Open Educational Resources: Arts and Humanities

An archive of the humanities computing work in American Studies programs at UVA

The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses.

A digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

Prior to its publication, History in the Making underwent a rigorous double blind peer review, a process that involved over thirty scholars who reviewed the materially carefully, objectively, and candidly in order to ensure not only its scholarly integrity but also its high standard of quality.

Project Gutenberg serves digital versions of a variety of books including fiction, non-fiction, classic, law, and technical.

Umbra Search brings together hundreds of thousands digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.

From Lumen Learning, a course on art appreciation.

The history of Art is long and varied, spanning tens of thousands of years from ancient paintings on the walls of caves to the glow of computer-generated images on the screens of the 21st century.

OER developed by SUNY in Art History

OER developed by SUNY in Art History

Digital collection of artworks, artefacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives.

As a vital part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s mission as an educational institution, the Guggenheim Museum’s Publications Department publishes books and catalogues to document its exhibitions and collections. Note: these catalogues can be linked to, but not revised

Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning offers a comprehensive introduction to the world of Art. Authored by four USG faculty members with advance degrees in the arts, this textbooks offers up-to-date original scholarship. It includes over 400 high-quality images illustrating the history of art, its technical applications, and its many uses.
Combining the best elements of both a traditional textbook and a reader, it introduces such issues in art as its meaning and purpose; its meaning and purpose; its structure, material, and form; and its diverse effects on our lives. Its digital nature allows students to follow links to applicable sources and videos, expanding the students’ educational experiences beyond the textbook. Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning provides a new and free alternative to traditional textbooks, making it an invaluable resource in our modern age of technology and advancement.

May be a useful source of background information. Smarthistory is a free, multimedia online textbook.

A collection of educational videos posted on YouTube.

Condenses and covers everything a beginning writing student needs to successfully compose college-level work, including the basics of composition, grammar, and research. Great for any beginning writing students or as reference for advanced students.

Allows students to develop effective written communication strategies specifically for the workplace. From idea gathering to drafting to delivery, this course will prepare students to write a variety of documents, including memos, letters, and reports, tailored to professional audiences.

Introduces students to the writing process as a means of developing ideas into clear, correct, and effective writing.

Teaches research skills by emphasizing the development of advanced analytical/critical reading skills, proficiency in investigative research, and the writing of persuasive prose including documented and researched argumentative essays.

English Literature was written by James Sexton. The creation is a part of the B.C. Open Textbook project.

This collection is not a “course.” It is a collection of materials designed to assist instructors in teaching and presenting the concepts of Introduction to Literature. Instructors are urged to pick and choose the items that will add to their lesson plans; then instructors can make these items available to students through the LMS, in-class presentations, or even as hand-outs. The material can be used in conjunction with other items instructors find or prepare, or the material can be used as a sole source for the class.

Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity attempts to make the study of literature more than simply another school subject that students have to take. These chapters can not substitute for reading the actual works. Rather they are intended to help students read those works. They are attempts to demystify the act of reading and to show that these works, whether they are nearly three thousand or less than two hundred years old, still have important things to say to contemporary readers.

Books in the public domain that are available for download.

This reading anthology is a curated collection of openly licensed full-text essays and stories on a variety of subjects, designed to be used for discussions and writing assignments. The anthology is organized according to three levels of reading difficulty, but instructors can easily mix and match reading selections.

Writing guides abound, but The Simple Math of Writing Well is one of a kind. Readers will find its practical approach affirming, encouraging, and informative, and its focus on the basics of linguistic structure releases 21st-century writers to embrace the variety of mediums that define our internet-connected world. As Harrop reminds us in the opening chapters of her book, we write more today than ever before in history: texts, emails, letters, blogs, reports, social media posts, proposals, etc. The Simple Math of Writing Well is the first guide that directly addresses the importance of writing well in the Google age.

Standard Ebooks aims to make free public domain ebooks that are carefully typeset, cleaned of ancient and irrelevant ephemera, take full advantage of modern ereading technology, are formatted according to a detailed style guide, and that are each held to a standard of quality and internal consistency.

This anthology is a curated collection of openly licensed primary texts, organized thematically, designed to be used as a reader in English composition courses. Includes personal essays, literature, video and audio files, Web writings, and long-form journalism, along with customizable assignments and instructor resources.

Free, comprehensive, peer-reviewed, award-winning Open Text for students and faculty in college-level courses that require writing and research.

Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing-intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life.

The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.

From Yale University Law School, this website contains digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.

This handbook covers the ins and outs of what every professional journalist should know, from how to research, write, and edit a story to how to write headlines, choose graphics, and select quotes and sound bites. Print, radio, TV, and Web-based or online journalism forms are discussed in detail, as well as the skills required in beat reporting. Contents: 1) What is News? 2) Getting the Story. 3) Telling the Story. 4) Editing the Story. 5) Broadcast and Online. 6) Specialized Journalism. 7) Ethics and Law. 8) Journalism Resources.

The publication focuses on the hypothesis-based inquiry approach, which takes the basic assumption that a story is only a hypothesis until verified. The methods and skills applying to every step of the investigative process, from conception to research, writing, quality control and dissemination, have been thoroughly analyzed and are well illustrated by case studies in each chapter.

Authored by leading journalists from the BBC, Storyful, ABC, Digital First Media and other verification experts, the Verification Handbook is a groundbreaking new resource for journalists and aid providers. It provides the tools, techniques and step-by-step guidelines for how to deal with user-generated content (UGC) during emergencies.

An online collection of videos of second language and heritage language learners of Spanish during oral interviews and provides supplemental activities to help viewers investigate learners’ language and proficiency levels.

A repository for open Spanish resources

Award-winning first year French curriculum used by learners all over the world. Explores French language and culture by following the lives of real students who have participated in the UT Summer Program in Lyon.

Textbook for a transdisiplinary approach to reading/writing at the first and second year levels of college French.

Collection of authentic conversations in French that targets mostly intermediate and advanced learners of French.

Liberté is a first-year college French textbook with a true communicative approach.

A website for learning and practicing real-world Spanish grammar

A compilation of brief video clips in which native speakers of Spanish from various locations throughout Latin America and Spain demonstrate various language tasks.

The Center for OER and Language Learning developed this openly-licensed student workbook to improve understanding of don Quixote in upper-level Spanish courses

Words Without Borders Campus connects students and educators to eye-opening contemporary literature from across the globe.

Words Without Borders Campus includes contemporary literature from Mexico, as well as other countries.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is currently processing microfilmed immigration records of persons crossing the U.S.-Mexican land border ca. 1903-ca. 1955. This article (1) gives background information about the records; (2) describes the government forms used to record information about persons crossing the U.S.-Mexican border; and (3) describes available NARA microfilm publications containing these records.

The free portal of digitized documents of the Library of Spain.

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean.

Explanations (suitable for any age) of the basic elements of music, with suggested activities for introducing the each concept to children at early elementary school level. The course may be used by instructors not trained in music; all necessary definitions and explanations are included.

Digital texts from the Folger Shakespeare Library - home of the world's largest and finest Shakespeare collection.

FORUMS is a collection of open online resources supporting post-secondary instruction of music in general studies. FORUMS includes links to authentic, academic and scholarly materials; pedagogical materials. FORUMS seeks to build community among gen ed music teachers.

OER developed by SUNY in Music

This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children’s lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

Doug Cohen's Music 1300 is a site for students of Music Appreciation, both at Brooklyn College and around the world. We feature open access web resources, and resources available to the CUNY community. We are committed to the use of Open Education Resources (OER). Click on the tabs and dropdown menus to navigate to the lower level pages.

An exposition of the philosophy, principles, and materials of music from the Baroque Period to contemporary period with illustrative examples from the Baroque Period, Classical Period, Romantic Period, Contemporary Classical Music and Popular Music.

OER developed by TIdewater Community College in Music Appreciation

An open-source, interactive, online “text”book for college-level music theory courses. Supports active student engagement with music in the theory classroom. That means that this text is meant to take a back seat to student music making (and breaking).

Designed to help students listen. This course encourages students to be self-reliant--to get up close to the music, without mediation or interference.

From the University of Florida College of Fine Arts, Charlie Mitchell and distinguished colleagues form across America present an introductory text for theatre and theoretical production. This book seeks to give insight into the people and processes that create theater. It does not strip away the feeling of magic but to add wonder for the artistry that make a production work well.

Explores basic music theory so thoroughly that the interested student will then be able to easily pick up whatever further theory is wanted. Music history and the physics of sound are included to the extent that they shed light on music theory.

Exploring Movie Construction & Production contains eight chapters of the major areas of film construction and production. The discussion covers theme, genre, narrative structure, character portrayal, story, plot, directing style, cinematography, and editing. Important terminology is defined and types of analysis are discussed and demonstrated.

Philosophy 101 Modules from the Open Course Library

An introduction to symbolic logic with an emphasis on formal logical languages and natural deduction systems of logical proof. Students learn how to translate reasoning into a symbolic logical language and how to prove arguments valid with the precision of mathematics using formal systems of proof.

Ada is an open-access peer reviewed journal featuring scholarship on gender, new media and technology. The journal is particularly interested in contributions that exemplify Ada’s commitments to politically engaged, intersectional approaches to feminist media scholarship.

The Journal of Feminist Scholarship is a twice-yearly, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published online and aimed at promoting feminist scholarship across the disciplines, as well as expanding the reach and definitions of feminist research.

Welcome to the Open Access (OA) Queer Studies Resources webliography. This site highlights open resources (free, online, reusable works), including scholarly journals, books, and digital collections, that support Queer Studies research.

Women's Studies Online Resources will help you find information-rich, high-quality web sites focusing on women's studies or women's issues; women- or gender-related e-mail lists; women's studies files from the WMST-L File Collection; links to women's studies programs around the world; financial aid for women; and more.

This online textbook was originally produced for the course, Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies 187: Gender, Sexuality, and Culture at UMass Amherst.

Women Working, 1800–1930 is a digital exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, workplace regulations, home life, costs of living, commerce, recreation, health and hygiene, and social issues are among the issues documented in this online research collection from Harvard University.