Research Guides: Architecture Research Basics: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

This chart is a quick look at what time periods are covered by a particular resource.

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias	Online or Print?	Date of Publication	Time Periods Covered	Additional Information
General Resources
Oxford Art Online - Gateway to several art & architecture related resources.	Online	varies w/resources included	All Periods	Includes Grove Art Online (1996-), Oxford Companion to Western Art (ed. Brigstocke, 2001), Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (1998), and numerous images.
Oxford Reference Online - Gateway to a suite of general reference resources.	Online	varies w/resources included	All Periods	A jack-of-all-trades reference resource covering all major discplines and reference resources, e.g. atlases, biographies, quotations, etc
Architecture-Related
Architectural Record Building Types Study	Online	2000	2000 - Present	Indexes Building Types Studies from 2000 to present, earlier Building Types Studies can be found in the Avery Index to Architecture Periodicals
Dictionary of Architecture and Building Construction	Print	2008	All Periods	Spans terms encountered in architecture *from Classical to Green*, from traditional materials to the latest products, from precise definitions of style to particulars of specifications writings.
Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture	Online	2006 - 2nd ed.	All Periods	Covers architects, terms, periods, and styles, from all periods of Western architectural history. New entries include definitions of landscape terms, and biographies of modern architects. Each entry is followed by a mini-bibliography, with suggestions for further reading.
Encyclopedia of 20th-century Architecture	Print	2004	1900-2000	Focusing on all regions of the world, this work chronicles architectural achievements, both within and well beyond the theoretical confines of modernism. Unlike existing works, this encyclopedia examines the complexities of rapidly changing global conditions that have dispersed modern architectural types, movements, styles, and building practices across traditional geographic and cultural boundaries.
Atlas of Vernacular Architecture of the World	Print	2007	All Periods	Covers world vernacular building traditions from a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural and comparative approach, using over sixty world and regional maps. Mapping such diverse aspects as materials and resources, technologies, structural systems, symbolism, forms and service systems on a cross-cultural and comparative basis, the atlas shows the distribution, diversity and relationships of the world's vernacular building traditions.
SAH Archipedia	Online	Ongoing	American, All periods	Authoritative online encyclopedia of the built world published by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press. It contains histories, photographs, and maps for 8,500+ structures and places within the United States. Though consisting of mostly buildings, one can find landscapes, infrastructure, monuments, artwork, and more. The content is drawn from the award-winning book series, Buildings of the United States, and includes histories and thematic essays from 12 of the published BUS volumes. The resource is still growing and is slated to include approximately 100 building entries from all BUS volumes.