Exhibition records of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum of Art, 1943-1975, bulk 1964-1975

Series includes records relating to the operations of the Contemporary Study Wing of the Finch College Museum, including correspondence, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, notes, clippings, contact information, records related to grant applications and grant projects, records relating to the museum's permanent collection, photographs, and research files on a variety of subjects. Also found is a radio interview from 1968 on one sound tape reel with the Director of the Contemporary Study Wing, Elayne Varian, about the mission of the gallery and its exhibition program.

Permanent collection records include letters of acknowledgement to artists and other donors for donations of artworks spanning the life of the gallery, lists of acquisitions, and photographs of artworks, many of which are negatives. Note that the list of permanent collection artworks listed by artist only lists works acquired between 1964 and 1966.

Correspondence, photographs, research, and printed material related to specific exhibitions is found in Series 4, Exhibition Files. A number of the artists represented in the museum's permanent collection are also documented in Series 2, Artist Files.

The bulk of this series has been digitized. Materials which have not been digitized include blank pages, blank versos of photographs, and duplicates. In some cases, exhibition catalogs and other publications have had their covers, title pages, and relevant pages digitzed.

Series includes a group of files created at the Contemporary Study Wing to be both a study collection for students of museum practice and a resource for exhibition planning, which are filed under the general artist files heading. The general artist files also contain documents related to contemporary artists whose works were in the Finch College Museum's permanent collection, and printed material on artists who were of interest to Elayne Varian. Many of the general artist files contain only one or two items, usually a résumé, exhibition announcement, and/or photograph of an artwork. A few of the files contain more substantial documentation, including multiple images of artworks, photographs of artists, correspondence, instructions regarding complex artworks, posters, publications by the artist, or artist's statements. Files for Jeff Dell contain 3 motion picture film reels (16 mm), two of which also have two videocassette access copies each (VHS and Digital Betacam). Where present, significant materials in the general artist files are noted in the folder listing.

Also found is an incomplete run of questionnaires for the 1964 New York Arts Calendar Annual, which were completed by artists and often accompanied with printed material relating to exhibitions scheduled for that year. A letter explaining the donation of these records to the Contemporary Study Wing for their research value is filed with this set of records. Questionnaires are found for artists with surnames beginning with A through E, and M through S. The rest of the Arts Calendar questionnaires are not found in the collection. Occasionally artists represented in this part of the series also have a file in the general artist files.

Series is arranged in two sections, the general artist files, and the New York Arts Annual Calendar files. Varian's letters to galleries soliciting artist information are found in the 1964 correspondence of the Administrative Records in Series 1. Unsolicited letters with artist information enclosed can also be found in the correspondence files in that series. Additional records related to works in the permanent collection of the Finch College Museum are also found in series 1. Many of the exhibitions documented in series 4, Exhibition Files, also contain their own run of artist files specific to the exhibition, which tend to contain richer documentation than files in this series.

The bulk of this series has been digitized. Materials which have not been digitized include blank pages, blank versos of photographs, and duplicates, In some cases, exhibition catalogs and other publications have had their covers, title pages, and relevant paged digitized.

The motion picture film "Happy Birthday Felisa" (1968), found in the file for artist Jeff Dell, has been digitized for reference use.

Series consists of records related to curatorial, teaching, and writing projects of Elayne Varian that were not undertaken in her role at Finch College.

Curatorial projects include the exhibition (1967), a juried show at the New York State Fair; a series of art film screenings held at the Everson Museum of Art of Syracuse University, and an exhibition at Guild Hall in East Hampton featuring local artists over the age of 60.

A single file of teaching materials consists of a syllabus and course schedule.

The bulk of writings in the series consist of recorded interviews, with corresponding transcripts, of art dealers and artists, which were conducted for a 1970 article Varian wrote for called "New Dealing," on the subject of artist-dealer relationships. Interviews, listed individually in the folder list, are on 11 sound tape reels and are typically around 40 minutes in duration. Photographs related to that project are also found depicting Virginia Dwan, Martha Jackson, and Leo Castelli with Andy Warhol. Other writing projects include published interviews with artists Brian O'Doherty and Babette Newburger, a manual on museum security, and an article on patented art. The original interview with Newburger is found on one sound tape reel with an edited transcript.

The bulk of the material in this series has been digitized, except for duplicates.

All of the sound recordings in this series have been digitized for research use.

Series contains records documenting the creation and public exhibition of shows at the Contemporary Wing galleries from its inception in 1964 to its close in 1975, as well as records for several exhibitions that were in development but not yet realized when the college closed. Documentation includes artist files, checklists, correspondence, writings, exhibition catalogs, photographs, interviews, films and videos documenting exhibitions or created for exhibition, artist statements, loan documentation, insurance documentation, and publicity in the form of press releases, exhibition announcements, clippings, and posters. A run of exhibition catalogs filed at the beginning of the series represent about half of the exhibitions held in the Contemporary Wing. Catalogs are also found filed under each exhibition's title for most of the exhibitions in the series, often annotated with insurance values or in various drafts.

Unlike the artist files in series 2, artist files specific to exhibitions tend to contain richer documentation, including writings and original correspondence with the artist, artist statements, photographs, or information about particular artworks.

Interviews are found on 9 sound cassettes and 14 sound tape reels scattered in the exhibition files, all conducted by Elayne Varian and relating to the exhibition at hand. They include Alan Sonfist ("Alan Sonfist: Time Landscape"), Mel Bochner ("Art in Process IV), Hans Richter ("Hans Richter Retrospective"), Ruth Richards on Hugo Weber ("Hugo Weber Retrospective), James Brooks and Janet Katz ("James Brooks Retrospective," transcript only), Physicists Lloyd G. Cross, Allyn Z. Lite, and Gerald Thomas Bern Pethick ("N-Dimensional Space), Margaret Benyon ("N-Dimensional Space"), Irwin Hollander (transcript only, "Prints from Hollander's Workshop"), David Anderson ("The Private Collection of Martha Jackson"), Doris Chase ("Projected Art: Artists at Work"), and Will Insley, Michael Kirby, Les Levine, Ursula Meyer, Brian O'Doherty, Charles Ross, and Tony Smith ("Schemata 7"); Douglas Davis, Jane Davis, and Russ Connor ("Talk-Out!"); Les Levine ("The Troubles"); Michael Mazur and Paul Gedeohn ("Two Aspects of An Illusion"). An additional sound recording describing the installation and content of the exhibition "Towers" is found on one sound tape reel.

In addition to the recorded interviews, a number of moving image recordings are found. The video in (1971) is a complex mix of recordings, ranging from simple, single-channel video works that were played in the gallery, to components of multi-channel installations, artifacts of interactive sound and video installations, and recordings of performances put on in the gallery. Other motion pictures found in the series include videos of artists Sam Weiner, Lynda Benglis, and Michael Singer working in (1971), and film of the installed exhibition (1966). In total, motion pictures in this series are on 19 videoreels (1/2 inch), 2 film reels (16 mm, with VHS and Digital Betacam videocassette access copies).

Other artworks or components of artworks found include original writings by Dan Graham in (1967-1968) and mail art by Richard Merkin and Ray Johnson in (1967). Artists books found in the series include by Lawrence Weiner and by Jim Brodey, found in Lynda Benglis' artist file; both of these publications are with records for (1969-1970). Schematic drawings, floor plans, and installation instructions are found for Robert Morris for (1972) Douglas Davis and several other artists for (1971), Michael Kirby for (1967), Stan Vanderbeek for (1966-1967), and various works for (1970).

Series is arranged alphabetically by exhibition title, with materials for each exhibition arranged by type. Selected exhibition catalogs are also arranged alphabetically at the beginning of the series. The records of each exhibition are arranged slightly differently, and what arrangement was found is retained, with folder headings sometimes changed for clarity. Additional exhibition files for shows curated by Elayne Varian outside of Finch College are found in series 3, Elayne Varian personal papers.

The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for duplicates and blank versos of photographs. The "selected exhibition catalogs" in folders 9-14 were not digitized because they are duplicates of catalogs that can be found in the folders arranged alphabetically by exhibition title. In some cases, catalogs for exhibitions that were not at Finch College and other publications have only had their covers, title pages, and relevant pages digitized.

All of the sound and video recordings found in this series have been digitized and are available for research use. The motion picture film documenting (1966) has also been digitized.