What does a well-known 5th avenue publishing house have to do with the Archives of American Art? Read this blog post and find out.
Little nuggets of treasure from the art world's Fort Knox.
Speaking of behind the scenes...
Here’s a great photo from the Smithsonian Institution Archives of our curator emeritus Garnett McCoy in our offices when they were upstairs in the old Patent Office Building. You may recognize the space - it is now known as the Luce Foundation Center, one of my favorite parts of the American Art Museum where you can watch conservators in their natural habitat and poke around in drawers of the Museum’s open storage.
Did you know that the Archives of American Art has a Youtube channel where we’ve posted videos from our collections as well as behind the scenes footage of our offices and exhibits? If you can’t make it to any of the film screenings or lectures at the Smithsonian Archives Fair today, you can have a screening of your own at your desk.
The embedded film is: Art discovers America: an American commentary, 1943 / Regency Pictures. 16 mm : 1 film reel : sd., b&w ; 16 mm. Alfredo Valente papers, 1941-1978. Archives of American Art.
Don’t forget - starting RIGHT NOW until 5pm today you can post all your burning archival questions on the Smithsonian’s facebook page! Wondering how to preserve your kid’s finger paint masterpieces? How to keep all your digital photos from disappearing into the ether? How best to store those old home videos? Ask away!
Or, perhaps you prefer a more personal, face-to-face exchange. If you’re in the DC area you can bring your treasured materials to the Archives Fair on Friday the 19th and have them looked at by real live archivists, curators and conservators. The fair is free and open to the public and will also feature talks and screenings of films from our vaults. We hope you can make it.
Susan Shie painting The Joker, 1993 Aug. 6 / unidentified photographer. Sue Pierce papers regarding the exhibition Full Deck Art Quilts, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Before there were emoticons, there was Ad Reinhardt. Check out our cataloger Michelle McDaniel’s take on his doodles over here.
Ad Reinhardt birthday card to Selina Trieff, 1955 Feb. 3. Selina Trieff papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
After reading this morning’s blog post on John Held, I happened across this item by Carol Schneck, emblazoned with her unwavering opinions on Mail Art. It’s not often that you come across something in our collections that basically says “WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT ARCHIVE THIS.” I hope Ms. Schneck can forgive us for giving her postcard the full archival treatment: encoding it in a finding aid, digitizing it, cataloging it, and lovingly housing it in an acid-free folder. It’s just what we do.
Carol Schneck mail art to John Held, ca. 1988. John Held papers relating to Mail Art, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Strike up the band, my friends, it’s Archives Month!
Unidentified sender letter to Margaret Brown, between 1921 and 1958. Margaret Brown Gallery records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
