LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: Material culture

Research guides from other libraries

Costume history

The Cloaks Clothing Archive
The Consolidated Clothing and Costumes Archives: Costar collection of 19th century clothing and NowesArk collection of non-western clothing images
Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design
The Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design is a valuable source of documentation on the history of theatre and is housed in The Rare Book and Manuscript Library. It is a rare collection of original materials on the theatre comprising over 5000 items from more than 150 productions in England and the United States. These materials include costume and set designs, sketches, notes, photographs, prop lists, storyboards, and swatches of fabric.
Fashion History Costume Trends and Eras, Trends Victorians - Haute Couture
Fashion-Era.com costume history web site
Elizabethan Costuming Page
Resources and links for British and European Renaissance costumes
The Costume Institute
Over 35,000 images of historical and contemporary fashion and costume.
We Wear Culture - Google
Google project about fashion across history
Vintage Sewing Patterns wikia
Images from 83,000+ vintage sewing patterns
Costumer's Manifesto
Tara McGinnis manages this wide-ranging site describing costume principles and projects

Guides for collectors

While not technically primary sources, reference guides can help you date or identify an object; with that information, you can run more effective searches in primary source collections like the historical newspapers.

Internet Archive texts can be viewed online for up to one hour if you create a free login on the site.

Accessories
Athletic shoes
Ball Caps
Buttons
Costume jewelry
also try more specific keywords like rhinestone jewelry or plastic jewelry
Handbags
T-shirts
Vintage clothing
Watches
Women's Hats
see also Headgear
Women's Shoes

Encyclopedias and Reference

Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts This link opens in a new window
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Images, encyclopedias and ebooks about visual arts disciplines: fashion and textiles, design and illustration, photography, film and media, architecture and interiors, and marketing and advertising.
More than 170 highly illustrated books, providing structured and accessible coverage across the main visual arts disciplines to support a wide range of practice-led courses
A versatile combination of titles covering key skills and topics within each discipline and at different levels of study, sequentially from basic concepts to careers and professional practice
Richly illustrated content, with each title typically offering between 150-250 full-color images to showcase work, concepts, or techniques
A wealth of practical pedagogy such as case studies, leading practitioner interviews, and activities allowing students and educators to realize learning outcomes, while embedding students' understanding of real-world applications and supporting portfolio development
Bloomsbury Design Library This link opens in a new window
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Images, encyclopedias and ebooks about design and crafts worldwide, from 1500 BCE to the present day.

Magazines & Collections

Magazines

Harper's Bazaar Archive This link opens in a new window
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1867-
Harper's Bazaar magazine shows changes in American fashion, culture and society.
Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new window
1903-1995. Film industry and fan publications.
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
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- Good for: Researching fashion and culture, including specific garments, accessories or brands.
- Contains: Images and text from Vogue Magazine.
- Dates covered: 1892-present.
Women's Wear Daily Archive This link opens in a new window
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1910-
Comprehensive archive of Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), the leading fashion-industry trade paper.
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
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1887-2005
North American women's magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents Magazine, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Essence.
Interwar Culture This link opens in a new window
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1920-1930
British and American magazines featuring fiction, current affairs, arts, fashion and culture.

Collections

FITDIL Fashion Institute Digital Library
Search open access collections including "Library designer files," clothing photos from periodicals indexed by type of garment, designer, and decade

Fashion Photography Archive This link opens in a new window
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1980 - Images, articles and videos about contemporary fashion history and clothing designers.
Popular Culture in Britain and America This link opens in a new window
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1950-1975
Primary sources documenting music and popular culture in the US and Britain, 1950-1975, including manuscripts, video, photos, underground magazines and more.
Part of Americana combined search portal
Trade Catalogues and the American Home This link opens in a new window
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1850-1950
Primary sources like catalogs, price lists, and brochures reflecting the history of consumer advertising and marketing and life and leisure in America. Includes department store catalogs, cosmetic advertisements, real estate brochures and much more.
Part of the American Consumer Culture combined search portal.
The Transformation of Shopping: Department Stores, Social Change and Consumerism 1830-1994 This link opens in a new window
Dates covered: 1830-1994
Primary sources illustrating the sociocultural history of department stores from the mid-19th through late 20th centuries. Contains company archives, union records, trade journals, advertisements, catalogs, business to business publications, business to consumer publications, and more.
American Consumer Culture This link opens in a new window
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1850-1990s
Search three archival collections representing 20th century advertising and marketing from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Combined search of Market Research & American Business, 1935-1965, Trade Catalogues and the American Home, J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America

Historical Newspapers & Periodicals

Newspapers

Historical U.S. Newspapers from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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1841-2000 with some more recent
Search all ProQuest U.S. historical newspaper collections simultaneously.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender‎ (1909 - 1975)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune‎ (1849 - 1993)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Christian Science Monitor‎ (1908 - 2003)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times‎ (1881 - 1993)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times‎ (1851 - 2013)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune‎ (1841 - 1922)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post‎ (1877 - 2000)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: U.S. West, including Reno Gazette-Journal (1876-2008), San Francisco Examiner (1889-2007), and Spokane Statesman-Review (1894-2009)

Historical Newspapers (full list of databases)

Magazines and periodicals

American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
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1740-1940
Magazines and journals published in the U.S. mostly before 1900.
American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, Part I-V (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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1684-1912
Popular magazines, newspapers, and journals published in the United States.
British Periodicals Collection I and II This link opens in a new window
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1681-1920
Popular British periodicals mostly from the 19th century.
Godey's Lady's Book This link opens in a new window
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1830-1880
American magazine with firsthand information on social, historical and cultural aspects of the 19th century.
Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new window
1903-1995. Film industry and fan publications.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, part I: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure This link opens in a new window
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1800-1900
Magazines revealing British life in the Victorian age and the events, lifestyles, values, and ideas that shaped their world.

Archival collections that will include images and/or magazines

American Broadsides and Ephemera This link opens in a new window
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1749-1900
Printed menus, advertisements, cards, playbills, poems and other printed items never intended to last.
American Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
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1820-1922
Pamphlets with advice and opinions about all kinds of 19th century controversies.
Part of America's Historical Imprints combined search portal
Defining Gender This link opens in a new window
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1500s-1920
Primary sources selected to illustrate changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
Everyday Life and Women in America This link opens in a new window
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1800-1920
Primary source material for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Object Collections

Digitized Objects

Museum collections can help you build context around the item you are researching.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Use the Images tab on the search box for photos and descriptions of items in museums.
JSTOR digitally archives more than 700 scholarly journals. Subjects include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, and more.
Bloomsbury Design Library This link opens in a new window
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Images, encyclopedias and ebooks about design and crafts worldwide, from 1500 BCE to the present day.

Free online collections

Museums - search across multiple collections

Catalogs and Magazines

Life magazine, 1936-1972
Magazine directory (Anna Lucia, perfumedrinker.com)
WishbookWeb
Fan site with scanned retail catalogs from 1937-1996 (JCPenney, Spiegel, Sears)

Clothing and fashion

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic