This resource highlight is brought to you by library intern Erik Johnson ’14.
The Library has recently gotten access to ARTstor—a database of more than 1.4 million images, containing high-resolution pictures of everything from sculptures, to historical photographs, to impressive architecture. While this is obviously of great use to art and art history classes, the sorts of images ARTstor has can be of use t many other disciplines as well, including History (with collections such as World War I and II Posters and Postcards), Religion (looking at resources such as Buddhist or Islamic art), or something dealing with the history of science (using the collection of botanical and zoological illustrations associated with Captain James Cook’s expeditions to the South Pacific). With so many images, it is definitely worth taking a look and seeing if there is anything that could be of use!
To access ARTstor, either go to the library’s “Databases” tab and find the appropriate link, or find the link at http://libguides.gustavus.edu/newresources. Once on the ARTstor main page, click on the “Enter Here” button to begin your search. By default the images are sorted chronologically based on when they were put on ARTstor, but you can narrow the results by selecting a particular time period, geographical location, or classification to help filter what shows up. ARTstor also has many subject guides available to help narrow which collections may be of interest to your particular subject. You can find them under the “ARTstor Digital Library” tab on their main page.