Research Guides: History of Photography: Find Images &amp; Videos

Images and Videos

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
The ARTstor Digital Library is an online resource that provides more than one million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.
To use the full functionality of the Artstor Digital Library you must be logged in through the library website and have created a personal account.
-The basic/advanced search on the Artstor homepage searches the Artstor Digital Library and Public Collections [we have no institutional collections]
-You do not need a personal account to search but you do need it to save images.
-Your saved images will appear in Personal Collections, you will have to login to retrieve/view your images.
-Images saved for a class or presentation can be shared in Groups. Anybody with a personal account can create a Group (you will see UMBC examples when you click on Groups)
Additional Help
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Oxford Art Online offers users access to: Grove Art Online, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, as well as additional articles and bibliographies. Account allows for a maximum of three concurrent users.

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Access to nearly 1.2 million images in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress
NYPL Digital Collections
Explore 895,772 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
George Eastman Museum Collections Online
Explore the George Eastman Museum's collections online. More than a quarter of a million objects from the photography, technology, and George Eastman Legacy collections are now searchable, and more of the museum's vast holdings will be added on an ongoing basis.
J. Paul Getty Museum Collection Online
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Search
Victoria & Albert Museum Collections Online
Search 1,237,183 objects and 840,930 images
from the V&A's collections
Google Arts and Culture
Google Arts & Culture is an online platform through which the public can view high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
International Center of Photography
Permanent collection contains more than 200,000 prints and related materials that range from the earliest forms of photography to contemporary work.

There are a growing number of streaming media resources for art films. Here are a few of them. For more streaming video resources please check our Streaming Video Resources list.

Academic Video Online (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online delivers more than 66,000 titles spanning the widest range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more.

UBU Web
Provides access to rare and difficult to obtain video and audio works from artists and poets.

Art21
The Art21 Library includes every film produced by Art21 since its first broadcast in 2001. Over 60 hours of full episodes from each of Art21’s television and digital series are always on view, free of charge. Photographs include: John Baldessari, Lucas Blalock, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Katy Grannan, Zanele Muholi, and many others.
The Genius of Photography
Follow the story of photography in BBC Four's six-part series 'The Genius of Photography'. See some of the most famous photographs ever taken and find out more about what made them so very special.
Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)
The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, "Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People" probes the recesses of American history through images that have been suppressed, forgotten, and lost. Directed by Thomas Allen Harris.
Gordon Parks - Half Past Autumn
An intimate look at the life and career of Gordon Parks a true Renaissance man who has excelled as a photographer, novelist, journalist, poet, musician and filmmaker.
Masters of Photography: Diane Arbus
The work of photographer Diane Arbus as explained by her daughter, friends, critics, and in her own words as recorded in her journals. Illustrated with many of her photographs.
The Colorful Mr. Eggleston
Documentary about famous American photographer William Eggleston, one of the first art photographers to use color film.

Below are a selection of photography films and documentaries available on DVD at the library.

The B-side: Elsa Dorfman’s portrait photography by Errol Morris
Call Number: UMDVD 10432
Publication Date: 2017
Bill Cunningham New York by directed by Richard Press
Call Number: UMDVD 7729
Publication Date: 2011
Blowup by Michelangelo Antonioni
Call Number: UMDVD 777
Publication Date: 1966
Finding Vivian Maier by directed by John Maloof & Charlie Siskel
Call Number: UMDVD 9097
Publication Date: 2014
Garry Winogrand: all things are photographable by Directed by Sasha Waters Freyer
Call Number: UMDVD 10689
Publication Date: 2019
Salt of the earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Call Number: UMBLU 110
Publication Date: 2015

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