William Henry Fox Talbot (British, Dorset 1800–1877 Lacock). A Scene in a Library, before March 22, 1844. Salted paper print from paper negative, Image: 13.3 x 18 cm (5 ¼ x 7 1/16 in). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005 (2005.100.172)

While Watson Library may not currently be open to in-person visits, a reference librarian is never too far away. You can contact us at watson.library@metmuseum.org or try our Ask-a-Librarian virtual chat on Watsonline, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. EST, Monday–Friday. Our librarians have also created a growing collection of research guides which can be a helpful starting point when beginning your research.

A selection of research guides created by library staff. You can peruse the collection on the library homepage.

Highlights from General Guides

Not sure which research guide can be the most useful to you? A few suggestions are highlighted below.

The Finding Information on Objects in The Met guide reviews a number of Met resources, including The Met Collection Online. This resource provides information on objects accessioned by The Met.

Finding Information on Objects in The Met

Are you researching objects in The Met's collection? This guide reviews Met resources such as the Collection Online, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, and Met Publications. Each of these resources can provide valuable information about or related to the object you are interested in. These resources are accessible online to all researchers.

Some Met history highlights available through Watson Library Digital Collections.

An act to incorporate "The Metropolitan Museum of Art," passed April 13,1870, available through Watson Library Digital Collections. Try and find the section that contains the line "a museum of library and art".

Researching Met History

Did you know that Watson Library was included in The Met's founding charter in 1870? Spend time immersed in The Met's rich history with the Researching Met History guide. This guide includes an extensive list of publications covering Met history throughout the years. Also included are online resources, such as Watson Library Digital Collections. You can find digitized Met publications dating as far back as 1869, including exhibition and collection catalogues, exhibition checklists, and ephemeral publications. It is easy to spend all day searching through these treasures!

Examples of resources you can learn more about in our Guide to Remote Research

Guide to Remote Research

If this is your first time conducting research from home, our Guide to Remote Research will help you get started with tutorials, citation guides, and links to freely available online resources. This guide provides sources from both The Met and outside organizations, and all links have been tested to work from locations outside The Met (because even the guide was made remotely).

A preview of subject specific research guides created by library staff

Highlights from Subject Specific Guides

Our subject specific guides are curated lists of print and online publications related to some of the most popular areas of the collection and some of the most challenging areas of research.

The guides for Fashion and Medieval Art cover material about and available through the Costume Institute and The Met Cloisters respectively, such as links to Bergdorf Goodman fashion sketches and Cloisters' construction photos in Watson Library Digital Collections, which are free to view online.

There are also guides for Provenance, Genealogy, and Auctions & Appraisals. These areas can be difficult to parse considering the great number and wide distribution of such resources, but our research guides consolidate and describe what's available to you.

Our newly published guide, Researching Living Artists, can help you find information on your favorite living artist. Work your way through this guide to learn about art history that may still be in the making.

Cooks, Bridget R. Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum. University of Massachusetts Press, 2011. A print title from our list of African American Art resources.

To contextualize and add greater understanding to art historical research, we also offer a Guide to African American Perspectives in Art History, a list compiled to provide researchers with access to print and online resources created by and/or about African Americans in the arts. This a new guide and may be updated and expanded in the future.

Our research guides are regularly updated and we are working on adding new ones. Have a suggestion for a new research guide? Send it to watson.library@metmuseum.org.