The Minneapolis College of Art and Design has contributed approximately 300 images of historic architectural illustrations compiled by Allan Kohl to the Artstor Digital Library.  The selection includes engraved renderings of buildings from the history of western architecture from ancient through medieval times  — ground plans, elevations, sections, interior and exterior views, and details of iconic structures like the Parthenon, St. Mark’s Basilica, and the cathedral at Pisa.

This collection is the result of a project undertaken by Allan Kohl, Visual Resources Librarian at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. These historic illustrations were originally published during the late 19th and early 20th centuries before the widespread use of photography for art documentation (see list below). As a result, these engravings, line drawings, and plans reflect both the technological and aesthetic standards of their time. By their very nature, these historiographic, sometimes anachronistic artifacts represent subjective interpretations of monuments and works, offering fascinating insights into the cultural values of Art and Architectural History during the formative years of these disciplines. The illustrations contained in this collection were scanned from the following publications:

  • Architecture, Sculpture, and the Industrial Arts Among the Nations of Antiquity / a series of illustrations arranged chronologically, and forming an atlas, to be used in connection with any work on the history of art, published under the supervision of S. R. Koehler, 1879. Series I and Series II.
  • Fletcher, Banister. A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. Sixth edition, 1921.
  • Lübke, Wilhelm. Outlines of the History of Art. A new translation from the seventh German edition, edited by Clarence Cook, 1881. Volume I.Michel, André. Histoire de l’Art / depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu’à nos jours, 1905. Tome I, Deuxième partie.
  • Reinach, Salomon. Apollo / an illustrated manual of the history of art throughout the ages. From the French by Florence Simmonds. New edition, 1914.