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Page for the College Archives

ARCHIVES

The archives at MassArt aim to preserve the rich history of our college by collecting and maintaining records, student publications, photographs artwork, and other items that tell our unique story. Find out more about our collections below or email our temporary Archivist Clarabel Smith at csmith2909@massart.edu.

 

ARCHIVES, PERSONAL PAPERS, RARE PUBLICATIONS, AND OTHER TEXTUAL MATERIALS 

Total about 500 cubic feet. They include records and publications of the college (1873-), the alumni association (1890-), and student groups (1903-), as well as student and faculty sketchbooks and notebooks (1875-), publications and devices created by alumnus and faculty member Albert Munsell (1901-1918), architectural plans and drawings (1880-), hundreds of photographs of student, faculty, studios, and art work  (1880-), a 90,000-image pictorial reference file (1930-1970), the records of the Boston Lettering Arts Guild, papers of alumna and faculty member Muriel Cooper, student scrapbooks (1882-), fabric samples, films, videotapes, audiotapes.

WORKS OF ART 

Include samples of student and faculty work, notably 109 examination drawings exhibited by the college at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, plaster casts of classical sculpture, WPA-commissioned photographs, murals and stained glass windows, and works by well known American artists. Among those, many represent alumni/ae and faculty: a portrait of college founder Walter Smith by Robert Vonnoh, sculptures by Cyrus Dallin and Raymond Porter, drawings by Ernest L. Major, prints and paintings by Lawrence Kupferman, photographs by William Wegman, glass by Dan Dailey, posters by Jacqueline Casey and members of Boston's Graphic Workshop, early design work and business and academic papers of Muriel Cooper, and Albert Pettito's drawings and models for the helmet now used by the U.S. Armed Services.  Other works include books and prints by Josef Albers, prints by Leonard Baskin, and photographs by Paul Strand, George Tice, Harold Edgerton, and James Nachtwey.

ACCESS

Many books, serials, and pamphlets are cataloged with the call number prefix "ARCHIVES" and are described in the library catalog. Some unpublished materials are described by finding aids available from the archives office. Library staff can sometimes respond to inquiries on a drop-in basis, but an appointment is recommended. For more information, contact our temporary Archivist Clarabel Smith at csmith2909@massart.edu.

THESES

The library has a rich collection of theses in print and available digitally produced by the graduate programs: Art Education, DMI, and Architecture. Browse and search for copies of MassArt theses online. Contact Rachel Resnik for theses rresnik@massart.edu.
 

DISCOVER ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
 

Yearbooks (1917-2006, bulk 1924-1972), course catalogs (1875-2012), student handbooks (1929-1999) and student newspapers (1903-2018) are available via the Internet Archive.

  •  https://archive.org/details/massart
  • Tip for using the Internet Archive: If you do want to keyword search for anything please note that if you are conducting a search yourself on the Internet Archive please use the search bar on the left (and click "text contents" not "metadata contents") and not the one on the top of the webpage for results from MassArt (if you use the search bar on the top it opens up the search to all of the holdings on the Internet Archive not only MassArt).  

Campus Life photographs, (1875- ) are available via Digital Commonwealth, a non-profit collaborative organization, founded in 2006, that provides resources and services to support the creation, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives.


Finding aids can help you discover archival and other unique materials at MassArt.   
https://massartarchive.flo.org/repositories/resources

Search the Library Catalog for items at MassArt and other FLO schools.

Or go to Reserves page

 

Use the barcode on the back of your MassArt ID that begins with "11132"