Archives: Oral history of American Art to be preserved

As part of the federal “Save America’s Treasures” initiative to preserve significant historic properties and collections, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has been awarded a grant of $250,000 for the preservation and digitization of the Archives’ Oral History Collection, one of the oldest, most-consulted and historically significant oral-history collections in the country. Named after the British scientist James Smithson, the Archives is the nation’s pre-eminent repository for primary sources documenting the history of the visual arts.

The ever-expanding Oral History Collection, begun in 1958, contains nearly 2,000 interviews with artists, collectors, critics, dealers and others, and is central to a fuller understanding of American art, creativity and culture. Recently, the Archives produced 175 interviews with nationally prominent artists who shaped the field of contemporary craft.

Despite the effective stewardship the Archives currently provides, these unique, original sound recordings totaling over 6,000 hours, face permanent loss due to deterioration, damage and format obsolescence. Through basic preservation reformatting, further deterioration will be halted. In addition, obvious defects will be removed, sound quality enhanced and greater access and use of the interviews will be possible. The “Save America’s Treasures” grant ensures the preservation of this irreplaceable collection for the benefit of future generations.

The Archives of American Art is the world’s pre-eminent resource dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and primary records of the visual arts in America.