Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Art Reference Library Oral History Project

With generous funding from Barbara G. Fleischman, the Archives of American Art partnered with the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection to create a series of 20 oral history interviews of art collectors. The Archives together with the Frick developed a list of potential interview candidates across the US whose unique stories contribute to the history of collecting and patronage in America. The project had three primary goals: to increase the Archives’ and the Center’s sources for the study of collecting in America; to make the transcripts and audio and/or video portions of the interviews available at the Archives and the Center and through their websites; and to encourage new avenues of inquiry by placing these materials in the broad context of the history of the visual arts.

All interviews were digitally recorded between 2012 and 2018, transcribed, and edited. All unrestricted transcripts are available through the Archives’ and the Frick’s websites.

For further information about this project, contact:

Liza Kirwin, Deputy Director, Archives of American Art, KirwinL@si.edu