The largest archive of medieval art in the world, the Index of Christian Art was founded by Professor Charles Rufus Morey in 1917 and is based at Princeton University. It documents primarily Christian art from early apostolic times to approximately 1400 A.D. A powerful reference tool, the Index has cataloged over 26,000 terms that deal predominantly with Christian iconography, however it also includes Jewish, Islamic, and non-ecclesiastical subjects. The Index consists of three components: the Subject file, the Photographic file and the Database. The Index of Christian Art Database is the largest subscription electronic resource of medieval art on the Internet.

Copies of the Index are located in Rome, Utrecht, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. Until its move to the Getty in 2001, the west coast copy of the Index was under the curatorship of the University of California, Los Angeles. At the Research Library, a computer station is available in the stack area of the medieval section, providing convenient access to the Index and Photo Study Collection databases, the Research Library Catalog, and a copy of the Index of Jewish Art, housed in the Photo Study Collection reference collection along with numerous dictionaries and encyclopedias related to medieval imagery and iconography.

The Index is available for use by stack readers and extended readers during the Research Library's regular hours of operation, Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. An initial appointment is required to orient new users to the Index.

The Research Library's special collections contain numerous holdings of interest to medieval researchers. Collections include the archives of art historians, antiquarian papers, facsimile editions of illuminated manuscripts and archives related to the revival of interest in medieval art and architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries.

For appointments and reference inquiries contact Library Reference.

For a complete history, visit of the Index of Christian Art official Web site at http://ica.princeton.edu.