Research Guides: Studio Arts: Visual Inspiration

Large Digital Collections

Cooper Hewitt Collections
Product design and decorative arts, prints and drawings, wallcoverings, textiles.
Ornament and Pattern: Pre-Victorian to Art Deco
New York Public Library.
Shedding Light on New York
Smithsonian Libraries. Images of metal lamps, chandeliers, lighting fixtures.
Under the Surface
Remarkable digital collection of 700,000 objects excavated from the riverbed of the River Amstel in Amsterdam. Objects date from pre-history to 2005.

Instruments for Science, 1800-1914
Smithsonian Libraries. Trade catalogs with description and illustration of scientific instruments.
Pictures of Science: 700 Years of Scientific and Medical Illustration
New York Public Library.