History of Science & Technology
Technical art history overlaps significantly with the history of science and technology. Encyclopedias such as these can help with that.
- Shamey, Renzo, ed. Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology, Springer, 2019.Covers the physical sciences, perception, and technologies of color as pure science, or as applied to arts and industries. Includes many entries on historical topics or people and dares to include some entries relating to aesthetics.
. - McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. 11th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2012.This compilation of more than 7000 articles covering all aspects of science and technology has the reputation as the one-stop introduction to most sci-tech topics. It contains a surprising amount about the arts and material culture: which camels make the best overcoats, the many uses of clay, how Polaroid instant cameras work, and other wonders. Bibliographies are brief but useful. Enter through the final, Index volume.
. - Selin, Helaine, ed. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. 2nd ed. Springer, 2008.Scholarly entries on broad or specific aspects of science, mostly related to pre-colonial traditions. Much to be found related to the arts, including separate articles on ancient metallurgy in 13 cultures around the world, or another 8 for textile traditions, and 8 for ceramics. Also covers dyes, paper making, woodworking, building construction technologies, beads, this, and that.
. - Heilbron, J. L., and James R. Bartholomew, eds. The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford University Press, 2003.Encyclopedia entries covering 500 years of scientific disciplines, institutions, people, concepts, methodologies and philosophies with an attempt at including non-Western contributions.
See also our library Subject Guide for the History of Science.