Take a behind-the-scenes look at the Archives and explore the projects and people that are working to preserve the history of the visual arts in America.
The Archives of American Art’s online initiative Mysteries of the Archives of American Art involves the public in helping identify unknown figures in photographs across the Archives collections. Please join us in solving these mysteries by exploring selected photos.
With generous support from the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, the Archives conducted five oral histories with Native artists in 2021.
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.
Explore the Archives' newest online resources documenting American art related archival collections in Chicago made possible with funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
A focused oral history initiative of interviews with twenty artists who produced major works of art for the Fine Arts or Art in Architecture program of the U.S. General Services Administration.
Internship, fellowship, and volunteer opportunities provide students and lifelong learners with the ability to contribute to the study and preservation of visual arts records in America.
You can help make digitized historical documents more findable and useful by transcribing their text.
Visit the Archives of American Art project page in the Smithsonian Transcription Center now.
