed exclusively with the needs of librarians in mind. It's also the only dedicated library resource offering music licensed from major labels.
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) This link opens in a new window
A virtual library that aspires to contain all public domain music, as well as music from composers who are willing to share their work with the world without charge.
Millennium Stage Performance Archive This link opens in a new window
Broadcasts of free performances given at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. by performers from a variety of world cultures. Sponsored by the "Performing Arts for Everyone" initiative, the productions include dance as well as instrumental and vocal music. Searchable by artist/keyword, month and year, and genre.
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. It includes the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues of over 165,000 tracks, including Classical music, Jazz, World, Folk and Chinese music. While listening, you can read notes on the works being played as well as biographical information on composers or artists in Naxos's extensive database. All these can be accessible from computers in academic libraries, home or office.
Naxos Music Library: Jazz This link opens in a new window
Naxos Music Library Jazz is one of the most comprehensive collection of Jazz music available online. It offers close to 20,000* tracks of jazz from over 1,900* albums. Over 500* jazz artists are represented. Naxos Music Library Jazz comprises Naxos Jazz and the 22 labels of Fantasy Jazz. Naxos Jazz, along with Prophone and Proprius, brings you the world of international Jazz, covering Sweden and Scandinavian jazz artist, and offers the very best in blues and R&B.
Songs of America (Library of Congress) This link opens in a new window
A keywords-searchable database of sheet music (79,000+ items), audio recordings (3,400+ entries), video recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and other materials owned by the Library of Congress, pertaining to the history of American song. Search results may be limited by format, publication date, subject, geographic location, language, and source.