Library Guides: Images: A Guide to Visual Resources: Printed Images

Finding Images Using the Library Catalog

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.

Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts
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.

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
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.

Photography Index: A Guide to Reproductions
Indexes photographic reproductions in books published between 1820 and 1970s.
& more less...
This index emphasizes artistic and documentary photography. It is arranged by photographer, but also includes a good subject index.
General index to illustrations; 22,000 selected references in all fields exclusive of nature
Primarily indexes images published in art journals and catalogs from the late 1800s to the 1920s, but the subject matter is wide-ranging.
ALA Portrait Index: Index to Portraits Contained in Printed Books and Periodicals
Published in 1906. Despite its age, an excellent resource for images of people known to 19th-century audiences.

Art Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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.
Art Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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.
Sabin Americana Collection, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new window
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.

Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography.
Making of the Modern World This link opens in a new window
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.
Covers the history of Western trade, encompassing the coal, iron, and steel industries, the railway industry, the cotton industry, banking and finance, and the emergence of the modern corporation. It is also strong in the rise of the modern labor movement, the evolving status of slavery, the condition and making of the working class, colonization, the Atlantic world, Latin American/Caribbean studies, social history, gender, and the economic theories that championed and challenged capitalism in the nineteenth century. Part I: The Goldsmiths'-Kress Collection, 1450-1850, Part II: 1851-1914, Part III: 1890–1945, Part IV: 1800-1890.

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.

Saturday evening post
Library has: 1821-present
Godey's magazine
Library has: 1831-1898
Harper's magazine
Library has: 1850-1976
Harper's weekly
Library has: 1857-1916
The Outlook
Library has: 1871-1935
The Ladies' home journal
Library has: 1883-present
The Literary digest
Library has: 1890-1938
National geographic
Library has: 1894-present
Collier's, the national weekly
Library has: 1898-1957
Sunset
Library has: 1899-1972
The Country life
Library has: 1901-1942
The Countryside magazine
Library has: 1905-1917
Sears Catalog
Library has 1913-1985.
Time
Library has: 1923-present
Newsweek
Library has: 1933-present
Life
Library has: 1936-1972
Consumer reports
Library has: 1936-present
Look
Library has: 1942-1971
Réalités
Library has: 1950-1974
Ebony
Library has: 1962-present
Maclean's
Library has: 1968-present
Smithsonian
Library has: 1970-present