National Academy of Design records, 1817-2012

Membership files document National Academy of Design members, honorary members, fellows, and the nominations and elections whereby members were voted into the Academy.

Member registers and certificates (subseries 9.1) document membership at the academician and associate levels. Registers provide names of members, and a few ledgers track member payments and addresses. Official certificates, signed by the Academy president, further document associate and academician membership in the 19th century. Due to the gap in years of registers and certificates, the most complete record of membership is a listing created circa 1987, which documents members initial election and level for the years 1826-1987 (box 37, folder 11).

Nomination and election files (subseries 9.2) document the process by which new members were elected. Proposal forms vary over the decades, from an early list of names submitted by current members, to more elaborate forms later, containing endorsers and letters of recommendation. Candidate biographies only began to be prepared in the mid-1950s. These printed and illustrated brochures provided voters with an overview of the nominated artists in the four professional classes of painting, sculpture, graphics, and architecture, for membership at either the academician or associate level. Also filed here are ballots used by current members for selection, and one file pertaining to the nomination and election of officers and council.

The final subseries (9.3) documents fellows and honorary members to the Academy through registers, diplomas, and certificates.

The series is arranged as three subseries.