Research Subject Guides: History: Monuments and Memorials

Key Books at Snell Library

Memorial Mania by Erika Doss
ISBN: 9780226159416
Publication Date: 2012-05-14
Argues that memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history, and the urgent desire to express--and claim--those issues in visibly public contexts. Focus on the United States.
Memorials As Spaces of Engagement by Quentin Stevens; Karen A. Franck
ISBN: 9781317600015
Publication Date: 2015-08-11
Explores how changes in memorial design and use have helped forge closer, richer relationships between commemorative sites and their visitors. United States and Canada.
No Common Ground: Confederate monuments and the ongoing fight for racial justice by Cox, Karen
ISBN: 1469662698
Publication Date: 2021
In this eye-opening narrative of the efforts to raise, preserve, protest, and remove Confederate monuments, Karen L. Cox depicts what these statues meant to those who erected them and how a movement arose to force a reckoning.
The Monument by Kanan Makiya
ISBN: 9781860649660
Publication Date: 2003-12-31
Shelley's Ozymandias and Saddam Hussein's "Victory Arch" are jumping-off points for this classic work discussing the interplay between art, politics and the nature of totalitarianism, and how public art can become a weapon of dictatorship.
Monuments and Site-Specific Sculpture in Urban and Rural Space by Gitler, Inbal Ben-Asher, ed.
ISBN: 9781443851794
Publication Date: 2017
Chapters on monuments and memorials around the world.
Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space by Daniel Walkowitz (Editor); Lisa Maya Knauer (Editor)
ISBN: 0822333775
Publication Date: 2004-11-30
Explores the effects of major upheavals--wars, decolonization, and other social and economic changes--on the ways in which public histories are presented around the world. Individual chapters on sites and works. International focus.
America's Historic Landscapes by Ary J. Lamme
ISBN: 087049614X
Publication Date: 1990-02-01
Examines landscapes at St. Augustine (FL); Colonial National Historical Park (Virginia); Sackets Harbor (New York); and Gettysburg (PA)
Monuments: America's history in art and memory by Judith Dupre
ISBN: 9781400065820
Publication Date: 2007-11-06
A visual history that serves as a tribute to classic American landmarks.
Written in Stone by Sanford Levinson
ISBN: 9781478001720
Publication Date: 2018-10-26
Debates and conflicts over the memorialization of Confederate "heroes" have stormed to the forefront of popular American political and cultural discourse. Levinson considers the tangled responses to controversial monuments and commemorations while examining how those with political power configure public spaces in ways that shape public memory and politics. International, legal perspectives.

Researching monuments and memorials

Finding scholarly works

Art, Design, and Architecture Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Articles in professional and scholarly art journals. Use the "peer reviewed" filter for academic journal articles.
This collection includes the specialist indexes ARTbibliographies Modern (covering modern and contemporary art), Design and Applied Arts Index (for all aspects of design and crafts) and the International Bibliography of Art (covering scholarship on Western art history), together with a complementary collection of current full-text journals, Arts and Humanities Full Text.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and professional association news and information since 1934, covering the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation and interior design and decoration. Links to full text.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Use for background on monuments, artists and architects. Western-focused.
Formerly "Grove Art Online".

Finding primary sources (archives and newspapers)

ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid tells you which libraries and cultural institutions have primary source records on your building, monument, organization, or architect. It may help you find plans and community records.
ArchiveGrid Tutorial (Google Slides)
An introduction to ArchiveGrid and how to make the most of it. Google Slide presentation format.

Ethnic NewsWatch (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Covers the American ethnic press. Primarily in English but with some Spanish and Portuguese newspapers also.
Includes the Bay State Banner, an independent newspaper primarily geared toward the interests of Boston's African-American community, and the Boston Irish Reporter.

News and Newspapers at the Northeastern library
Search newspapers to find news about community involvement, construction, and political processes around built works. If you're not sure where to begin, select Access World News!

Finding images and photographs:

(Scroll down for instructions on finding images in the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals)

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
A digital library of nearly one million images from libraries and museums worldwide. Art, sculpture, plans, photography, and tools to view, present, and manage images for teaching and presentation.
See ArtSTOR support for system requirements and tutorials.

Use ArtStor for all types of art work, including sculptures and historical monuments.

For images you can re-use for publication outside of your coursework, see our Open Access Images page.

Finding Images Using the Avery Index

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
You can search Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals to locate articles published in architecture or design focused journals or magazines that include plans, sections, drawings, etc. Click on Advanced Search and type in a building, concept, or architect on which you would like to find related images. Under the Document Feature options, select the appropriate filter and click Search. This should return results for articles that include those specific types of images. Once you find a relevant article, use the "Check for full text" button for access options to the article and its images.

History : Monuments and Memorials