This guide lists examples of visual reference sources covering the late 1800s through the 21st century. Each tab covers roughly one decade.
Sources covering the entire 20th c. listed on the "20th Century: 1900-2000" tab.
Visual Reference
Visual references are of two types:
Primary sources are from the time and place being studied such as clothing and trade catalogs, magazine and newspaper advertising, period photographs, etc. This guide lists many collections, books, websites, etc. with primary sources.
Secondary sources are written by scholars and costumers who research primary sources and other material. Secondary sources contain examples and information not always available from primary sources, like construction details, typical materials, appropriate accessories as well as when, where and how a garment was worn. Secondary sources are listed throughout the tabs on this guide.
Tiimelines
- Fashion History Timeline
Fashion history featuring objects and artworks from over a hundred museums and libraries that span the globe dating from ancient to modern times. The Timeline website offers well-researched, accessibly written entries on specific artworks, garments and films for those interested in fashion and dress history.
The Story of Costume by Call Number: Art Library, GT511 .P425 2006ISBN: 9780500513095A broad survey of Western costume from ancient times to 2000 arranged in a timeline. Detailed drawings of men, women, and children span a broad array of groups, from servants and laborers to nobility and royalty, and every aspect of fashion, including shoes, hats, and other accessories, plus jewelry and hairstyles.
- Tiki-Toki: Fashion Timeline
Two centuries (1750s - 1950s) of fashion from Kent State University's Fashion Museum. Changes in fashion are aligned with political and cultural events as well as technological innovations.
Background and context
- Digital Public Library of America
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. The cultural institutions participating in DPLA represent the richness and diversity of America itself, from the smallest local history museum to our nation’s largest cultural institutions.
This fabulous century. by Call Number: Main Library Oversize, E161.T55, 8 volumesRecommended by theater designers, This Fabulous Century covers American culture from 1870 though the end of the 1970s.
Prelude: 1870-1900; Vol. 1: 1900-1910; Vol. 2: 1910-1920; Vol. 3: 1920-1930; Vol. 4: 1930-1940; Vol. 5: 1940-1950; Vol. 6: 1950-1960; Vol. 7: 1960-1970