Here are some strategies for finding images of virtually anything using the Library Catalog.
For a general image search, use the BEGINS WITH option, select subject from the drop box, and enter one of the following search terms:
exhibitions
illustrated periodicals
photographs
caricatures and cartoons
Use the phrase "pictorial works" in an ADVANCED KEYWORD search, for example:
anatomy and pictorial works
obama and pictorial works
Using the BEGINS WITH option, select subject from the drop box, and enter the phrase "___in art," for example:
musical instruments in art
working class in art
Using Indexes
Printed images are indexed. You don't have to browse endless piles of books or magazines to find good images. There are many indexes to printed
images, and some are online.
This selection is listed in order of dates of coverage, oldest to most recent.
A guide to mythological themes depicted in works of art from the Medieval period to the present. The guide lists books that include illustrations of each work.
Date coverage: 1473-1700. Select the Advanced Search option and use the "Illustration Type" field to limit results by type of illustration. Select multiple types of illustrations using Ctrl + click.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) features page images of almost every work printed in the British Isles and North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere from 1470-1700. Over 200 libraries worldwide have contributed to EEBO. From the first book printed in English through to the ages of Spenser, Shakespeare and of the English Civil War, EEBO's content draws on authoritative and respected short-title catalogues of the period and features a substantial number of text transcriptions specially created for the product.
Date Coverage: 1984-present. Use the "Document Type" field and select "Art Reproductions" or “Exhibit”.
Indexing and abstracting database which corresponds to Art Index (Z5931.A75), indexing more than 300 key, international arts publications. (1984-present): A good starting place for mostly English-language articles on topics from classical art through 21st-century performance artists.
Date coverage: 1929-1984. Select the Advanced Search option and use the "Document Type" box to select “Art Reproduction”. Or, use the “Physical Description” drop-down field to specify illustration, diagram, etc.
Indexing of 260 international art publications, including English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, and Swedish.
Date coverage: 1500-1926. Select the Advanced Search tab and note the drop-down box titled "to Illustrated Works Containing". Select multiple types of illustrated works using Ctrl + click.
Works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents, forming a collection of over 6 million pages from 29,000 works.
Date coverage: 1450-1850. Select the Advanced Search tab and use the “Illustrated Works Containing” field to search by type of illustrated work. Select multiple types of illustrated works using Ctrl + click.
Full-text version of the Goldsmith-Kress microfilm collection, a comprehensive collection of economics and business literature dating from the last half of the 15th century to the early 20th century.
Combines Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature at the University of London Library and the Kress Library of Business and Economics at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration-along with supplementary materials from the Seligman Collection in the Butler Library at Columbia University and from the libraries of Yale University. The collection presents more than 61,000 books from the period 1460-1850, and 466 pre-1906 serials. The collection focuses on economics interpreted in the widest sense, including political science, history, sociology, and special collections on banking, finance, transportation and manufacturing. The collection includes works by major economists as well as political pamphlets, government publications, proclamations and other ephemera.
Browsing Old Periodicals
Magazines and catalogs offer a wide variety of high-quality illustrations. Click on the titles to connect directly to the electronic resource (where electronic coverage exists). Click on the 'Library has' link for the Library record.