Art

Browsing for books

Why browse? Great for serendipitous searching and familiarizing yourself with the collections. 

Browsing for books in stacks

Browse by call numbers

To browse print books on textile and fabric art and crafts in Ellis Library stacks (on the 4th floor R), browse the call numbers

• NK2775-2898 Rugs and carpets
• NK2975-3049 Tapestries
• NK8800-9505.5 Textiles

Other books are on the 1st floor, 1A West:

• TT697-927 Home arts. Homecrafts
  • Including sewing, embroidery, decorative crafts

Browsing in Discover@MU

Browse by Subject Headings

To find a book on relevant to your practice and research, search by subject, rather than just by keyword. Subject headings are tags that libraries assigns to all the books about a particular topic to make those books easier to find (Fary).

Selected Subject Headings to try browsing with:

Embroidery
Embroidery -- England
Beadwork
Quillwork

Fiberwork
Fiberwork -- Exhibitions

Needlework
Needleworkers

Handmade paper
Decorative paper

Quilts
Quilting -- Patterns
Quiltmakers -- United States -- History
African American quilts

Tapestry
Tapestry -- History -- 20th century

Textile crafts
Textile design
Textile design -- Themes, motives
Textile design -- India -- History
Textile fabrics
Islamic textile fabrics

Weaving
Weaving -- Exhibitions
Hand weaving

Carpets
Rugs – Exhibitions

Dyes and dyeing
Batik

Felting

Wearable art

You may come across other useful subject headings during your research. Keep track of them so you can search with them in future. To search with them, paste them into the search box and select SU Subject Terms from the Select a Field tab.

Suggested databases for finding articles, book chapters, conference presentations, and other materials covering fabric and textile arts and crafts. 

Before you search - review how to choose keywords to search with and construct a search statement:

• Constructing a Search Statement - MU Libraries Quick Guides

Selected Collections to search in Artstor/Jstor images:

• Larry Qualls Archive: Contemporary Art
  • For nearly three decades (1988-2012), Qualls documented contemporary art exhibitions at galleries and other spaces throughout New York City, and beyond.
  • suggested keywords: fiber, quilt, fabric, textile, etc

• Textile and Costume Collection
  • This collection is used for teaching, inspiration, and research. Its holdings reflect a broad spectrum of techniques, designs, cultures, and historic periods.

• American Folk Art Museum

• Donald Brothers
  • Donald Brothers was famous for producing high quality furnishing fabrics. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, in the 1890s they moved to making fabric for interiors and sold quite extensively to the United States.

• Materials Collection
  • The Fisher Fine Arts Materials Library hosts thousands of samples. The aim of the collection is to bring together innovation and creativity in order to advance conceptualization through tactile exploration.

Local & Regional

National & International