Primary Sources for Art
Primary sources are contemporaneous records that allow you to get as close as possible to a historical event or time period via the evidence left behind by participants or observers. (Secondary sources are works, such as books or articles, that interpret or analyze an historical event or phenomenon.)
To find primary sources in The CAT, combine your topic with these search terms: sources, correspondence, letters, diaries, documentary.
Primary source materials are often found in archives. The following resources are indexes to archival holdings. Note that the level of cataloging detail may vary widely -- most holdings are cataloged at the level of the collection, not the specific item.
Archives USA
A database indexing over 130,000 collections of archival documents from more than 5,400
repositories in the United States, including the records from the Smithsonian Institution, the National
Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other art-related institutions.
Council of European Studies: European Archives
The web site for the Council of European Studies has a section on "Archives in Europe,"
containing links to many archives of all types. Some of the archives have posted
partial inventories of their collections; most have not.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
The Library of Congress interface for its cooperative cataloging program for archival collections.
NUCMC records are also accessible via Archives USA and the RLG Union Catalog.
Smithsonian Institution Research Information System
Six searchable Smithsonian catalogs containing collections from Archives, Art Inventories, Libraries, and the Juley Photo Archives.
Search the "Archives & Manuscripts" database for the records of repositories including the Archives of American Art
and the Eliot Elisofen Photographic Archives of the National Museum of African Art.
Smithsonian Institution records are also accessible via Archives USA.
Bibliographic records for collections of primary sources may also be found in WorldCat and the RLG Union Catalog.
Archival Resources
An index produced by the Research Libraries Group to finding aids and other descriptive information about
the holdings of manuscript and archival collections in libraries and research institutions throughout the
world.
RLG Cultural Materials
A portal designed by the Research Libraries Group to thousands of digitized collections including ancient
maps, medieval manuscripts, handwri