This website from the de Young Museum (a 293,000 sq. ft. museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park) presents a happy ending to what started as a story of looted cultural heritage. Harald Wagner, 1903 - 1976, was an architectural draftsman and property developer, as well as a painter and art collector, who loved and traveled to Mexico frequently, and bought a home there in the 1950s. In...

Decorated paper has served bookmakers and others quite well for centuries, and this digital collection pays tribute to that artistic tradition and practice. Created by the University of Washington Libraries, this database showcases decorated and decorative papers from Germany, France, and Italy. Visitors can browse the collection by keyword, though they may wish to begin their journey through the...

Delaware is, of course, the "First State", so it makes sense that they would have some rather fine historical materials available at their disposal. This website was created by the state of Delaware to bring together some of their vast historical holdings, including many materials from the Delaware Public Archives. First-time visitors can get oriented by looking at their 360-degree panoramic view...

The Morgan Library and Museum was originally the private library of financier Pierpont Morgan, the father of J.P. Morgan, who gifted the library to the public eleven years after Pierpont died. The elder Morgan concentrated on collecting "illuminated, literary, and historical manuscripts, early printed books, and old master drawings and prints." One of the most famous manuscripts held by the...

"Imagine a time with no computers but with lots of craftsmanship and creativity," poses the tagline of the website Design is Fine, History is Mine. Created by a design history instructor from Germany, Design is Fine, History is Mine showcases gorgeous - and sometimes unusual - works of design throughout history. Here, visitors can examine the colorful, bold carpets of Swedish textile designer...

The Design Museum in London "concentrates on temporary exhibitions that cover the range of its interests, from graphic design and furniture to fashion, industrial design and architecture." On their site the museum provides several web versions of current exhibitions which include a few views of the works in each show. For example, click on Sustainable Futures to see five pioneering designs, such...

Although there are many dictionaries of art online and in print, dictionaries of art historians of Western art history are harder to come by. Visitors interested in the lives of art historians will be delighted with Duke University's free online database of historic scholars, museum professionals, and academic historians of art. Duke's Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies' created...

For those interested in the arts of Greek and Roman terpsichore, dance, and music, the electronic journal Didaskalia will be a welcome find. The journal is an English-language publication that is focused on how these artistic endeavors are performed in contemporary society, and the name comes from the inscriptions used to record the outcomes of drama and music festivals in Athens. The journal was...

Carpenter, Cuban activist, corporal: Jose Antonio Aponte was a man of many professions. His life and legacy are explored through Digital Aponte, a collection of resources that inform users of his history and influence. A large piece of Aponte's legacy is his "book of paintings" - a collection allegedly lost, though emblematically explored through this resource. Readers may want to begin on the...

The Beethoven-Haus was founded in 1889; the complex in Bonn brings together Beethoven's birthplace with a concert hall and a research center. This website brings together over 6,100 documents, 1,600 files, and 7,600 text files that tell the story of this masterful composer and musician. A good place to start is the Highlights area, where visitors can look over versions of the Pastoral Symphony,...