34 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



United States and Canada exchanged ideas about collecting. 

 Also an important patt of the Archives' education mission is 

 its active internship and fellowship program, in which un- 

 dergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students from 

 around the United States participate. In FY 2000, the 

 Archives was one of three Smithsonian organizations selected 

 to participate in the new Katzenberger Foundation Art In- 

 ternships; the Archives' project attracted the largest number 

 of applicants. In FY 2000, the Archives was accepted as a 

 full-member institution of the Association of Research Insti- 

 tutes in Art History (ARIAH), whose purpose is to promote 

 scholarship by institutes of advanced research in the history 

 of art and related disciplines. Among its many programs are 

 providing opportunities for internships. 



Exhibitions and Loans to Exhibitions 



In FY 2000, the Archives presented exhibitions showcasing 

 the world of art and AAA collections, including a show high- 

 lighting the work of contemporary artist Ellsworth Kelly, 

 "Ellsworth Kelly: Selections from His Archives," as well as 

 "Getting the Picture: The Art of the Illustrated Letter" (also 

 presented in an on-line version) and "Selections from the 

 Fairfield Porter Papers" (also displayed on the AAA Web 

 site). As part of the Smithsonian's Hispanic Heritage Month 

 activities, AAA presented a special Web site location entitled 

 "Selecciones Cubanas: Selections from the Papers of Cuban 

 American Artists at the Archives of American Art." To com- 

 memorate Native American Heritage Month, the Archives 

 presented "The American Indian Observed: Sketches and 

 Documents from the Collections of the Archives of American 

 Art," an on-line exhibition on AAA holdings related to Na- 

 tive Americans. In FY 2000, the Archives lent selected 

 documents from its collections to exhibitions in museums 

 around the U.S. and throughout the world. Among them: 

 "Horace Pippin: The Collection in Context," "Ben Shahn's 

 New York: The Photography of Modern Times," "Harvey 

 Littleton: Reflections, 1946— 1994," and "The Century: At 

 the End of One Hundted Years of Architecture." 



Publications (guides, finding aids, etc.) 



In FY 2000, the Archives published the second, tevised 

 edition of The Papers of Latino and Latin American Artists, de- 

 scribing AAA's diverse holdings of sketchbooks, diaries, 

 photographs, letters, manuscripts, otal histories, etc; 43 new 

 collections have been added since the first edition of this 

 guide was published in 1996. Also in FY 2000, the Archives 

 expanded its "Preliminary Guide to Resources on Asian 

 American Artists at the Archives of American Art," an on- 

 line guide that was prepared in FY 1999. A Finding Aid to 

 the Records of Mi dt own Galleries (ca. 1925— 1997) was pre- 

 pared, as well as a finding aid for the papers of Millard Sheets 

 (1907— 1990), reflecting his career as a designer, painter, and 

 muralist in Southern California. In FY 2000, the Archives 

 published A Finding Aid to the Records of the Downtown 

 Gallery, which presents a comprehensive portrait of a signifi- 

 cant commercial gallery that operated as a successful 



business for more than 40 years. Also published throughout 

 the year is the Archives of American Art Journal, which has 

 been produced continuously since i960. Articles by users of 

 Archives' collections feature selections from the holdings; 

 each issue also contains collecting reports that showcase re- 

 cent Archives' acquisitions around the United States. As a 

 service to the scholarly community, the Journal compiles an- 

 nually a listing of masters theses and doctoral dissertations 

 on American art that have been recently completed or are 

 currently in progress. 



Collections Acquisitions and Management 



In FY 2000, the Archives made notable additions to its 

 holdings of more than 14.6 million, continuing to achieve 

 its goal of preserving the most significant materials docu- 

 menting the histoty of art in America and of ensuring that 

 its holdings are diverse chronologically as well as in subject 

 matter and geography. Among the recent acquisitions were 

 the papets of Florence Knoll Bassett (b. 1917), documenting 

 design and architecture in the second half of the twentieth 

 century; the papers of Geoffrey Clements (b. 1928), compris- 

 ing approximately 60,000 negatives and photogtaphs from 

 the 1950s to 1990s; the Fendrick Gallery Records and the 

 Barbara Fendrick Gallery Records, describing a contempo- 

 rary gallery with an international reputation for exploring 

 new artistic territory; the papers of Stephen Etnier (1877- 

 1949), a Maine realist painter; an addition to the papers of 

 Erie Loran (1905— 1999), who helped to educate a new gen- 

 eration of modern American artists; and the papers of Helen 

 Lundeberg, who, with Lorser Feitelson, founded the New 

 Classicism art movement and created murals in California 

 for the WPA. Also notable was an addition to the papers of 

 Walt Kuhn (1 877-1 949); Kuhn's papers, among the most 

 frequently used in the Archives' collections, are essential for 

 the study of the early history of modern painting in the 

 United States. Also collected was an addition to the Gifford 

 Beal (1879— 1956) Papers; a small but interesting element of 

 this collection provides documentation for a mural that Beal 

 created at Princeton University celebrating the life and 

 achievements of Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Several major processing projects 

 were completed in FY 2000, including the Midtown Gal- 

 leries records and the Downtown Gallery records. 



Non-appropriated Resources 



Trust funds provide partial support for Archives' operations 

 and finance a variety of projects. In FY 2000, grants funded 

 by The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. and The Getty Grant 

 Program enabled AAA to process several major collections. 

 Also in FY 2000, the Archives successfully met a $500,000 

 challenge made by The Brown Foundation, Inc., resulting in 

 the establishment of a million-dollar endowment to fund 

 Archives' publications. The Archives' financial strength was 

 significantly enhanced by an extraordinary S12 million grant 

 from The Brown Foundation, Inc. for the purpose of secur- 

 ing a permanent home for the Archives in Washington, 



