About

Collections Menu

Browsing the Online Collection

There are a few ways to browse the Online Collection:

Homepage/Collections

On the homepage, you can browse curated selections from our collection.

Categories Page

On the categories page, you can view objects by type.

People Page

On the people page, you can browse individuals and/or institutions related to objects in the collection, along with relevant biographies and objects.

Public Collections

On the public collections page, you can browse user-created collections. You can add your own collections to community collections by registering on the site and creating collections that are marked "public".

Searching the Online Collection

Quick Search/Advanced Search

Enter keywords or names in the search box (Quick Search) to find objects or other records in our collection. To search on specific criteria, you can use the advanced search to search within certain data fields. You can search using multiple criteria, such as the term "portrait" in the title + a date range of "1800-1900". If you are not getting any results with advanced search, try broadening your search by removing criteria.

Search Tips
  • You can use an * (asterisk) as a wildcard in searches, to match partial terms (e.g. draw* will return results for draw, drawn, drawings, etc.)
  • Use quotation marks to get more exact results - e.g. John Doe will return any results with John or Doe, but "John Doe" will return results with this exact phrase.

Viewing Search Results

Types of Results

There are different types of search results, such as object records and people records. When there is more than one type of result, you can click on these different tabs to view different types of records.

GRID/LIST VIEWS

You can view a set of results in an image grid or list view. Use the dropdown to switch between different types of views.

Filter Panel

You can refine a result set by opening the filter panel and using filters to narrow down results. For example, you can filter to see only works that have images within any result set. You can also clear each filter to revert to a larger result set, or clear all filters to get to your original result set.

Collect Panel

Once you've registered an account on the site, you can create your own collection sets and add artworks to them. You can multi-select artworks on each page by clicking the symbol, and this will open the collect panel. Click the "add" button to choose which collection to add the selected objects. You can also drag images into each collection set to add artworks.

Info Panel

The info panel, when available, contains additional information related to a search or set of objects.

Images

Why is an image shown as not available?

An image may be shown as not available if it is not yet available in our database, or if it cannot be displayed for copyright reasons.

My Collections

What Are My Collections?

My Collections allows you to create your own collections from the artworks available on this site. You can share your collections with others, or create groups of artworks for your own viewing (My Collections are private by default).

You can optionally add a description for each collection set, or add notes to individual artworks.

How Do I Use My Collections?

To use My Collections, you must first register an account. Once you have completed registration, you can start creating collection sets and adding artworks to them. You can add artworks to your collection set by clicking on the star symbol while viewing objects, and selecting which collection set to add the artwork(s). You can also open the Collect Panel and drag images into the collections you've created.

How Do I Share a Collection With Someone Else?

If you mark your collection set public, this collection will be visible to others in the "Community Collections" section. The option to mark a collection as public is available when you edit your collection.

You can also view your collection set and copy the url link to share these objects with others. You can view your collection sets by logging in and going to the "My Collections" page or by opening the Collect panel.