Survey of American Architecture

by Chao Chen, Humanities Reference Librarian

email chao.chen@tufts.edu | phone 617.627.2057 | home icon Homepage

Chao Chen


1. Oxford Art Online

Includes "Grove Art Online"—the online equivalent of the 34 volumes of the print version of The Dictionary of Art, plus updates since the print version.)

2. Oxford Reference Online

Art and Architecture; social, political, religious history; history of ideas; all periods.

Search Oxford Reference Online

3. Textbooks on Course Reserves.

 

4. In Reference Collection

United States

American Buildings and Their Architects. Oversize: NA705 .P5

[1] The colonial and neoclassical styles.--[2] Technology and the picturesque. [pt. 1] The corporate and the early gothic styles. --[3] Progressive and academic ideals at the turn of the twentieth century.--[4] The impact of European modernism in the mid-twentieth century


Encyclopedia of American Architecture. NA705.P3 1995

Sourcebook of Contemporary North American Architecture. NA703.W75 1989

Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). NA736.W5 1970

The Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture. NA7205 .C27 1994


General

Encyclopedia of Architectural Technology. NA31.E58

Encyclopedia of Architecture. NA31.E59 1988

International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture. NA40.I48 1993

Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. NA208.E53 1997

Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. NA31.H32 1993


Biographical

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. NA40.M25 1982

Makers of 20th Century Modern Architecture. NA 680.J628 1997


Bibliography

All About Old Buildings. NA106.A44 1985


Terminology

Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. NA31.H32 1993


 

Topics to be discussed in the course:


The impact of European colonialism;

The development of an original American Architecture;

Key building types;

  • including the house, the religious building, the public library, and the skyscraper as archetypal American buildings.

Subject Encyclopedias/dictionaries & Textbooks provide:

1. thorough introductions and summaries of major architectural movements in their historical and social contexts

2. and with cross-references to related topics and bibliographies; bio-bibliographies of architects

3. and their built works and visionary projects, writings, ideals, etc. in critical context.


arrow Readings on Course Reserves.

arrow Barton, catalog of Rotch Library at MIT.

arrow WorldCat (catalogs of libraries worldwide)



Procedure Note:

1. Verify if Tufts Library has the book you need.

2. Use ILliad (interlibrary loan service) to request non-Tufts books.



Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

  1. e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.
Author Handlin, David P.
Title American Architecture: a Critical History.
Publisher London: Thames and Hudson, c2004.
Subject Architecture -- United States.

A few titles to get you started:

Architecture in the United States, 1800-1850
Oversize: NA710 .M39 2002


The Colonial Revival House .
Oversize. NA7207 .W57 2004


All American: Innovation in American Architecture .
Oversize: NA712 .C35 2002


American Masterworks: Houses of the 20th and 21st .
Oversize: NA7208 .F67 2008


USA: Modern Architectures in History.
Oversize: NA712.5.M63 W75 2008


Click on the subject searches for real time results:


on an architect

  1. Sullivan, Louis, (search by last name)
  2. McKim, Mead and White

Search by keyword, for specific buildings with varied names.

  1. castle and smithsonian
  2. "john hancock" and (center or tower)

1. include "and" in between keywords;

2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;

3. " " around phrases, e.g. "john hancock "

4. architect* for all forms: architect, architects, architectural, etc.


on architecture by type, style, or period:

  1. Historic buildings
  1. church architecture
  1. sustainable architecture
  1. Architecture, Gothic
  1. Architecture, medieval

in the Architectural Record magazine:

  1. Building Types Studies

1. Search, individually or simultaneously, these Databases:

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
ARTbibliographies Modern


2. JSTOR (collection of journals with omission of current years)

3. RIBA British Architectural Library Catalogue Online

articles ca. 1984-. (Updated daily.)

The catalog of the Royal Institute of British Architects library includes both books AND articles. It is especially strong in foreign periodical titles. Search results for articles are labeled ARTICLES. The catalog also includes citations to other RIBA collections.


Additional Databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index


America: History and Life


Click on the number to pause the slide.

Avery Index and JSTOR

  • Avery Index, by virtue of its depth and comprehensiveness, is a must-use for an architectural research paper.
  • JSTOR includes only 22 architectural journals at this point, with the omission of the latest 3-5 years of the journals.

Click to browse two major journals in architectural history:

journal cover journal cover

 

The Initial Keywords to Use

  • 1. Books and Articles that inspired your research idea:
  • e.g., in your syllabus, or on Course Reserves?
  • 2. Questions you have about your topic in the context of this course?
  • e.g. How does your topic relate to an issue or issues discussed in class?
  • 3. Some typical elements in your research question?
  • e.g. your chosen building in relation to its type of buildings?
  • 4. What specific evidence you will be examining and how?
  • e.g. a specific visual evidence, or a question about the original documents?

Range of Keywords—Scope of a Research Question

  • The previous questions and your answers may overlap and relate to each other; identify and state these relationships.
  • Search with a whole range of keywords: the building, its type, the city or the country, its period, its client/patron, its materials, its setting/site, the architect and his/her theory and ideals, etc.

your keywords MATCH database language=SUCCESS

Use your initial findings in a database to learn the language used in the discussion of your topics.

  • For example, citations, in Avery, on the fairly recent project "the Big Dig House in Lexington, Massachusetts" presents such subject headings/descriptors as "Adaptive reuse", "Construction and demolition debris"
  • A second example is the search on the "Wellesley College Library" in Avery. There are few articles on the building itself at this point. However, a search on the architect discovers articles on their past and related works—Libraries--University and College.

Finding Full Texts

1. Click on the FindItAtTufts button to these three options:

  • a. link to the full text of the article when available digitally;
  • b. link to a Library Catalog search for the journal in print that contains your article.
  • c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

Read a Couple of Articles Carefully and Identify:

  • the "problem" addressed (the thesis of the article);
  • the central debates on this problem;
  • the major arguments by the author;
  • the methods applied in making these arguments;
  • the evidence (e.g., visual/formal details, original documents, or secondary sources);
  • if the conclusions are based on speculations, are they convincing?

Throughout your reading:

  • Compare and contrast methods by authors: key points of difference or convergence
  • Note controversies and weaknesses; explain and clarify gaps
  • How about the presentation, logic and clarity of the article?
  • State your own positions; provide your own interpretations and critiques

Current (United States and International)

  1. LexisNexis Academic
  2. Factiva
  3. Massachusetts Newsstand 

Ethnic, Altenative and Independent Press

  1. Alt-PressWatch    
  2. Ethnic NewsWatch  from 1990 -
  3. Ethnic NewsWatch: A History  1960 -  1989

Historical

  1. American Periodicals (1740 - 1900)
  2. The Nation Digital Archive (1865 - present)
  3. Time Magazine (1923-Present)
  4. New York Times Online Archive
    (1851 - 3 years before current date)
  5. African American Newspapers - 19th Century  
  6. American Newspapers (1690 - 1922)
  7. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
  1. 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (British)
  2. 19th Century British Newspapers
  3. British Periodicals (1680s - 1930s)
  4. Times Digital Archive (1785 - 1985)

 

Factiva includes content in over 22 languages from over 150 countries and 350 geographic regions.


American Periodicals include the following titles and more:

  1. The American Architect and Building News.
  2. The American Architect and the Architectural Review.
  3. The American Architect.

In print:

Books and journals with color plates, photographs, and other visuals are excellent sources; these illustrations are usually done professionally and/or are commissioned works serving as the official records of the built works. Here is a sample:


Bookcover

Architecture of Authority / Oversize: TR659 .R6294 2007. Photographs and afterword by Richard Ross; essays by John R. MacArthur. New York: Aperture; London: Thames & Hudson [distributor], 2007.

Digital

Artifact (Tufts University)

Cities/Buildings Image Archive

Digital Archive of European Architecture

International Architecture Database

Oxford Art Online

ARTstor

American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920

A Digital Archive of American Architecture


Using the Chicago Manual of Style:

The Manual presents two basic documentation systems, the humanities style (notes and bibliography) and the author-date system.


Consult Chicago Manual of Style Online for detailed guidance.


Print copy at the Reference Desk: Z253 .U69 2003


Brief samples (the humanities style):

Book Citation in a bibliography:

Steiner, Hadas A. Beyond Archigram: the structure of circulation. New York: Routledge, 2009.


Book Citation in a note:

Fernando Luiz Lara, The rise of popular modernist architecture in Brazil (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, c2008), 35.


Article citation in a bibliography:

Wright, Gwendolyn. "Cultural History: Europeans, Americans, and the Meanings of Space." The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 64, no. 4 (2005), 436-440.


Article citation in a note:

Ralph E. Griswold, "Wright Was Wrong," Landscape Architecture 53 (April 1963), 190-214.

 

Citation Management Tool: RefWorks

  • 1. Store your records of books, articles, etc.
  • 2. Generate a bibliography in the style of your choice.
  • 3. Format in-text notes/footnotes while you write.

Learn how to use RefWorks
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last updated: 10/01/2009