INDEX TO NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN ART PERIODICALS by Mary Morris SchmidtReview by: Joan StahlArt Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Vol. 19, No. 1(Spring 2000), p. 51Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27949059 .

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Either/Or

INDEX TO NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN ART PERIODICALS / Mary Morris Schmidt.?Madison, CT: Sound View Press, September 1999.-1,600 p. in 2 vol.?ISBN 0932087 56-6 (cl, alk. paper): $245.00.

Some librarians are already familiar with the online version of Index to Nineteenth Century American Art Periodicals, which is accessible via RLG (RLG Citation Resources). The online version and the print version do not mirror each other in ap pearance, content, or access modes.

The content in either format is important to all art libraries. Schmidt has selected and thoroughly indexed some forty jour nals, including The American Art Review (1879-81), the Art Jour nal (1975-87), Bulletin of the American Art-Union (1848-53), The

Crayon (1855-61), The Illustrated Magazine of Art (1953-54), and The Studio (1881-93). The journals were indexed completely, so that non-American art items such as short stories, poems, and articles on other subjects are accessible. In total, the records number more than 27,000. This publication is a welcome re source for art and cultural historians. What is the significant difference between the online version and

the print version? The most significant factor is content. Although the two versions are quite similar, Schmidt has located and indexed some hard-to-find magazines since the appearance of the online version. RLG has no plans to update the online version, so the print version will be the only means of access to the additional citations. Schmidt further enhanced the print version by adding new and im

proved subject headings, and she and her editor, Peter Hastings Falk, made numerous corrections to the data.

Those who have used the online version are familiar with its bare-bones search engine. Using a simple search, the user can search by keyword, author, title, subject, abstract word, and

journal. The advanced search allows one to use Boolean oper ators on the fields. The results list lacks annotations, but the in dividual record includes brief abstracts. The print version re

configures the content. Vol. 1 is the Citations Index and Volume 2 is the Author-Subject Index. The content has been purpose fully published in two volumes to allow the researcher easy back-and-forth searching from one to the other.

Given that this is an extremely useful research tool for all re searchers of American art and culture, the question remains: Should librarians purchase one or the other or both? As a user of both, I have mixed feelings. The online version is conve

nient and has a small degree of flexibility, most notably in one's

ability to save/send results of a search to e-mail, printer, or disk file. But only in the print version can one see an overview of the contents of each issue of each title. Subject searching is also much improved in the print version, in which broad sub

jects are easily scanned and broken down into subheadings. Since the online version provides little guidance as to the

approved headings, and phrase searching is particularly awk

ward, the print version has the advantage in this area. Price and

updates are also worth consideration. RLG charges an annual

subscription cost (differs for RLG and non-RLG libraries), which remains the same, although there are no plans to update the file with additional data. The print version offers the option of a one-time cost. Consider your particular library and its users and their preferences. If you purchase one, you will likely feel that you are missing something offered by the other.

Joan Stahl Smithsonian American Art Museum

BIOGRAPHISCHES HANDBUCH DEUTSCHSPRACHIGER KUNSTHISTORIKER IM EXIL / Ulrike Wendland.?M?nchen,

Germany: K.G. Saur, 1999.?855 p. in 2 vol.?ISBN 3-598-11339 0 (cl., alk. paper): $150.00.

METZLER KUNSTHISTORIKER LEXIKON: ZWEIHUNDERT PORTR?TS DEUTSCHPRACHIGER AUTOREN AUS VIER JAHRHUNDERTEN / Peter Betthausen, Peter H. Feist, Chris tiane Fork.?Stuttgart, Germany: Metzler Verlag, 1999.?523 p.? ISBN 3-4760153-51: $65.00. At first glance, two German-language dictionaries of art histo

rians may have limited appeal to many libraries. These are not, to be sure, for beginning art history students or the local public library. However each is quite a valuable compendium of useful information not readily found elsewhere. Until now, no dictionary-style reference work devoted solely to

art historians had been published. (A literature review of books

discussing art historians can be found at: http://www. lib.duke.edu/lilly/dah.htm). No large-scale list of art historian names suitable, for example, for term-paper research was avail

able. Alternatively, if already in possesion of the name of an art

historian, one could consult Biography and Genealogy Master Index, Who's Who in American Art, or the Grove's Dictionary of Art, which

may contain an entry on the individual?or more likely, may not. These two new publications fill a void.

The two-hundred most famous art historians of Germany, Aus

tria, and historians of other countries who rose to prominence in the German-speaking world (e.g. Max Dvorak) are the focus of Met zlerKunsthistor^hex^n. A number of these people, Panofskyand Kxauthiemer, for example, completed their careers in the United States. The essays are short, averaging about a page and a half plus bibliography. Because articles were written by one of three con

tributors, their style and content are even. Each entry includes a review of the historian's academic career, including discussion of

methodology and intellectual differences with other art historians, and a full bibliography of writings and biographical works. This dic

tionary is most useful for the student in a methods course. Librar ians will find it a handy reference.

Similar to a number of monographs that recount the stories of artists displaced by Hitler, Ulrike Wendland's 1996 dissertation

Volume 19, Number 1 ? 2000 ? Art Documentation 51

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