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Visual and Performing Arts

OER Repositories, Aggregators, and Catalogs

Open Access Databases for Art

  • American Archive of Public Broadcasting
    "The Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston have embarked on a project to preserve for posterity the most significant public television and radio programs of the past 60 years: The American Archive of Public Broadcasting. The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades, calculated at more than $10 billion. The American Archive will ensure that this rich source for American political, social, and cultural history and creativity will be saved and made available once again to future generations."
  • Anthropology Index Online
    "The Anthropological Index Online (AIO) is published by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) in cooperation with Anthropology Library and Research Centre at the British Museum. It is an index to articles in journals taken by the Library and to films held at the Royal Anthropological Institute. The Library, which incorporates the former RAI library, holds some 4,000 periodical titles (1,500 current) covering all branches and areas of anthropology. Nearly 800 journals, published in more than 40 languages, are indexed on a continuing basis. Records cover 1957 to the present."
  • Arachne
    Arachne is intended to provide archaeologists and Classicists with a free internet research tool for quickly searching hundreds of thousands of records on objects and their attributes.
  • Art and Design Commons
    Over 16,000 full-text, open access articles available.
  • BASE: Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
    "Search engine for academic open access web resources. Full text of about 70% of the indexed documents can be accessed."
  • Bridgeman Art Library
    "Spanning centuries of visual communication, photographic reproductions of paintings, sculpture, textiles, maps and anthropological artefacts can all be found in the collection as well as newer forms of media including early photography, newsreels and documentaries." Rights managed.
  • Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
    "DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format."
  • Europeana Fashion
    "xplore fashion - historical clothing and accessories, contemporary designs, catwalk photographs, drawings, sketches, plates, catalogues and videos - from museums and archives across Europe. "
  • JURN
    A curated academic search-engine, indexing 4,348 free ejournals in the arts, the humatie, business, law, science, and medicine. Search or use the directory to access individual titles.
  • Khan Academy
    Free tutorials. "Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. "
  • MERLOT
    "MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community."
  • MLibrary Image Collections
    Art and architecture images from the University of Michigan collections.
  • National Endowment for the Arts Publications
    All documents are in PDF format.
  • National Gallery of Art Images
    "NGA Images is a repository of digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art. On this website you can search, browse, share, and download images. A standards-based reproduction guide and a help section provide advice for both novices and experts. More than 45,000 open access digital images up to 4000 pixels each are available free of charge for download and use. NGA Images is designed to facilitate learning, enrichment, enjoyment, and exploration. "
  • New York Public Library | The Picture Collection
    " The Picture Collection For those who seek knowledge and inspiration from visual materials, the Picture Collection Online presents more than 30,000 digitized images from books, magazines and newspapers as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923"
  • Perseus Digital Library Collections
    Created and maintained by Tufts University, the Perseus Digital Library includes an Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser and an extensive Greek and Roman Materials Collection.
  • Skills Commons
    "Your FREE and OPEN digital library of Workforce Training Materials Preparing the Workforce for 21st Century Employment through TAACCCT"

Open Access Databases for Dance

  • American Archive of Public Broadcasting
    "The Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston have embarked on a project to preserve for posterity the most significant public television and radio programs of the past 60 years: The American Archive of Public Broadcasting. The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades, calculated at more than $10 billion. The American Archive will ensure that this rich source for American political, social, and cultural history and creativity will be saved and made available once again to future generations."
  • Dance Commons
    Over 600 full-text, open access articles available.
  • National Endowment for the Arts Publications
    All documents are in PDF format.
  • Free Music Archive: Dance
    Clips organized by artist, album, track, and dance genre

Open Access Databases for Drama

  • Acting Commons
    Over 600 full-text, open access articles available.
  • American Archive of Public Broadcasting
    "The Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston have embarked on a project to preserve for posterity the most significant public television and radio programs of the past 60 years: The American Archive of Public Broadcasting. The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades, calculated at more than $10 billion. The American Archive will ensure that this rich source for American political, social, and cultural history and creativity will be saved and made available once again to future generations."
  • Dance Commons
    Over 600 full-text, open access articles available.
  • Directory of Poets & Writers
    "P&W's Directory of Poets and Writers lists names, addresses, and publication credits for over 10,000 contemporary authors. The Directory is a must for writers interested in connecting with their peers. It's also a great resource for editors, agents, and reading series coordinators."
  • Early English Books (EEB-TCP)
    These 25,000 (plus a few hundred) texts are freely available to anyone wishing to use them. They are licensed under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0 Universal), which will be indicated in the header of each text. They have been transcribed by hand by the Text Creation Partnership.
  • Hathi Trust
    Search over 5 million digitized titles.
  • Internet Classics Archive
    "Select from a list of 441 works of classical literature by 59 different authors, including user-driven commentary and "reader's choice" Web sites. Mainly Greco-Roman works (some Chinese and Persian), all in English translation."
  • Performance Studies Commons
    Over 700 full-text, open access articles available.
  • Perseus Digital Library Collections
    Created and maintained by Tufts University, the Perseus Digital Library includes an Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser and an extensive Greek and Roman Materials Collection.
  • Project Gutenberg
    Thousands of free ebooks from the original ebook project.
  • Theatre and Performance Studies Commons
    Over 6,500 full-text, open access articles available.
  • Yale Digital Content
    "Search nearly two million items and half a million images from across Yale's collections." Find Yale online courses, and museum items. Some content subject to copyright -- be sure to check.

Open Access Databases for Music

  • AllMusic
    "AllMusic is a comprehensive and in-depth resource for finding out more about the albums, bands, musicians and songs you love. Songs and clips are available."
  • American Archive of Public Broadcasting
    "The Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston have embarked on a project to preserve for posterity the most significant public television and radio programs of the past 60 years: The American Archive of Public Broadcasting. The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades, calculated at more than $10 billion. The American Archive will ensure that this rich source for American political, social, and cultural history and creativity will be saved and made available once again to future generations."
  • EW.com (Entertainment Weekly)
    Large archive of news and review articles.
  • Free Music Archive
    Free music, but be sure to check the open license for each clip.
  • Free Music Archive: Dance
    Clips organized by artist, album, track, and dance genre
  • Hathi Trust
    Search over 5 million digitized titles.
  • IMSLP Petrucci Music Library
    This free resource provides access to over 350,000 compositions, 14,000 composers, 40,000 recordings, and 1.8 million audio tracks with additions on a daily basis. database. Allows the user to view handwritten copies of compositions form the masters, or crystal clear notations of famous selections of music
  • MERLOT
    "MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community."
  • Music Commons
    Over 20,000 open access articles available
  • National Endowment for the Arts Publications
    All documents are in PDF format.
  • National Jukebox
    "Historic recordings from the Library of Congress ... makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives."
  • Notated Music
    Access over 97,000 items available online via the Library of Congress.
  • Yale Digital Content
    "Search nearly two million items and half a million images from across Yale's collections." Find Yale online courses, and museum items. Some content subject to copyright -- be sure to check.

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