The Digital Programs Division of the University Library in conjunction with the Visual Media Center in the Dept. of Art History and Archaeology is developing a digital repository of fine arts and architecture images for teaching and research. The Library collection is titled The Columbia Image Bank: History of Art and Architecture. The Dept. of Art History and Archaeology has additional images available as well.
The Best way to access these collections is by downloading and installing the Luna Insight application. The application will give you full access to the collection. A web-based version is also available, but its functions are limited.
We take AHAR faculty requests for image scanning, limited to 75 images per faculty member per week. Faculty members receive “PowerPoint safe” JPGs at 72dpi (1050 pixels at the largest dimension) on CD, but we keep archival TIFs at 600 dpi of all our jobs. We then catalogue these images and upload them to the Luna Insight system, which is maintained by the Libraries. The VMC is also happy to help prepare images for publication.
Aluka
Aluka is an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. The name, 'Aluka,' is derived from a Zulu word meaning 'to weave', reflecting Aluka’s mission to connect resources and scholars from around the world. The Aluka website includes a wide variety of high-quality scholarly materials contributed by Aluka’s partners, ranging from archival documents, periodicals, books, reports, manuscripts, and reference works, to three-dimensional models, maps, oral histories, plant specimens, photographs, and slides.
www.aluka.org American Memory Project, the Library of Congress
American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
memory.loc.gov/ammem/about/index.html
Archnet
ArchNet is an international online community for architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, conservationists, and scholars, with a focus on Muslim cultures and civilisations. Archnet's digital libraries are an excellent source of images and scholarly texts.
ARTstor
ARTstor is a non-profit initiative, founded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with a mission to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching and learning in the arts and associated fields. The ARTstor Digital Library Charter Collection is: A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data; The tools to actively use those images; and A restricted usage environment that seeks to balance the rights of content providers with the needs and interests of content users.
The Real & the Virtual: Representing Architectural Time & Space
This History of Architecture Web site is designed to support undergraduate education, from introductory art and architectural history surveys to advanced courses on specific art historical periods and themes. The project has been funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Education Programs, with additional support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Office of the Provost, Columbia University. This site includes over 1,200 QuickTime Virtual Reality Nodes.
Mnemosyne The Mnemosyne: Visual Culture Database houses more than 45,000 images of the fine arts, architecture, and archaeology with a wide selection of both Western and Non-Western subjects. We named the database Mnemosyne (pronunciation), the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, the personification of Memory, and, most importantly, the mother of the nine Muses, patron goddesses of the arts. The scope of the database reflects the curricula of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University and Barnard College.
New York Public Library: The Digital Gallery
NYPL Digital is your gateway to The Library’s rare and unique collections in digitized form. NYPL Digital includes searchable databases like In Motion: The African American Migration Experience and NYPL Digital Gallery, online exhibitions such as Before Victoria, text from the Yizkor (Holocaust Memorial) Books, and more.
Perry-Castañeda Libray Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin
A collection of digitized maps, both historical and contemporary, from around the world.
World Heritage List QTVR Tour
In addition to the VMC's own History of Architecture site, the UNESCO World Heritage List has links to many high quality QTVRs. The nodes are organized as nodes on a world map, or they may be reached through the individual site pages of the list itself.
