Primary Documents in Print

Finding Primary Sources in Print

Library Catalog Basic Search

Objects are themselves primary documents, but art historians also consult literature and many other sources to understand artworks. One strategy for finding primary documents in print is to search the Library Catalog. Below is a list of keywords that are helpful for locating primary sources in print.

Sources
Letters
Diaries
Personal narratives
Correspondence
Early works

American Art, 1700-1960 by John W. McCoubrey
Call Number: N6505.M26 1965
Publication Date: 1965
Letters, newspaper and magazine articles, excerpts from diaries and books, and critical reviews reveal what is derivative in American art, and describe past culture.
American Art to 1900 by Sarah Burns; John A. G. Davis
Call Number: N6505 .B87 2009
Publication Date: 2009-03-16
From the simple assertion that "words matter" in the study of visual art, this comprehensive but eminently readable volume gathers an extraordinary selection of words--painters and sculptors writing in their diaries, critics responding to a sensational exhibition, groups of artists issuing stylistic manifestos, and poets reflecting on particular works of art.
Art in Theory, 1900-2000 by Charles Harrison (Editor); Paul Wood (Editor)
Call Number: N6490.A7167 2003
Publication Date: 2002
This popular anthology of twentieth-century art theoretical texts has now been expanded to take account of new research, and to include significant contributions to art theory from the 1990s.
Art in Theory 1815-1900 by Charles Harrison (Editor); Paul Wood; Jason Gaiger
Call Number: N6450 .A779 2001
Publication Date: 1998
Art in Theory 1815-1900 provides the most wide-ranging and comprehensive collection of documents ever assembled on nineteenth-century theories of art.
Art of the United States, 1750-2000 by John Davis; Michael Leja; Francesca Rose (Editor)
Call Number: N6505 .A76 2020
Publication Date: 2020
Art of the United States is a landmark volume that presents three centuries of US art through a broad array of historical texts.
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, 1874-1904 by Linda Nochlin
Call Number: ND1265.N58
Publication Date: 1966
Modern Art in the USA by Patricia Hills
Call Number: N6512 .H47 2001
Publication Date: 2000
This chronologically organized and comprehensive anthology of readings tells the whole story of art in America from 1900 to the present. It focuses on the themes, issues, and controversies that occurred throughout the century—using selections that are contemporary with the art—by artists, critics, exhibition organizers, poets, politicians, and other writers on culture.
Realism and Tradition in Art, 1848-1900 by Linda Nochlin
Call Number: N6450.N57 c.2
Publication Date: 1966
Theories of Modern Art by Herschel B. Chipp
Call Number: N6450 .C62 1984
Publication Date: 1984
Herschel B. Chipp's Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book By Artists and Critics is a collection of texts from letters, manifestos, notes and interviews.