The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is pleased to announce a significant acquisition of fine press books published by the Arion Press in San Francisco. Thanks to a gift from Dr. Ronnyjane more »
Tag: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library
This post was contributed by Natalia Addison, 2020 spring intern with the American Art and Portrait Gallery (AA/PG) Library and a recent Master of Science in Information and Library Science graduate from Clarion University.
Working at the prestigious Smithsonian Institution has always been a dream that I’ve held. Thus, obtaining an internship at the American Art and Portrait Gallery Library (AAPG Library) in the spring of 2020 was a manifestation of that dream. Here, I learned how to process and select materials for the Art and Artists File Collection. I learned how to do intensive art research on artists, and learned when, why, and how to add new items to those artist files. I learned preservation practices, analysis techniques, and was able to expand my knowledge about the artists. I was able to use the knowledge I gained through my courses at Clarion University to serve patrons through an unfamiliar integrated library system. It is through this opportunity that I found what I suspected all along to be true: that I want to continue to pursue my dream of becoming an art librarian.
Three Cheers for 100 Years of Fine Arts research at the Smithsonian! The largest art library of the Smithsonian Institution hits a major milestone on July 1, 2020: the American Art & Portrait Gallery (AA/PG) Library more »
Few who walk past the Bethesda Fountain in New York City’s Central Park know the history behind the angel statue, standing high atop the fountain with wings outstretched. This sculpture, called Angel of the Waters, has been the backdrop for many movies and TV shows. The sculpture was made by a wealthy New York sculptor named Emma Stebbins, an artist featured in an album of cartes-de-visites (small, collectible photo cards) of notable 19th century American artists, located in the American Art and Portrait Gallery Library collection. Little is known about Stebbins, even though Angel of the Waters, as noted recently in the New York Times, was “the first public art commission ever awarded to a woman in New York City.”[i] However, what is known about Stebbins has been gleaned from the letters and press coverage of her relationship with famous American actress Charlotte Cushman.
With Mother’s Day in our recent memory, it’s the perfect to remember one of the most familiar and loved matriarchs in American literature: Marmee, from Little Women. The American Art more »
This Earth Day, the Smithsonian celebrates the Earth Optimism movement, which aims to shift the conservation conversation from one of doom & gloom to hope, optimism and positive action. While there are a number of voices adding more »
This post was researched entirely from materials in the American Art/Portrait Gallery Library collection. Additionally, the images featured in this post are from exhibition pamphlets in James Van der more »