Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites

Arts, Fine and Decorative: Museums

National Gallery of Art
The collection of the National Gallery of Art can be searched by artist, title and subject. In addition, there are extensive online tours, special features, and teaching resources.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian’s website allows access to the resources of the Archives of American Art with its catalog, finding aids, and digitized collections, as well as the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) which includes a number of specialized art databases. The Smithsonian’s American Art Museum also maintains a guide, Researching Your Art, with tips and resources for learning about antiques and collectibles.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York’s Metropolitan Museum contains one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world. The Met’s website allows access to about 6,500 objects from its collection, a Timeline of Art History, and a listing of online resources.

Winterthur Museum and Country Estate
Located in Wilmington, Delaware, the Winterthur estate includes extensive museum collections, gardens, and a research library.

Getty Museum
The website for the J. Paul Getty Museum on Los Angeles includes the Union List of Artist Names, a database of preferred and variant names, biographical information and bibliographic citations relating to artists and architects. Getty Provenance Index® Databases indexes transcriptions of material from auction catalogs and archival inventories of western European works of art. Their guide to conducting art and architecture research includes a section of "Selected Public Web Sites" providing links to general art resources, art history and architecture, and design.

Guggenheim Museum
In "Selections from the Collection" the museum’s collection is organized into a number of categories including artist, movement, concept, and date with accompanying historical information and a glossary.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA)
The MFA is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world. From the collections page, users can learn about art from different areas of the world and over 300,000 works from the MFA’s collection.

Victoria and Albert Museum
This London museum is recognized as one of the premier collections of decorative arts. The website includes information about current exhibitions, library resources, and exemplary collections.

The Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums
Website for "an organization of people who bring history to life” through living exhibits devoted to rural life and culture.

Virtual Catalogue for Art History (Virtueller Katalog Kunstgeschichte; VKK)
European-based catalog allowing access to the records of art museum libraries and cultural institutions around the world. Available in English, German, French, and Italian.