McDarrah, Gloria S., Fred W. McDarrah, and Timothy S. McDarrah. The Photography Encyclopedia. New York: Schirmer Books, c1999. [TR9.M39 1999]
This volume provides a brief but informative overview of Arbus life and works. It would be the perfect resource for student who had not heard of Arbus, who might not know where or when she lived, if she were American or European…etc. Its introduction states that it is "intended to give the young reader (or his or her teacher or parents) a comprehensive overview of the medium in a single, illustrated easy-to-use volume," but it is really a great place to start for a student of any age. Bold names provide easy cross-reference as each word is the subject of its own article in the encyclopedia. The one drawback of this source is that it does not contain any of her photographs.
Turner, Jane, ed. Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 1996. [Art N31 .D5 1996 and online at http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/list.php?letter=G]
The Arbus article offers biographical info, exhibition information, and bibliographical
references to journal articles. The online dictionary contains the same article
as published in print source. Photography curator and Brighton University historian,
Gerry Badger, wrote the article in both sources. Neither the online nor the
print sources contains examples of her photographs--it is necessary to look
at Arbus monographs.
Badger, Gerry: 'Arbus, Diane', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, (Oxford University Press, Accessed [11 November 2003]).