Archives of American Art
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- Learn more about art, art history, artists, fine art, and folk arts.
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The world’s largest and most widely used resource on the history of art in America is the Archives of American Art. Originally founded in Detroit in 1954, it joined the Smithsonian Institution in 1970 in an effort to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Visitors to the site will find letters, photographs, diaries, sketches, scrapbooks, and business records of famous artists. They may browse by artist/person, art organizations, art-related occupations, events, places, topics, document types, or collections. Selections for current and past exhibits are available. There are also selection guides which focus on the diversity of our country’s artistic heritage, as well as diaries, sketchbooks, and crafts. New guides are added periodically and content for current guides is updated.
