American Art and Portraiture Research Guide

• Art and Design Collections at the Smithsonian
• Databases for Art and Design Research
• American Art Resources
• American Craft
• American History and Biography
• Portraiture
• Museums of American Art
• Auction and Professional Appraisers Organizations

Welcome to the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' American Art and Portraiture Research Guide. This is a select list of mostly freely-available resources for students, teachers, and reserachers to learn about American art and portraiture. Please feel free to Contact Us with suggestions for additional resources or with questions. 

Art and Design Collections at the Smithsonian​

• Find select Art and Design Collections at the Smithsonian.​

Databases for Art and Design Research​ (SI staff and onsite)

• Smithsonian Libraries and Archives offers staff and onsite visitors access to many Databases for Art and Design Research and Databases for History and Culture Research.
• A complete listing of Libraries and Archives' databases is located on our E-journals, E-books, and Databases. ​

American Art Resources

• Association of Critical Race Art History Bibliographies (ACRAH)
• American Art Collaborative (Linked Open Data initiative)
• American Memory (Library of Congress)
• American Printing History Association
• American Studies Association
• Art Discovery Group Catalogue (ADGC) 
• Art Museum Network
• Art on Film Online
• Artsy: Art Collecting and Education
• AskArt (full use requires subscription)
• Association of Historians of American Art
• Bibliography of the History of Art (Getty)
• Getty Research Portal
• Terra Foundation for American Art
• Treasury of World's Fair Art & Architecture (University of Maryland)
• Victorian Society in America
• Victorian Web
• ArtSource
• National Endowment for the Arts

American Craft

• American Craft Council, including their many Digital Collections
• Decorative Arts Trust
• Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
• Quilt Index
• Renwick Gallery of American Craft
• Smithsonian Craft Show
• Textile Society of America

American History and Biography

• Colonial Williamsburg
• Biography.com
• Infoplease
• Mount Vernon
• Winterthur Museum
• Boston Athenaeum 
• Chicago Historical Society
• Historic New Orleans Collection
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• Hoover Institution: Library and Archives
• Making of America Journals (Cornell)
• National Museum of American History Library Subject Guide
• National Register of Historic Places 
• New York Historical Society
• Pioneering Women of American Architecture

Portraiture 

• American Society of Portraiture Artists
• Portraiture Society of America
• National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia
• National Portrait Gallery, London
• National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
• Portrait Gallery of Canada
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Museums of American Art 

• Addison Gallery of American Art
• American Folk Art Museum
• Amon Carter Museum
• Brandywine River Museum
• Butler Institute of American Art
• Corning Museum of Glass
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
• Delaware Museum of Art
• Georgia O’Keefe Museum
• Getty Museum
• Gilcrease Museum
• Historic New Orleans Collection
• Museum of Arts and Design
• Museum of Glass (Tacoma)
• National Academy
• National Gallery of Art
• National Museum of American Illustration
• National Portrait Gallery
• Peabody Essex Museum
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Terra Foundation for American Art

Auction and Professional Appraisers Organizations

• ArtNet Price Database (SI staff)
• AskArt (SI staff)
• Invaluable (SI Staff - Username/password required; contact a librarian for access.)
• Christie's
• Sotheby's
• American Society of Appraisers
• Appraisers Association of America, Inc.
• Art Appraisal Guide
• International Society of Appraisers