Databases / Arts / Performing Arts
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Databases
African American Music Reference
VCU
Comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression, with reference texts, biographies, sheet music, and other materials.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index via ISI Web of Science
VCU
Database of references cited in articles from the world's leading arts and humanities journals. Allows searching by subject, work, author, journal, and author address.
Web of Science Tutorial
ARTstor
VCU
Image database featuring a range of images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences. Collections have been contributed by leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists.
Berg Fashion Library
VCU
Provides cross-searchable access to interdisciplinary text and image content on world dress and fashion. Includes e-books, reference works, images, and more.
Black Drama
VCU
Full text of thousands of plays written from the mid-1800s to the present. Includes published and previously unpublished works from Africa, as well as North America, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
Black Studies in Video
VCU
Documentaries, interviews, and archival footage covering African American history, politics, art and culture, family structure, gender relationships, and social and economic issues.
British Periodicals I-III
Searchable facsimile images for journals dating from the 17th to the 20th century. This resource contains Collections I-III covering historical, artistic, and popular periodicals.
Classical Music Reference Library
VCU
From the ancient Greek modes to modern compositions, Classical Music Reference Library offers comprehensive coverage of all classical genres, spanning music from the medieval period to the 21st century.
Classical Scores Library
VCU
Comprehensive database of important scores in classical music, ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Includes traditional composers as well as contemporary artists. Also features manuscripts and previously unpublished material.
Dance Collection Catalog
Search for citations in the New York Public Library's extensive collection of dance materials. To limit your search, select Dance Research Collection, one of the lowermost options, from the drop-down menu.
Dance Online
VCU
This two-volume resource contains productions and documentaries related to influential companies and performers of twentieth-century dance, including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance.
Digital Theatre +
VCU
A platform for the performing arts providing students with access to full-length productions, interviews, texts, rehearsals, and other educational resources.
Dissertations and Theses Full Text (ProQuest)
VCU
Comprehensive and curated collection of dissertations and theses from universities around the world, with full-text availability for most titles.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage
VCU
Hundreds of playbills, theatre records, and correspondence related to plays submitted for license between 1737-1824. Contains the archive of the Larpent Collection and two reference works on the eighteenth century London stage.
Essay and General Literature Index
VCU
Citations to essays and articles contained in collections of essays and miscellaneous works. Focuses on the humanities and social sciences, with subject coverage ranging from economics and history to criticism of literary works, drama, and film.
Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text
VCU
Comprehensive bibliographic and full-text database of journal articles and books covering the spectrum of television and film. Covers areas such as film and television theory, preservation and restoration, cinematography, and more.
Filmakers Library Online
VCU
Award-winning documentaries and independent films presenting points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions worldwide.
Films on Demand Master Academic Collection
VCU
Streaming films covering core academic subjects. Also includes archival films and newsreels.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online
VCU
Extensive resource devoted to music research of all world cultures. Contains full text of the print encyclopedia, with geographic overviews, musical heritage surveys, detailed photographs, drawings, maps, and audio recordings.
Humanities International Complete
VCU
VIVA
Indexing and abstracts for articles, essays, reviews, and original creative works in all aspects of the humanities, with full-text for select journal articles, books, and other materials. Includes all data from the Humanities International Index.
International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA)
VCU
Citations and abstracts, and select full text covering dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, comedy, opera, and more.
IPA Source
VCU
Extensive library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translation of opera arias and art song texts. Represents musical traditions across centuries, with the goal to promote comprehension and accurate pronunciation.
Jazz Music Library
VCU
Comprehensive collection of jazz recordings covering thousands of artists, ensembles, albums, and genres from all over the world from the beginnings of jazz to today.
JSTOR
VCU
Searchable backfiles of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. (Backfiles end typically 3 - 6 years prior to the current date).
Kanopy Streaming
VCU
Streaming documentaries, feature films, shorts, and more. Includes films from The Criterion Collection, California Newsreel, Media Education Foundation, First Run Features, Green Planet Films, Michael Blackwood, Kino Lorber and many more.
The "Movies," "TV Series Package" and "Great Courses" categories are no longer available on an unlimited basis. VCU faculty can make requests for titles in these categories in advance, provided they are tied to course instruction.
Literature Criticism Online
VCU
Includes a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across eras and genres, with scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books, and periodicals.
MLA International Bibliography
VCU
VIVA
The Modern Language Association of America's index of critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, and the dramatic arts.
Music Index
VCU
Citations and abstracts for international literature covering music, musicians, and the music industry. Includes periodicals, book reviews, obituaries, news, and reviews of recordings, tapes, and performances.
Music Online
VCU
Music Online provides the most comprehensive database in streaming audio, video, reference, and scores on the web. Integrated searching by ensemble, genre, historical events and more provides in-depth context for music history.
Can be used for course content: Streaming audio and video that spans all time periods, with thousands of artists, composers, choreographers, and ensembles.
More about affordable Course Content
Naxos Music Library
VCU
Streaming classical and world music. Includes notes on musical works and biographical information on composers or artists.
New York Times
VCU
Full image of articles published in The New York Times including illustrations and advertisements. Covers from the first issue in 1851 to three years prior to the current year.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
VCU
Digital archive of primary source collections from the "long" 19th century. Includes monographs, newspapers, manuscripts, diaries, letters, maps, statistics and more. Offers annotation and tagging tools.
Nineteenth-Century American Drama: Popular Culture and Entertainment, 1820-1900
VCU
Virtually every play published in the United States from 1820-1900, including annotated copies of prompt books and manuscripts.
Opera in Video
VCU
Comprehensive collection of operatic performances, interviews, and documentaries, covering the most commonly studied operas in music history, opera literature, and performance classes.
Oxford Music Online
VCU
Integrated searchable access to The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music, and more.
Play Index
VCU
Indexes classical and historical plays, along with the works of contemporary playwrights. Covers new editions and translations, with descriptive annotations to summarize plot and indicate musical requirements.
Project Muse
VCU
VIVA
Database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books in the humanities and social sciences from university presses and scholarly societies around the world.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
VCU
Citations and abstracts of international literature on music and music-related subjects. Indexes journal articles, book chapters, reviews, proceedings, Festschrifts, and more.
Shakespeare's Globe Archive
VCU
Documents related to over 300 productions from 1997-2016 at Shakespeare's Globe, including architectural plans, photographs, prompt books, wardrobe notes, musical scores, oral histories, essays, and video interviews.
SPORTDiscus with Full Text
VCU
Bibliographic and full-text database covering international and interdisciplinary literature on sports medicine, nutrition, physical therapy, occupational health, exercise physiology, kinesiology, and related topics.
Theatre in Video
VCU
Hundreds of videos covering foremost plays worldwide. Includes footage of live performances, documentaries, and interviews with authors, directors, and actors.
Twentieth Century North American Drama
VCU
Full-text plays from the United States and Canada, from major and lesser-known authors. Includes playbills, posters, and other ephemera.
University of Fashion
VCU
An online fashion design and business video library. Create an account with your VCU eID.