Subject Guides: Place Based Research: CULTURE

Arts & Culture

Arts and cultural events contribute to our understanding of places and the communities that inhabit those places.This guide focuses on resources that cover the history of arts and culture, art and social change, and government arts organizations in NYC.

Government Organizations & Academic Databases

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA)
A funding arm for arts & cultural institutions in NYC, the DCLA also keeps a running "resources" list of arts organizations in NYC.
NYC Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment (MOME)
Promotes NYC's entertainment industry (film, broadcasting, theater, media) and issues permits for public performance and filming in NYC.
Art Full Text
Articles and art reproductions. Covers fine art, architecture, and design fields.
Humanities Sources
Large database with academic and creative content on humanities topics including fine art, architecture, entertainment technology, literature, music, and more.
JSTOR
Large, multi-disciplinary database; includes many older humanities journals, some dating back to 19th century.

Arts & Social Change

Artistic communities often use art to represent or respond to social conditions. Independent arts movements can give a voice to marginalized communities not otherwise represented in dominant cultural spaces.

Interference Archive
Archive and exhibition space that explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements.
Franklin Furnace
Organization with a "mission to present, preserve, interpret, proselytize and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable."
Fales: Downtown Collection
Documents the downtown arts scene that evolved in SoHo and the Lower East Side during the 1970s through the early 1990s.
Fales: Riot Grrrl Collection
Documents the evolution of the political and cultural Riot Grrrl movement, particularly in the years between 1989 and 1996.

Newspaper Research & City Directories

Contemporary Newspapers (Library Login Required)

LexisNexis (Includes international news)

New York Times (free unlimited digital subscription available to CUNY students)

New York State Newspapers

Historic Newspapers (Library Login Required)

New York Times Historical (1851-2012)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841-1955)

City Directories: lists of individuals & businesses with location information.

Digital Brooklyn Directories (1856-1967)

List of New York City Directories available online (1680s-1950s) *some directories require a subscription for access ($)