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Photography Resources 
Western Washington University Libraries
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This guide is a brief selection of resources on the history and art of photography at the WWU libraries.
Locating Books Career & Marketing
Indexes and Databases Videos
Journals & Newspapers Guides to Collections and Archives
Biographical Works Historical Collections &  Museum Websites
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias History, Technical, and General Works

Books in the Library

Search the Library Catalog for books, exhibition catalogs, or videos relating to photography. You may search using Keyword, which searches words in the title, subject, or content.  Combine terms such as photographers and women, photographers and biography, photography and landscape, etc.  For a more specific focus, search by Subject, which uses the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Some suggested subject terms are listed below.

Catalog Subject Headings (Library of Congress)

art and photography
cinematography
color photography
daguerreotype
documentary photography
nature photography
photographers
  See also: Women photographers,
photography (subdivides into 34 subject categories)
photography, artistic
       photography, artistic catalogs
       photography, artistic exhibitions
       See also: dance photography, glamour photography, photography close-up,
                      photography abstract, still-life photography
pictorialism (Photography Movement)
portrait photography
Search for materials discussing the life or the works of a particular photographer by typing their name, last name first, as a Subject search.

Photography: A Critical Introduction / TR145.P48 2000
Includes bibliographical references and index.   Contents include: Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now; Surveyors and surveyed: photography out and about; 'Sweet it is to scan ... ': personal photographs and popular photography; Constructions of illusion: photography and commodity culture; The subject as object: photography and the human body; On and beyond the white walls: photography as art; Photography in the age of electronic imaging.

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Indexes and Databases  (select Search Databases from the Library homepage )

Search for articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers, by using print and electronic indexes.  Once you have collected your citations, check our Library Catalog for the location and call number of the journals.  Some databases provide full-text articles.



Journals and Newspapers at the Western Libraries


EJournals (All sites listed have at least some articles, digital images to view, links, etc.  Some may require a subscription to view the entire site).


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Biographical Works

Refer to the guide "How to locate information about an artist" for detailed sources and examples specific to the Western Libraries.  Search also indexes, databases, newspapers, as well as web resources for sources and full-text biographical information. Search by Library Catalog subject heading Photographers-- United States-- Biography  for additional titles.


Websites
Women in Photography: International Archive
Photographers of the FSA: Selected Portraits

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Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias relating to art, and more specifically to photography, define & describe the terminology and provide an overview of the history of photography.



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Collections and Archives

WWU
Wilson Library (Western Washington University) Campus History Collection
Center for Pacific Northwest Studies

Guides to Collections

Historical Collections and Web Metasites
  • American Memory   Historical Collections for the National Digital Library (Select "Performing Arts" and enter "photography" in the search box.
  • Edward Curtis' North American Indian
  • The Daguerreian Society
  • Documenting America: Photographic Series of the Farm Security Office and the Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress
  • International Center of Photography
  • Photo Study Collection Database  Getty Research Institute
  • Photographic Libraries  Online library of Web sites related to all aspects of photography, graphics, and design
  • Smithsonian Institute:  Photography  Selected links to sites hosted by Smithsonian Institution museums and organizations.
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    General
    Critical Works - Understanding & Interpretation History Technical


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     Subject Guides &Bibliographies | | Western Libraries


    Page last updated May 2008
    (c) All rights reserved. 
    Margaret Fast, Librarian for Art
    Robyn Adcox, Reference Specialist
    Wilson Library, Western Washington University
    (c) All rights reserved.