LibGuides: Theatre: Costuming

Costuming Resources

AVON - Academic Video Online (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
AVON: Academic Video Online is a comprehensive multidisciplinary streaming video resource.
Digital Theatre + This link opens in a new window
Contains streaming videos of a variety of theatre productions and includes study materials and interviews with practitioners.
International Bibliography of Theater and Dance Full Text This link opens in a new window
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text is the definitive research tool for the study of theatre and the performing arts. This database was initiated by the American Society for Theatre Research, and contains more than 450 full-text titles, including more than 140 full-text journals, and more than 300 full-text books & monographs.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to full-text academic electronic journals in various disciplines including economics and finance, political science, history, literature, anthropology, mathematics, sociology, statistics, and education.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Covers literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, etc. Contains current full text scholarly journals which cover these fields and a significant collection of recent scholarly books.
Theatre in Context This link opens in a new window
Theatre in Context contains thousands of playbills, posters, photographs, and related theatrical ephemera.
U.S. History in Context This link opens in a new window
History Resource Center: U.S. provides integrated access to over 4,000 historical (primary) documents, articles from more than 30 reference titles, and over 110 full-text journal covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present.
World History in Context This link opens in a new window
From ancient Europe to Latin America and from the Far East to the Renaissance, World History in Context is a collection of reference, full-text articles from leading scholarly publications, an array of primary sources, and images, maps and charts which provide expansive geographic and chronological research materials for the study of world history.

The Complete Costume Dictionary by Elizabeth J. Lewandowski
Call Number: REF GT507 .L49 2011
ISBN: 9780810840041
Publication Date: 2011-10-24
Contemporary Fashion by Richard Martin
Call Number: GT2520 .C66 1995
ISBN: 1558621733
Publication Date: 1995-08-01
Costume and Fashion: A Concise History by James Laver
Call Number: GT511 .L39 1995
ISBN: 0500202664
Publication Date: 1995-05-01
When Broadway Was the Runway: Theater, Fashion, and American Culture by Marlis Schweitzer
Call Number: PN2277.N5 S39 2009
ISBN: 9780812241570
Publication Date: 2009-05-14
Link leads to ebook version available with Butler University credentials.
Costume Language: A Dictionary of Dress Terms by Stephanie Curtis Davies
Call Number: GT507 .D38 1994
ISBN: 089676138X
Publication Date: 1995-06-01
Costume Patterns and Designs: a Survey of Costume Patterns and Designs of All Periods and Nations from Antiquity to Modern Times by Max Tilke
Call Number: OVERSIZE GT513 .T54 1957
ISBN: 084781209X
Publication Date: 1957
The Dictionary of Costume by R Turner Wilcox
Call Number: GT507 .W5
ISBN: 9780684106601
Publication Date: 1969
The Dictionary of Fashion History by Valerie Cumming; C Willett Cunnington; Phillis Cunnington; Charles Relly Beard
Call Number: REF GT507 .C86 2010
ISBN: 9781847885340
Publication Date: 2010-11-15
Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History by Victoria Sherrow
Call Number: TT957 .S46 2006
ISBN: 0313331456
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion by Joanne Bubolz Eicher
Call Number: REF GT507 .E54 2010 v. 1-10
ISBN: 9780195377330
Publication Date: 2010-07-15
Fashion and Costume in American Popular Culture: A Reference Guide by Valerie B. Oliver
Call Number: GT605 .O45 1996
ISBN: 0313294127
Publication Date: 1996-09-30
Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years by Richard Corson
Call Number: GT2290 .C6 2001
ISBN: 0720610931
Publication Date: 2005-10-01
The Guide to Historic Costume by Karen Baclawski
Call Number: GT507 .B23 1995
ISBN: 0896761371
Publication Date: 1995-01-01
The Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes by Albert Racinet
Call Number: OVERSIZE GT510 .R3313 1988
ISBN: 0816019762
Publication Date: 1988-09-01
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costume and Fashion: From 1066 to the Present by Jack Cassin-Scott
Call Number: GT720 .C37 1994
ISBN: 0289800935
Publication Date: 1994-12-31
Masterpieces of Women's Costume of the 18th and 19th Centuries by Aline Bernstein
Call Number: OVERSIZE GT595 .B45 1959
ISBN: 0486417069
Publication Date: 1959
A Pictorial History of Costume: A Survey of Costume of All Periods and Peoples From Antiquity to Modern Times Including National Costume in Europe and Non-European Countries by Wolfgang Bruhn; Max Tilke
Call Number: OVERSIZE GT513 .B763 1955
Publication Date: 1955

Chicago History Museum, Digital Collection: Costume and Textile Collection
The Chicago History Museum's Costume and Textile Collection features 50,000-plus artifacts from the mid-18th century to the present. Its focus reflects its urban origins: many of its contents were worn by "former presidents and first ladies, sports stars, celebrities or everyday people." Otherwise the items' connections to Chicago are via dressmakers, milliners, and manufacturers. The collection is particularly strong in 20th-century items, women's wear, and pieces designed by Charles James. Images and metadata are of high quality and vetted by the museum. (R. Tolley-Stokes, East Tenn. State U. for CHOICE)
The Costume Institute (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
"The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present." -- site description
Daphne Dare Collection
This collection includes costume and scene designs from more than fifty productions by British designer Daphne Dare (1929-2000). Dare designed for major theatres on both sides of the Atlantic as well as for television and film.
Europeana Fashion
This portal provides free access to digital fashion and costume collections across Europe. Launched in March 2012, this online fashion archive features 700,000-plus objects, including clothing, accessories, photographs, posters, illustrations, and videos. The archive encompasses collections from 22 contributing partners from 12 European countries. The website provides broad keyword searching of collections. Search results may be filtered by object type, e.g., hats, photographs, or dresses; by designer; by content provider; or by color of the object and surface treatments. -- excerpted form C. B. Cannon, Brand Library and Art Center
Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection
It is primarily a teaching collection serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Human Ecology's Design Studies Department. The Digital Collections database provides open access to images and cataloging information for almost 9,000 items in the HLATC. The collection is especially strong in ethnographic textiles and costumes from all over the world, especially Latin American, African, South and Southeast Asian, and Turkish objects. It is also strong in 19th- and 20th-century American and European home furnishing and apparel fabrics. The database is fully searchable by keyword, title, subject, and geographic area. (Y. Cortes, Skidmore College for CHOICE)
Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design
The Motley Collection consists of over 5000 costume and set designs, sketches, notes, photographs, prop lists, storyboards, and swatches of fabric. The collection documents 150 productions of Shakespeare and modern classics, dating from 1932 to 1976, staged in England and the United States.

The majority of the collection has been digitized, and can be searched by play title, theater name, actor and director names, as well as medium. In addition, production notes have been compiled for selected plays.
Stage Costume Exhibit (Victoria and Albert Museum)
An online exhibit from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibit highlights stage costume designers, costume makers, and the costumes themselves.
Tonic to the Imagination:Costume Design for Stage & Screen by B.J. Simmons & Co.,1889-1959 The B.J. Simmons & Co. costume shop in London produced costumes for theater and film, along with renting out costumes to such venues for over 100 years. In 2010, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin had a web exhibition of 228 costume designs from over 60 productions from the span of 1889-1959. The link from xhttp://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/web/bjsimmons/ is no longer active but using the search term "Simmons" shows background and design records inventory. See also http://www.booktryst.com/2010/05/ransom-center-exhibit-proves-costume.html
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Find more at
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2010/05/26/web-exhibition-explores-costume-designs-for-stage-and-screen-by-b-j-simmons-co/ and https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2010/bj-simmons-exhibition.html

Items in the catalog are assigned Subject Headings in the catalog. Subject Headings are meant to capture the most essential themes and content of the material (books, recordings, eResources, etc.). When you search by subjects, you are able to find a smaller collection of items that share the same essential subject matter. In catalog records, subjects are hyperlinked so that you can click on related subjects to browse related groups of items.

Subject headings can often be combined into a single subject with different facets. For example, if you search not just Clothing and dress but Clothing and dress--Great Britain you get results that limit to clothing from a particular geographic region (Great Britain), or you can get even more specific with Clothing and dress--Great Britain--History, or even Clothing and dress--Great Britain--History--17th century which will limit you to resources about the history of 17th century costumes in Great Britain. Once you have the pattern in mind, you can add and subtract facets as needed.

Here are some examples of subject headings and ways you can combine them:

Beauty culture -- United States -- History

Clothing and dress

Clothing and dress -- Assyria

Clothing and dress -- History

Clothing and dress -- History -- To 500

Clothing and dress -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500

Clothing and dress -- Byzantine Empire -- History

Clothing and dress -- Egypt -- History

Clothing and dress -- Greece -- History

Clothing and dress -- Iran

Clothing and dress -- Rome -- History