Arts

 A collection of art on display on the campus of the University of Michigan. Local Color is a project of the U-M Art, Architecture & Engineering Library and currently contains the artwork on display in the Robert H. Lurie Engineering Center and the Bob and Betty Beyster Building.

Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema explores the pivotal era in entertainment history when previously static images came to life and moved for the first time. The database features printed ephemera, programmes, sheet music, cigarette cards, postcards, games, toys and other merchandise from the pre- and early-cinematic years. The printed books in this collection range from technical magic lantern manuals to children's shadow play whilst the periodicals range from the scientific to early celebrity gossip. Moving Pictures has been digitized in colour and is entirely full-text searchable.

Subjects include: 

• Early visual entertainment such as shadow play, optical illusions, metamorphic pictures and protean views.
• Panoramas and dioramas
• Optical or philosophical toys
• Peepshows
• Magic lanterns and image projection
• Pioneers of cinema: Thomas Alva Edison, the Lumière Brothers, Eadweard Muybridge
• Early inventions such as the cinematograph, phonograph, and zoopraxiscope
• Emerging film industry
• The first film stars
• Original film footage from 1894-1926

The database also features a virtual exhibition entitled Optical Delights which showcases a selection of the most interesting optical entertainment artifacts and even some video clips of the devices in action!

This material is sourced from the Bill Douglas Centre; a unique treasure trove of pre- and early -cinematic memorabilia based at Exeter University, and the BFI National Archive.

Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection delivers over than three hundred important dramatic works in streaming audio from the curated archive of the nation’s premiere radio theatre company, L.A. Theatre Works. The plays - which include some of the most significant dramatic literature of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries - are performed by leading actors from around the world and recorded specifically for online listening.

Includes plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Arthur Miller, and more.

When complete, Classical Music in Video will contain 1,000 hours of classical music performances and masterclasses captured on video -- approximately 1,500 performances in all. The collection will contain performances of all forms of classical music, including major orchestral performances by leading orchestras, plus chamber music, oratorio, and solo performances, along with masterclasses and interviews with master teachers from around the world. This release contains more than 700 works totaling 400 hours.

North American Theatre Online is a comprehensive reference work covering all aspects of the Canadian and American Theatre. It includes some 40,000 pages of major reference materials, together with records to approximately 30,000 plays, 57,000 people, 5,400 theatres, 22,000 productions, and 2,500 production companies. Each year more than 20,000 new records will be added. The collection also includes approximately 10,500 images, playbills, postcards, scrapbooks and other resources.

Classic and little-known films from the silent era, the 1890s to 1930s.  Feature films, shorts and serials are represented.  Includes classics such as "Birth of a Nation", "Intolerance", "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and Battleship Potemkin".  Included are films distributed by British Film Institute National Archive, Cineteca Bologna and Lobster Films in Paris.

When complete, Silent Film Online will include films distributed by Flicker Alley, including several early films by Charlie Chaplin, Lumiere, Mendel, Cecil B. DeMille and Abel Gance.

British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture features a wide range of primary sources related to the arts in the Victorian era, from playbills and scripts to operas and complete scores. These rare documents were sourced from the British Library and other renowned institutions, and curated by experts in British arts history.

This unparalleled collection provides a detailed look at the state of the British art world with, for example, not only manuscripts and compositions, but also documents such as personal letters, annotated programs, meeting minutes, and financial records, offering scholars an unmatched glimpse into the inner workings of the arts world and life in Victorian Britain.

Collections in this Archive

• Archives of the Royal Literary Fund
• Drury Lane under Sheridan, 1776-1812: Manuscript Plays and Correspondence
• English Stage after the Restoration, 1733-1822
• Popular Literature in 18th and 19th Century Britain, Parts Three-Ten: The Barry Ono Collection of Bloods and Penny Dreadfuls
• Popular Literature in 18th and 19th Century Britain, Part Two: The Sabine Baring-Gould and Thomas Crampton Collections

Art and Architecture in Video, an online streaming film collection, delivers over 500 hours of documentaries and interviews illustrating the theory and practice of a variety of art forms and providing the context necessary for critical analysis. Ideal for both undergraduate and graduate courses, the works within this collection offer a dynamic tool to enhance understanding of visual media.

The collection spans period and region, including coverage of the Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Modern, and Contemporary Art. In addition to art history and theory, the collection addresses applied topics such as architectural and graphic design. The breadth of coverage makes this collection integral to both scholarship and technique, providing access to the seminal artists and works who continue to inspire the artists, architects, designers and critics of today.

This archive provides access to primary sources and critical documents tracing the development of twentieth-century art in Latin America and among Latino populations in the United States.Documents include writings by artists, artistic movements, critics, and curators from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The archive may be searched by keywords or browsed by descriptors.