InfoGuides: Medieval Art &amp; History Sources: Find Databases, Journals, and Indexes

Reference Sources

These sources can help you to understand the basics/background details on a topic, to look for references to particular images or iconographies, or to understand the state of research in a field.

Index of Medieval Art This link opens in a new window
The collections include images and descriptive data related to the iconography of works of art produced between early apostolic times and the sixteenth century. Includes secular subjects as well as a growing number of subjects from medieval Jewish and Islamic culture.
ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Database of over 1 million images, covering all modes of art, architecture, and material culture (e.g., fashion, household objects).
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Scholarly art encyclopedia covering a full range of time periods and cultures. Useful for understanding the basics and background of your topic!
Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Includes research bibliographies & guides written by scholars and librarians — helpful for understanding the “state of the field” in a topic.
Index Islamicus This link opens in a new window
Index to publications on Islamic subjects from the Middle East, the Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, plus Muslim minorities elsewhere in the world covering 1906 to the present. Journals are monitored for inclusion, together with conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works and book reviews.

Databases for Medieval Research

Index of Medieval Art This link opens in a new window
The collections include images and descriptive data related to the iconography of works of art produced between early apostolic times and the sixteenth century. Although the Index of Medieval Art was formerly known as the Index of Christian Art, the collection now includes secular subjects as well as a growing number of subjects from medieval Jewish and Islamic culture.
ITER Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive bibliography of European culture from 400-1700; also includes Kristeller's Iter Italicum (Medieval Academy of America). Cites books, articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogs, abstracts, discographies, conference proceedings, festschriften, encyclopedias, and exhibition catalogues published since 1931.
International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) This link opens in a new window
Covers all aspects of the Middle Ages (450-1500) in Europe, Byzantium, and Russia; indexes journal articles and edited works (proceedings, festschriften, essay collections).

Art and Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Covers a broad range of related subjects, from fine, decorative and commercial art, to various areas of architecture and architectural design. Provides full text access to journals and books; an image collection, art reproduction records, and includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Designed for art scholars, artists, designers, students, and general researchers.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles on architecture since 1934 covering the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and interior design and decoration.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive bibliography on writings about music featuring citations, abstracts and indexes. It covers nearly one and a half million publications from around the world on traditional music, popular music, jazz, classical music and related subjects. Coverage begins in the early 19th century and extends to the present.

Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
A digital version of the Loeb Classical Library, founded by James Loeb in 1911. Offers introductions, texts, and translations of ancient Greek and Latin writings, covering most major classical authors. The collection contains more than 500 volumes spanning from Homer (700 BCE) to Bede (700 CE).
L'Année Philologique This link opens in a new window
Primary database for classical studies and information on ancient classical languages, literature, history, archaeology, art, religion, law, philosophy, and science. Provides access to citations from all known scholarly work published in any language.
Library of Latin Texts Online This link opens in a new window
World’s leading database for Latin texts. It gathers Latin texts of all genres and all periods. The texts have been taken from the Corpus Christianorum series and from many other leading editions.

Religion and Philosophy Collection This link opens in a new window
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Provides indexing, abstracts, and full text for about 250 scholarly journals. Covers world religions, major denominations, biblical studies, religious history, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, moral philosophy, and the history of philosophy.
American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Religion Database This link opens in a new window
Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and essays in Religious and Biblical Studies.
Encyclopaedia of Islam This link opens in a new window
Reference work that sets out the present state of our knowledge of the Islamic World. An authoritative source not only for the religion, but also for the believers and the countries in which they live. Includes a glossary and index of terms and a historical atlas of Islam.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages

Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
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Covers the core disciplines in women’s studies and feminist research, largely from 1972-present (some earlier material included). Includes sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, arts & humanities, international relations and education. Contains over 2,000 periodicals, and other sources such as newspapers, newsletters, books, book chapters, proceedings, theses, dissertations, NGO studies and other grey literature.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Brings together essential historical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African-Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. Includes the Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, the historical backfiles of the Chicago Defender newspaper, and full-text coverage of core Black Studies journals. Also includes the International Index to Black Periodicals and the Black Literature Index.
Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic index of research, policy and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa. Coverage spans from 1900 and earlier to the present.
LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
Broad coverage of scholarly literature on gender and sexuality, with topics including history, religion, art, family, individual lives, sociology, culture, and community.

Selected Journals

Speculum
Medieval history journal with a focus on the time period from 500 to 1500 in Western Europe, but also on related subjects such as Byzantine, Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and Slavic studies.
Gesta
Gesta publishes original research on medieval art and architecture. The journal embraces all facets of artistic production from ca. 300 to ca. 1500 C.E. in every corner of the medieval world.
Postmedieval
The journal will work to develop a present-minded medieval studies in which contemporary events, issues, ideas, problems, objects, and texts serve as triggers for critical investigations of the Middle Ages.
Journal of Medieval History
The Journal of Medieval History is a major international periodical devoted to all aspects of the history of Europe in the Middle Ages.
Viator
Viator considers the “long” Middle Ages (from late antiquity through the Renaissance), and tends to focus on meetings between cultures, pursuing an idea through the centuries, or using methods or approaches from different disciplines.
Fragments
Focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of ancient and medieval pasts.
Medieval Perspectives
Publishes papers that were originally offered at the annual conference of the Southeastern Medieval Association or the South Atlantic Modern Language Association and at the International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Exemplaria
A journal of theory in medieval and renaissance studies
Art Bulletin
Leading journal for art history research and scholarship, for all areas and periods in art.
Oxford Art Journal
Peer reviewed journal of critical art history, with a focus on political analysis of visual art, covering themes from Antiquity through contemporary practices.

Medieval Feminist Forum
An online, peer-reviewed journal of interdisciplinary scholarship on women and gender in medieval studies.

Traditio
Focus on ancient and medieval history, thought, and religion.
Clio
Interdisciplinary journal of literature, history, and the philosophy of history

Word & Image
Focuses exclusively on the special study of the relations between words and images from all historical periods and perspectives, both theoretical and practical.
Digital Philology
Peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of medieval texts and cultures
La Corónica
Spanish medieval language & literature newsletter
Medium aevum
Focus on medieval literature and languages

Medieval Art & History Sources

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Reference Sources

Databases for Medieval Research

Selected Journals