Skip to Main Content

Art and Architecture Archive


Art and Architecture Archive (AAA) is a major research resource comprising the digitized backfiles of many of the foremost art and architecture magazines of the twentieth century. Offering unprecedented access to the archives of key consumer and trade publications, it is a unique collection of the essential primary sources for studying the history of these subjects. The magazines cover the spectrum of sub-disciplines, from fine and applied arts, through to interior design, industrial design, and landscape gardening. Each issue is scanned from cover to cover in high resolution color and presented in page image format with fully searchable text.

The high-quality reproduction and easy discoverability of all images contained in the original issues will allow scholars, students, and practitioners of fine art to draw inspiration from the many artworks displayed in visual arts titles such as Apolloand Art Monthly. They may also study features and reviews revealing the contemporary reception of specific works.

Trade magazines, widely recognized as indispensable sources for art and architecture, are also strongly represented. Research materials and technical guidance are available to those working in areas including graphic design, construction, and product design, in publications such as Print,Architectural Review, and Graphics, respectively.

In combination, the consumer magazines and the trade publications comprise an invaluable reference source, as a historical record of the art and architecture industries. Through reviews, advertisements, exhibition listings, and awards, users may trace the careers of major artists and architects, as well as the history of the commercialization and marketing of art.

Art and Architecture Archive also serves wider research in the humanities and social sciences, with sociologists and historians, for example, able to locate primary sources attesting to the relationship between art movements and social trends.

The ability to cross-search these magazine backfiles within a single database creates an unrivalled opportunity for researchers to locate a comprehensive body of primary source material relating to particular individuals, topics and movements, across a variety of publications and document types. A single search may return industry news items, interviews with major artists, and features about technological developments, as well as photographs / illustrations, architectural plans, statistics, and reviews.

Publication Coverage - Collections 1 and 2


All titles are full-text and archival in nature. Policy is to include every issue in full, from the first through to 2005 for Collection 1 and to 2015 for Collection 2, or the publication ceased date (whichever is first). Due to the rarity of some of the original print volumes, however, there are small gaps (issues or pages) in the runs of some publications.

Collection 1

  • American Craft (1979-2005)
  • Aperture (1952-2005)
  • Apollo (1925-2005)
  • The Architects' Journal (1929-2005)
  • The Architectural Review (1896-2005)
  • Art and AsiaPacific (1993-2005)
  • Art Monthly (1976-2005)
  • The Bead Journal (1974-1978)
  • The British Journal of Photography (1860-2005)
  • C Magazine - iterations include:
    • C: A Critical Visual Art Magazine (1983-1986)
    • C Magazine (1986-1987, 1992-2005)
  • The Canadian Architect (1955-2005)
  • Ceramics Technical (1995-2005)
  • Craft Horizons - iterations include:
    • Craft Horizons (1941-1978)
    • Craft Horizons with Craft World (1978-1979)
  • Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design (1991-2005)
  • Graphis (1944-2005)
  • Ornament (1979-2005)
  • Print (1940-2005)
  • Sculptors International (1982-1985)
  • Sculpture (1987-2005)
  • Southwest Art (1973-2005)

Collection 2

  • Antique Collector (1930-1996)
  • Border Crossings (1977-2015)
  • Building Design (1969-2014)
  • Casabella (1928-2015)
  • Connoisseur (1901-1992)
  • Contract (1960-2015)
  • Crit. (1976-2015)
  • Frame (1998-2015)
  • Goya (1954-2015)
  • Hospitality Design : HD (1979-2015)
  • House Beautiful (1989-2015)
  • How (1985-2015)
  • I D (1954-2010)
  • Make (1982-2002)
  • Mark (2005-2015)
  • Popular Photography (1937-2015)
  • Preservation (1949-2015)
  • Professional Artist (1986-2015)
  • Studio potter (1972-2015)
  • Surface (1994-2015)
  • WomanCraft (1972-2015)

Please Note: Country Life is now a standalone database, including:

  • Country Life Illustrated (1897-1901)
  • Country Life (1901-2005)