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FRS 140: Pathologies of Difference: Art, Medicine and Race: Princeton Art Museum

Guide created for Anna Arabindon-Kesson's freshman seminar Spring 2020

Art on the PU Campus

See: Sculpture of Princeton University : including works from the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection in Marquand-Reference, NB235.P74 P74 2004, and Firestone-Trustee Reading Room, LD4600, Box 2, Folder 5; and, Living with modern sculpture : The John B. Putnam, Jr., Memorial Collection, Princeton University, by Patrick J. Kelleher, in Marquand-Reference, NB198 .P74 (and many other copies on campus).

I need information on a work of art in the Princeton University Art Museum.

  • The Museum’s database including objects in the collection is available online; in some cases there will be bibliographical information available. [Alternatively, use the library's "all-search" and you will see PUAM results at the bottom center.] 
  • A Handbook of the Collections was published in 2007 (Marquand Reference N714.P65 A65 2007), and revised in 2013 (Marquand reference and stacks N714.P65 A65 2013). A first volume of American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum, on Drawings and Watercolors, was published in 2004, Roman Sculpture in the Art Museum in 2001, Selections from the Art Museum in 1986, and other titles. Do a search using the New Catalog: "Princeton University Art Museum" and ________ (keyword of your choice); one may wish to try "art museum Princeton University" as well. Sort results by title or date, as you wish. 
  • One good starting point for researching the artist of your object, if known, is Oxford Art Online.  Search there for an artist, e.g. Claude Monet, or a region, e.g. Mexico, or a theme, and you will retrieve encyclopedia articles from Grove Art Online and the Benezit Dictionary of Artists (for artists), and other sources.  Experts in the field have written these articles and provide bibliographical information for important scholarly books and articles. See the Artist/Architect/Designer tab of this guide for locating  material  on a specific artist.
  • You may need to search for books about the type of artwork your Museum object is (sarcophagus, Greek vase, Impressionist painting, etc.), or locate books about the artist, if known: this would involve keyword and/or subject searches using the library catalog. 
  • Search for the work in the museum's publication, Record of the Art Museum, and its predecessor Record of the Museum of Historic Art. The Record is available in full in JSTOR (online) except for the last several years: Browse by Title, and select Record of the Art Museum.  Then, put your term(s) in the search box: a keyword, the title of the work in quotes, and/or the artist: e.g. Monet and haystacks. Each result should tell you at the top where in the article the search term(s) appears. For more recent years of the Record, do a search in Art & Architecture Source, and then retrieve the issue in question from Marquand stacks: N512.P88 M9.
  • For locating journal articles other than in the Record, see the Journal Articles tab in this guide. The Can't Find a Book tab in this guide offers general tips for locating Marquand books.
  • Image needs for PUAM works of art: try ArtStor (artstor.org) or e-mail musphoto@princeton.edu