Research and Course Guides: Primary Sources in Various Disciplines: Fine Arts

Century of the Child: MoMA

Child by Design

Primary Sources: Historical Context

Ann Keene, our History Librarian, has developed an excellent guide to primary sources in history. Contact her for any indepth research you need to do.

Primary Sources in History

Primary Sources in Art and Music

In the Fine Arts, there are 3 types of Primary sources, depending on your interest.

First, the works themselves: paintings, sculptures, music, compositions/scores, textiles, etc.

Second, information about the creator of the work, biographical information. Letters, manuscripts, diaries, records.

Third, information about the social and historical context of the time. Newspaper articles, magazines,

Finding Audio and Visual Sources

Use the following sources to find period spoken word or musical recordings or period visual images

Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound This link opens in a new window
Smithsonian Global Sound streaming audio database has more than 40,000 individual tracks of music, spoken word, and natural and human-made sounds from Smithsonian/Folkways and other record labels. Included are readings of literary and dramatic works, historic speeches, language instruction, natural sounds, environmental and mechanical sounds, sound effects, children's music, and traditional music from virtually everywhere in the world. Playlists can be created for personal or classroom use.
ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Use this database to find photographs, images of artifacts, or artworks from specific historic periods
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Naxos Music Library streaming audio database offers over a million tracks of classical, film, world, and folk music. Users can search for music by composer, artist, period, year of composition, instrument, label, duration, mood, or genre. Added features include composer biographies, musical terms glossaries, work analyses, and K-12 curriculum resources. Playlists can be created for personal or classroom use.

Library of Congress' Digital Jukebox
A digital link to the Library of Congress' audio holdings of historical American music.

Biographical Resources online

American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window
American National Biography provides biographical information relating to significant men and women from all periods of United States history. Limited to 5 simultaneous users.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
55,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2003. Limited to 3 simultaneous users.

American Men and Women of Science
Society for the Psychology of Women
This is a Division of the American Psychological Association. If you type "Biography" in the search box, you will find many biographical sketches on prominent women psychologists.
Psychology's Feminist Voices
As described on the website: First-hand accounts of feminist psychologists who were instrumental in bringing about these changes and who continue to enrich psychology with feminism.

Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
Biography in Context includes over 700,000 biographical entries covering more than 400,000 notable international figures from all time periods and areas of study.

Portraits of Pioneers in Developmental Psychology by Wade Pickren (Editor); Donald A. Dewsbury (Editor); Michael Wertheimer (Editor)
ISBN: 128065998X
Publication Date: 2012-01-01

Arnold Gesell
Florence L Goodenough
Heinz Werner
Helena Antipoff
Charlotte Buhler
Jean Piaget
Lev Vygotsky
Lois Barclay Murphy
Roger Barker
Robert W. White
Joseph McVicker Hunt
Sidney W. Bijou
John Paul Scott
Eleanor J. Gibson
Mamie Phipps Clark
Lawrence Kohlberg