Database on Costume history, design, and construction:
Bloomsbury Dress and Costume LibraryThis link opens in a new windowInterdisciplinary primary sources, scholarly and reference books, articles, and videos on the study of dress and costume history, design and making. Terms of Use. Coverage: 3300 BCE-present.
Here you will find resources for visual research.
Internet image sources for visual research:
AP ImagesAP Images gives you access to the world’s largest collections of historical and contemporary photographs, so you have all the imagery you need, right when you need it.
Images dating back to 1844 .Great for historical events, people in context, and stock photography
Smithsonian Open AccessAllows users to explore and use, transform, and share millions of open access digital items from the Smithsonian’s collections. Open access items carry a CC0 designation. This means the Smithsonian dedicates the digital asset into the public domain, meaning it is free of copyright restrictions and can be used for any purpose, free of charge, without further permission from the Smithsonian.
Coverage: 200 BCE-present.
Vogue ArchiveVogue magazine; Every issue. Every page. 1892 to today.
Note: Chapman University doesn't provide full access to the site, but you can still browse the covers and images.
LIFE Photo ArchivePhotographs used in LIFE Magazine. Main coverage is 20th century until the 1970s, but also includes a good amount of late 19th century materials.
Newspaper NavigatorA tool from the Library of Congress that is specifically for locating images in American newspapers from 1900-1965.
Wikimedia CommonsFrom the site:
"Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone... Everyone is allowed to copy, use and modify any files here freely as long as they follow the terms specified by the author; this often means crediting the source and author(s) appropriately and releasing copies/improvements under the same freedom to others. The license conditions of each individual media file can be found on their description page."
Sears catalogs are a fantastic resource for getting images of everyday American life. This site has images of catalogs from 1937 to 1992. [May not work in some browsers]
Yale University Digital CommonsMake sure to check the rights associated with each photo to ensure it is in the public domain.
Google has partnered with a number of magazine publishers to
digitize their archives: “Ebony” 1959–2008; “ElleGIRL” 2000–2007: “LIFE” 1936–1972; “Jet”
1951–2008; “New York Magazine” 1968–1997; “SPIN” 1985–2012.
Full-text access across Greenwood’s “Daily Life in…” eBooks (1995-1998), which provide detailed portrayals of ordinary people’s lives in different cultures, from ancient times through the 19th century. Terms of Use.
