It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.
Databases A-Z
Find the best library databases for your research.
Yale University Press's authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design. Includes the Art Institute of Chicago's eBooks.
Contains more than 1,100 historically-significant periodicals published between 1740 to 1940, including special interest and general magazines. Everything is available in full text.
3 full text collections--ReVIEW, arts & architecture journals; Arts + Architecture ProFILES, biographical data on artists, architects, & designers; Research Source on The Poster--plus Design Abstracts Retrospective, indexing applied arts and design journals from 1900-1986.
Education resource of images, videos, mini-lectures and scholarship of the decades which influenced or defined modern through contemporary art. The core intent is to replace the dominant white, male, heteronormative, advantaged, celebrity narratives for a more inclusive history balanced with the work of women, artists of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, intersectional makers, and the self-taught.
Sound archive freely available to download over 16,000 sound effects for “personal, educational or research purposes” from animal sounds to rattling window frames. Audio CDs of BBC sound effects are also available in the Flaxman Library.
Integrated text and image content on world dress and fashion throughout history. Includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, ebooks, an image bank, and more.
Brings together 4 renowned ornithological reference works published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Covering the life histories of all breeding birds. Includes images, video, sound files, full-text articles.
**This is a temporary resource. Nearly 3,000 fashion videos from the YOOX-NET-A-PORTER Runway Archive Collections, this documents 1979 to 2003. Trial runs through March 2, 2022.
Perpetual access to over 3,000 titles in all academic disciplines on the ProQuest eBook Central platform, provided by the Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). Select School of the Art Institute of Chicago in drop-down menu for access.
A guide to Chicago's neighborhoods and 77 officially designated community areas through Chicago-area archival collections from Explore Chicago Collections.
Free health and medical research database for openly available content related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Content from journals, preprints, conference proceedings, dissertations and more.
A streaming platform for entertainment and education from the Dis collaborative, enlisting leading artists and thinkers to expand the reach of key conversations in contemporary art, culture, activism, philosophy, and technology through short streaming original series and documentaries.
Ebony is a monthly magazine with a focus on news, culture, and entertainment targeted at the African-American community. With coverage of the magazine from its first issue in 1945 through 2014, the full-text archive of more than 800 issues provides analysis on African-American business, history, politics, entertainment, fashion and culture.
A platform that aims to “decentralize the study of fashion. Founded in 2017 the database is a response to a Euro-centric framework of fashion history and theory, with goals of amplifying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) perspectives and broadening the traditional narrative.
The backfiles of the US and UK editions of Harper's Bazaar magazine, a fashion, arts, and culture authority from 1867 to the present. Scanned in full color, it features detailed indexing and searchable text.
Over 5,000 e-books on the humanities, in subjects such as archaeology, art & architectural history, film & media studies, literature, musicology, theater and dance, philosophy, religion, and sociology. All titles are peer-reviewed and in full-text.
Full text archive of all JSTOR content including scholarly humanities, arts, and social sciences journals. Note: does NOT include the most current 3-5 years.
Tip: Videos play best only in Firefox, Safari, IE, for embedding videos (may not load in Chrome). Curated collection from independent and international producers including selections from Criterion, Michael Blackwood and others.
Collection of projects made by artists, architects or designers, includes PDF zines; downloadable exhibitions; experimental sound compositions; magazines about experimental sound art; fonts channeling cultural histories; and political artworks in the form of custom browser extensions.
Video-based tutorials on a wide range of software, including: 3D, video, photography, web design, graphic design, and more; all organized by subject software, and instructor.
The Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections portal holds a wealth of documents and images including the museum's publications & exhibition catalogs, rare materials from the art libraries and costume institutes, and images of the artworks in their collection.
HD-quality contemporary performance films. Filmed at On the Boards, as well as peer theaters across the country, the performances present a snapshot of the best new works by current leaders in dance, theater and music.
Full-text access to OUP ebooks published between 2018 and June 2022 in nine subject areas: Biology, History, Law, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Social Work, and Sociology. Off-campus? use the Sign in via your Institution link and search for School of the Art Institute.
HeinOnline's three full-text open access collections: Civil Rights & Social Justice; Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, & Law; and Gun Regulation & Legislation in America.
At this time, VDB has a selection of its collection available on Panopto. If faculty or students need other titles from our collection, please email info@vdb.org outlining your needs, and we will work to add those titles to Panopto. We will start with the most needed titles and will continue to add other requests as soon as possible.
Contains more than 1,100 historically-significant periodicals published between 1740 to 1940, including special interest and general magazines. Everything is available in full text.
Education resource of images, videos, mini-lectures and scholarship of the decades which influenced or defined modern through contemporary art. The core intent is to replace the dominant white, male, heteronormative, advantaged, celebrity narratives for a more inclusive history balanced with the work of women, artists of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, intersectional makers, and the self-taught.
This guide attempts to collect and curate the contributions of Black planners, scholars, artists, writers, organizers and practitioners from a variety of fields that are concerned with the process of organizing space and place in the urban environment.
The Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC) gathers information about archival collections held by member organizations that document African American and African diasporic culture, history, and politics, with a specific focus on materials relating to Chicago. The searchable database includes records about collections that were processed or surveyed through the BMRC's Survey Initiative and Color Curtain Processing Project programs, as well as finding aids contributed from our members about relevant materials in their repositories.
Free health and medical research database for openly available content related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Content from journals, preprints, conference proceedings, dissertations and more.
Created and maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi as a way to spotlight marginalized comics creators. The databases are used by booksellers, librarians, academics, editors, book publishers, event organizers, readers, and more.
A platform that aims to “decentralize the study of fashion. Founded in 2017 the database is a response to a Euro-centric framework of fashion history and theory, with goals of amplifying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) perspectives and broadening the traditional narrative.
The backfiles of the US and UK editions of Harper's Bazaar magazine, a fashion, arts, and culture authority from 1867 to the present. Scanned in full color, it features detailed indexing and searchable text.
Eclectic collection of international advertisements, originally free from copyright restrictions. The IADDB foundation encourages advertisers to add their copyrighted material and asks anyone to add images, names, dates and all other kinds of information, to create a crowd-sourced collection of advertising documentation.
Utilizing and developing standards and best practices, the Material Order consortium provides a community-based approach to the management of design material collections with federated search access among participating institutions.
At this time, VDB has a selection of its collection available on Panopto. If faculty or students need other titles from our collection, please email info@vdb.org outlining your needs, and we will work to add those titles to Panopto. We will start with the most needed titles and will continue to add other requests as soon as possible.
