Library Guides: Theatre Research Guide: Costume History

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Locating Books

When conducting a search in Find It @ USC here are examples of terms you can add to your keyword search in order to help focus your search.

Costume
Fashion
Clothing and dress (also try searching this phrase along with the time period (e.g. 18th century) and country or culture

It may be that a book containing photographs or other images may be helpful. You can try adding the term pictorial works to your keyword search.

Selected Databases

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Over a million high quality images of art and photography, with descriptions and provenance covering many time periods and cultures in the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, ethnographic and women's studies, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Users can search, view, download and organize images.
New York Times Historical (1851-2016) This link opens in a new window
Keyword searching and full-text access to this major national newspaper.
Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Archive of every regularly published issue of this iconic magazine including images, covers, and advertisements. 11/23/1936 to 05/01/2000.
Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Citations, abstracts, and often full text for dissertations and theses, primarily from North American institutions.

Selected Digital Collections

Fashion Plate Collection
Over 400 images from the University of Washington Digital Library. The the Empire (1806-1813), Georgian (1806-1836), Regency (1811-1820), Romantic (1825-1850), Victorian (1837-1859), Late Victorian (1860-1900) and Edwardian (1901-1915) periods are covered.
American Memory: Prints and Photographs
The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Items digitized from the New York Public Library's collections.

Selected E-Journals