Ingalls Library & Museum Archives

Researching the history of the Cleveland Museum of Art collection became easier recently with the addition of two serial publications to the JStor collection.  The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art ran from1914 to 1994, serving as the primary publication for announcements regarding exhibitions, collections, and all things about the Museum.  With JStor’s full text searching, researching museum objects is certainly easier.  Searching within the publication by accession number, dropping the first two digits of the year, reveals numerous relevant articles.  Notable authors, such as Henry Hawley, can be tracked similarly.  As well, caption searching returns images of objects not included in the Ingalls Library Publication Index.  This latter search can be especially helpful with May Show artists, as the objects of First Prize and Special Award winners are often pictured, as in this caption search for Schreckengost.  This information is not available via the Ingalls Library’s May Show database.

While Cleveland Studies in the History of Art picks up in 1995, it is not a typical successor to the Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art.  Rather, this annual publication produced more academic scholarship on the Museum’s collection.  Because the journal spans nine years, through 2000, accession number searches are useful in both two digit and four digit year number searches.  Though a scan of the table of contents would be equally useful.  Caption searching produces color images, suitable for presentation, as in this search for the Museums 14th Century table fountain.

Original copies of both publications will continue to be held in the Ingalls Library reference room.

ArtStor is a subscription database available by clicking Search Collections and then View Online Resources.  This online repository holds hundreds of thousands of digital from participating organizations, including the Cleveland Museum of Art.  While the basics of how to navigate ArtStor are fairly obvious, there are some nuances to the interface that might prove useful to researchers.  ArtStor has produced a series of videos, available on YouTube, to demonstrate the many features of this highly useful resource.  For updates on ArtStor collections, bookmark the ArtStor blog.

Title: ArtStor and CMA Image Catalog
Location: Seminar Room
Description: This workshop highlights the resources in Images available at the Ingalls Library.
Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2008-11-25
End Time: 15:30

Title: Online Art Sales Resources
Location: Seminar Room
Description: ArtNet, ArtFact, ArtPrice, and AskArt: Online art sales resources.
Start Time: 15:00
Date: 2008-11-11
End Time: 16:00

Title: Research Roadshow
Location: Reference Room
Description: Perhaps you’re wondering about the painting above your sofa. Maybe that bowl your spare change in is more interesting than you thought-or maybe not. The Ingalls Library reference staff will discuss the basics of art research while exploring the hidden history of an object in your collection. Photographs of the object to be researched should be submitted to Matthew Gengler, Instruction and Outreach Librarian, via email (mgengler@clevelandart.org) or regular mail (c/o Ingalls Library) at least two weeks prior to the class. Note: Objects may not be brought into the museum or the Ingalls Library. Each session is limited to five participants, each of whom may submit one object for research assistance; pre-registration required. $20; CMA members free.
Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2008-11-26
End Time: 15:30

Enjoy a rare, white-gloved review of highlights from the Ingalls Library and Archives collections. Mirroring the popular series that graces the Library website each month, these lectures put our collections in focus and at your fingertips. Join us for a peek at additional material on the featured topic. Each session is limited to twenty participants; pre-registration required. $20; CMA members free.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 (London)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
2:00-3:30 PM

Louis Comfort Tiffany
Thursday, October 2, 2008
2:00-3:30 PM

Lalique Jewelry
Thursday, November 6, 2008
2:00-3:30 PM

India Early Minshall and her Fabergé Collection
Thursday, December 4, 2008
2:00-3:30 PM

Picture This: CMA History and Photograph Preservation
Thursday, January 8, 2009
2:00-3:30 PM

The CMA exhibition history maintained by the Archives is new and improved. The history, which used to be a collection of 91 individual web pages arranged by year, is now a searchable database. Where staff and researchers used to have to know the year of an exhibition to find the full title and dates, they can now search by an exhibition title keyword. The searchable database also allows a way to collect all exhibitions on a certain topic, such as Picasso or bronzes, provided that the topic is in the title.

In addition to title and full start and end dates, where known, the database also includes additional information and links. These include: if there are archival records for an exhibition and the box and folder numbers; if there are installation views and their location; if there was a CMA special exhibition website and a link; and if there is an exhibition catalogue and a link to the ALEPH record.

Search

Grove Art Online is the electronic version of Grove’s Dictionary of Art and the Oxford Companion to Western Art, both available in the Ingalls Reference Collection. General in scope and depth, Grove Art Online is a great first stop in art research. Accessing this resource at Ingalls Library is easy, after logging in, click search collections, and then click view online resources. Use the starts with box, to skip ahead to the databases beginning with G. There are numerous methods for searching this resource. A full text search is available. Simply enter a concept and go. This field defaults to concept mode, wherein the form assumes similar terms that also relate to your subject. There are also options for Boolean and pattern searching. The latter provides alternate spellings of a term. If you are looking up a specific artist, the biographical search is exceptionally useful. In this manner, the form provides numerous fields for searching, including birth, death, nationality, and occupation. Both print sources contain numerous illustrations. It is possible to search only the accompanying text of these images, with the caption search page.

JStor is an online journal repository covering numerous disciplines available through the Ingalls Library online research resources. Information regarding JStor is available online. Accessing this resource at Ingalls Library is easy, after logging in, click search collections, and then click view online resources. JStor is on the second page of this list, and can be jumped to by typing J in the starts with box, and clicking the arrow button. From the Basic Search screen, simply enter a term and the database will search the entire collection for that term. More nuanced results can be achieved from the Advanced Search screen. Select a Journal or Discipline from the list, then enter a term or list of terms in the fields provided. Limits are provided with pulldown menus and check boxes to define your search query further. If you are interested in images, search only in the caption. Help with the Advanced Search screen is available as well. Browsing the journal collection is also available. This list is provided by discipline or by title. To help you find your topic or title faster, it is recommended that you utilize your browsers CTRL+F, find function. If you know your citation, you can also perform a simple Article Search.