Search     Advanced Search 

Help Advanced Search

The advanced search finds objects based on the following indexes:

• Keywords
• Date
• Artist/creator name
• Type

Helpful Tips:

• Search for complete phrases by using quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes (e.g. "Mississippi River") will return only those results that appear in the catalog record exactly and in the order you entered them.
• In every index the asterisk symbol ' * ' acts as a wildcard. For example, entering ' ander* ' in the Artist/creator's name search box will return all items by Anders, Anderson, Andersen, etc.
• You can also create searches that based on particular collections. Selecting and/or unselecting the collection areas you wish to search will help to better define your searches.
• Both the basic and advanced searches, by default, return all records. To perform a search for only those records with corresponding images, check the box labeled "Show only those with digital images." This will ensure that all items that match your search parameters also have digital images.

Keywords:
Search the Visual Resources Database by entering one or more words in the keywords search box. Using multiple words will help narrow your search. Use double quotation marks (" ") to perform phrase searching. By entering a keyword you will be searching all of the following fields: Title, Subjects, Artist/creator's name, Artist/creator's nationality, Artist/creator's role, and Publisher. It is not necessary to use punctuation.

EXAMPLE:

Keywords:	Searches For:
fishing itasca lake	Returns all objects with 'fishing' AND 'itasca' AND 'lake' in any of the fields listed above.
"lake itasca"	Returns all objects containing the phrase "Lake Itasca."

Date:
If you are looking for objects by date, enter the year(s) in both the Year From and Year To boxes. For objects created between 1900 and 1930, enter '1900' in the Year From search box and '1930' in the Year To search box. To search for a single year, type the same year in both boxes.

EXAMPLE:

Year From:	Year To:	Searches For:
1900	1930	Returns all objects created from 1900 through 1930.
1970	1970	Returns all objects that were created in 1970.

Artist/creator:
Enter an artist's name in the artist/creator search box in the following order: first, middle, last name (do not use commas). Be sure to include a period after any initials. To broaden a search use the asterisk, *, wildcard.

EXAMPLE:

Artist/creator:	Searches For:
john	Returns all objects with a creator who has 'john' as his first, middle or last name, e.g. "John Runk", "Milford John Humphrey"
john*	Returns all objects with a creator whose first, middle or last name begins with 'john', e.g. "John Runk", "Milford John Humphrey", "Randolph R. Johnston", "St. John's University Art Gallery"
john b*	Returns all objects with a creator whose first or middle name is "john" and whose middle or last names start with a "b", e.g. "John Baeder", "Walter John Breckenridge", "John B. Neagle", "John L. Blamey".
john b. neagle	Returns all objects with a creator whose name is "John b. Neagle".

Type: If you are searching for a particular kind of object, select an option(s) from the pull-down menu on the Advanced Search screen. The results displayed will reflect all of the Society's current holdings of the type of original you selected. Please note that you can select more than one type from any combination of the four collections. The default 'All' will search for all types.

EXAMPLE:

Type:	Searches For:
postcard	Returns all objects with 'postcard' in the type field.
postcard oil	Returns all objects with 'postcard' OR 'oil' in the type field.