Art & Architecture History

Provenance Research & Archives

Researching a topic in Art History using the resources of Boston College

Provenance Research

AskArt This link opens in a new window
AskART is an online database containing auction records and biographical data about more than 300,000 american and international artists.

Getty Provenance Database: Archival records
Inventories and other documents from city, state, and national archives, records from private collections in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain from 1550 -1840
Getty Payments to Artists Database
This online database contains approximately 1,000 payments recorded in Rome between 1576 and 1711.
Inventories of American Painting & Sculpture
Inventories document more than 400,000 artworks in public and private collections worldwide. The Inventory of American Paintings includes works by artists who were active in America by 1914. The Inventory of American Sculpture has no cut-off date and includes works from the colonial era through contemporary times.
MOMA Provenance Research Project
Researchers continue to study the ownership history, or provenance, of works created before 1946 and acquired after 1932 that were or could have been in Continental Europe during the Nazi era.
Louvre Provenance Research Project
More than 1,700 works that were recovered in Germany after the WWII but have never been returned to the descendants of their rightful owners are listed under the category of Musées Nationaux Récupération (MNR)
MFA Boston Provenance Research
Antiquities, Colonial-Era and Nazi-Era provenance research
Pre-1877 Art Exhibition Catalog Index
AECI contains 136,494 records describing fine artworks exhibited in the United States and Canada up through 1876 (the Centennial year). The AECI includes artists of all nationalities who exhibited works from 1773 to 1877—including Old Masters.
The Montias Database of 17th Century Dutch Art Inventories
Database contains information from 1,280 inventories of goods (paintings, prints, sculpture, furniture, etc.) owned by people living in 17th century Amsterdam. The actual dates of the inventories range from 1597-1681.

Vocabularies

Art & Architecture Thesaurus (Research at the Getty)
The AAT is a structured vocabulary of around 34,000 concepts, including 131,000 terms, descriptions, bibliographic citations, and other information relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (Research at the Getty)
The TGN is a structured vocabulary containing around 895,000 records, including around 1,115,000 names, place types, coordinates, and descriptive notes, focusing on places important for the study of art and architecture
Union List of Artists Names Online ULAN (Research at the Getty)
The ULAN includes proper names and associated information about artists. Artists may be either individuals (persons) or groups of individuals working together (corporate bodies). Artists in the ULAN generally represent creators involved in the conception or production of visual arts and architecture.

Finding Archival Material @ BC

In Catalog Advanced Search consider one of these strategies in addition to your search terms:

Limit Your Search

by Search Scope "Burns Library"
by Material Type "Archives & Manuscripts"

Use Local Collection Names (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Local collection")

"MSS ARCHIVE" (for papers or organizational records)
"BC ARCHIVE" (for Boston College University Archives)

Use Subject Keywords for Form/Genre (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Subject")

"Sources"
"Letters"
"Correspondence"
"Manuscripts"
"Photographs"

Try Keywords in Title (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Title")

"Papers"
"Collection"
"Records"

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Art & Architecture History

Provenance Research & Archives

Provenance Research

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Finding Archival Material @ BC