Archives of American Art

Leo Tanguma stands in front of a large mural-in-progress that features mythical figures, revolutionaries, laborers, and other figures of Mexican and Chicano history.

Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Announces 'Articulated' Season Four Showcasing Its Oral History Collection

Season 4 of "Articulated" chronicles the lives and work of ceramicist and textile artist Anita Fields (Osage), muralist Leo Tanguma, painter and photographer Lenore Chinn, and painter Pat Steir as they've navigated their careers over the decades

Claudia Schiffer sitting at a table

What Does a 1990s Supermodel's Swimsuit Calendar Tell Us About Archives?

Connections between Colin de Land, the gallery space Four Walls, and Claudia Schiffer demonstrate how archival collections are interrelated

Detail of color screenshot of Judith Bernstein in front of one of her paintings wearing a black blouse and light-colored, chunky necklace holding her hand up in a fist as if making a point in conversation.

New Collections: Oral History

Ben Gillespie, the Arlene and Robert Kogod Secretarial Scholar for Oral History, reflects on four oral history interviews recently conducted for the Archives of American Art

Grayscale image of Robert Hughes sitting on the sloping curve of a building examining something in his hands, with a modernist church in the background.

New Collections: Robert Hughes Papers

The personal papers of art critic Robert Hughes offer insights into his seminal series "The Shock of the New"

Cartoon for mosaic sketched on brown paper in various shades of brown, blue, terracotta, pink, and white, with stones in corresponding colors glued to the paper.

New Collections: Marjorie Kreilick Papers

The papers of artist and educator Marjorie Kreilick highlight her contribution to mosaic and public art

Baseball cards with faces of artists superimposed on them fanned out on a desk above a blue box with text that reads ARTBALL, an image of a batter, catcher, and umpire, with a red circle that says set 1.

What If Major League Baseball Fielded a Team and the Players Were Duchamp, Calder, Marisol, O’Keeffe and Pollock?

A collection of artist baseball cards, “Artball, from the artist Don Celender, arrive in the collections just in time for the World Series

Color image of white erasers in blue and white sleeves in front of a green and white mug full of pencils with a phone and jar of pens in the background next to a color image of a computer and microfilm scanner with images of scans on the screen.

The Tools We Use

For American Archives Month, Archives of American Art Staff are sharing tools, both analog and digital, they use to make collections accessible

Still from a video of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Smith wears a black shirt with her hair pulled back, gold wire glasses, and long beaded earrings. She is sitting in front of works of art depicting maps of the United States, several in color and one in blac

New Collections: Interviews with Native Artists

Recent interviews conducted with Native artists are now part Archives of American Art's Oral History Collection

LEFT: Grayscale photographic contact sheet with images of Connie Zehr and assistants constructing a work of art. RIGHT: Page from a wire-bound sketchbook with a sample square of liquid polyester and notes made in pencil.

New Collections: Connie Zehr Papers and Cherie Raciti Papers

Gerald and Bente Buck West Coast Collector Matthew Simms reflects on two new collections of women artists now at the Archives of American Art.

Grayscale image of Emanuel Martínez in a dark colored shirt and apron and light coloroed pants pondering a wall mural with two large faces.

New Collections: Emanuel Martínez Papers

Josh T. Franco writes about the large addition to the Emanuel Martínez Papers, now in the collections of the Archives of American Art, illuminating Martínez'a work with incarcerated youth and involvement in the Chicano movement

Color image of various audio recordings, some with handwritten labels.

New Collections: Michèle C. Cone Papers

The papers of art historian, critic, and curator Michèle C. Cone are now at the Archives of American Art.

Composite image of four archival items: a photograph of a woman with her arms and legs crossed over each other, a red document with black text, a document with mineral samples and handwritten notations in ink, and an image of foil rubbings of a carpet.

How Playing With Failure Led Students to Archival Exploration

An assignment created in the Teaching with Primary Sources workshop proved that playing with failure and be fruitful, fascinating, and fun

Benny Andrews sits at a table with a microphone, cups, and a pitcher of water with a yellow, green, and blue abstract painting hanging behind him. He is wearing a black button down shirt and raising his hands while talking.

How Artist Benny Andrews and an Archival Assignment Inspired an HBCU Student

For an assignment created in the Archives of American Art's Teaching with Primary Sources Workshop, Professor Elizabeth Hamilton had students use archives of artists with connections to HBCUs

A man points to a video screen in a classroom with students seated in the foreground.

How a Survey Course Assignment Connected Students With Contemporary Artists

Students of one Teaching with Primary Sources workshop participant forged connections with contemporary artists and their work in an assignment using the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project

Watercolor image of mountain scene with a cloudless blue sky, trees and boulders in the foreground, and the artist’s stamp in the bottom left-hand corner.

Chiura Obata's American Landscape Art

The Chiura Obata Papers were the source for an assignment created in the Archives of American Art's Teaching with Primary Sources workshop

A photograph of a red book that reads, “Daily Reminders 1982” in white lettering. The book has yellow, green, blue, red, and orange strips of paint on it.

Join Us for On the Edge: An Event with the Archives of American Art and Bakersfield Museum of Art

Don't miss this special tour of "On the Edge: Los Angeles Art, 1970s–1990s, from the Joan and Jack Quinn Family Collection"

Oil painting in dark brown tones, featuring a woman sitting in a chair wearing a dark dress and holding a young boy in a sailor suit.

Letters to Cecilia Beaux From Her Young Nephews Reveal Sweet Relationship

Letters from Cecilia Beaux's young nephews reveal their own family gossip and sweet childhood stories.

Detail of artwork with wayfinder symbol of family running with the word caution and machine stitching in various colors.

New Collections: Consuelo Jiménez Underwood

The papers of the fiber artist, weaver, and educator are now in the collections of the Archives of American Art

Detail of poster with grayscale image of storefront and blurry figures

New Collections: Art in General Records

The Archives of American Art now holds records documenting the nonprofit space Art in General

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