Use Reference Resources to locate background information on your topic, including historical overviews, terminology, timelines, and images.  Many of these sources include bibliographies which list additional books and journal articles that would be useful for further research on the topic.

Reference materials are available in three locations:

• the Reference Department on Wilson 4 (items marked with REF call numbers)
• the Main Stacks (regular call numbers)
• online (ebook or link)

Here are some examples of what is available:

The bulk of the books on fashion will be shelved in one of these two locations:

• GT500-2370: Cultural impact- Costume, dress, fashion (Reynolds 7)
• TT500-650: Technique and creating- Dressmaking and tailoring, fashion designers (Reynolds 1)

These two sections are easy to browse and contain a mix of scholarly resources and image/photograph collections of examples of fashion and clothing from different time periods and cultural aspects.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of fashion, you may find that books or chapters that deal with fashion topics pop up in a variety of subject areas when they intersect with different aspects of history or culture:

• HQ: Gender studies (Reynolds 8)
• E: American history (Reynolds 7)
• N: Art
• BJ1801-2195: Etiquette and ethics (Wilson 1)
• BR515-569: History of Christianity in the United States (Wilson 1)
• BV800-873: Practical theology, sacraments, baptism, eucharist, etc... (Wilson 1)
• BX: Denominational histories, rites, theology (Wilson 1)
  • BX800-4795: Catholic Church
  • BX6201-6495: Baptists
  • BX7601-7795: Friends, Quakers
  • BX8101-8144: Mennonites
  • BX8601-8695: Mormons, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Primary sources can come in a variety of formats.  When working with material objects, such as clothing and garments, the physical objects (or an image of them) would be considered a primary source.  From a historical perspective, documents written during the time period you are studying would also be considered primary sources.  These could be letters, advertisements, newspaper articles, novels, pamphlets, diaries, etc... which indicate an attitude, perspective, or belief from the time period or culture in question.  Here is an excerpt from the following document, which indicates one perspective on fashion prevalent in Baptist circles of the early 19th century:

Letter to the Female Members of Christian Churches in the United States of America, written by Adoniram Judson (a prominent Baptist minister and missionary), 1832

"In raising up a Church of Christ in this heathen land, and in laboring to elevate the minds of the female converts to the standard of the gospel, we have always found one chief obstacle in the principle of vanity, that love of dress and display...which has, in every age and in all countries, been a ruling passion of the fair sex...That obstacle lately has become more formidable, through the admission of two or three fashionable females into the church, and the arrival of several missionary sisters, dressed and adorned in that manner, which is too prevalent in our beloved native land." (emphasis added)

This document was located via a search in our library catalog.  You may find many similar items via a search of our catalog.  You may also want to consult our newspaper archives, or other primary source collections of diaries and letters.  You can access a variety of primary source collections on our primary source database page.  There are also links to many 19th and 20th century American fashion magazines in our collection here.

If you are looking for scholarly/peer-reviewed/academic articles look for these features:

• at least 8-10 pages in length
• author is an academic (professor, PhD, researcher, etc....)
• published in an academic journal (Costume, Fashion Theory, etc...)
• the bibliography is appropriate for the article length

The following databases are good places to look for scholarly research.  You can also find direct links to scholarly journals that cover fashion topics here.

Images that have been cleared for academic use in papers and presentations can be found via JSTOR by selecting the "images" tab at the top of the search screen.  You can limit your results by time period, media type, and country of origin.

Other image collections from museums and archives can be located by using the links listed here.