Use these sources to define terms and get an overview. For additional resources search the library catalog under Subject Keywords: Architecture--United States--Dictionaries, or Architecture--United States--Encyclopedias.
American architecture: an illustrated encyclopedia / Cyril M. Harris. New York: W.W. Norton, c1998.
American vernacular design, 1870-1940. Herbert Gottfried, Jan Jennings. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1988.
The anatomy of a house: a picture dictionary of architectural and design elements. Fayal Greene; NY: Doubleday, 1991. Clear, concise identification of the parts and elements of American houses.
American vernacular design, 1870-1940. Herbert Gottfried, Jan Jennings. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1988.
A dictionary of architecture / James Stevens Curl. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Excellent for architectural terms.
Dictionary of architecture. Henry H. Saylor. New York, Wiley [1952]. Classic, standard dictionary of terms.
Dictionary of Art. Print equivalent of Grove Art Online. (be sure to use index in last volume)
Encyclopedia of American architecture / Robert T. Packard, Balthazar Korab. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, c1995.
Old-house dictionary: an illustrated guide to American domestic architecture, 1600-1940 / written and illustrated by Steven J. Phillips. Lakewood, Colo. : American Source Books, c1989.
The visual dictionary of American domestic architecture. Rachel Carley. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1994.