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RE: [ARLIS-L] art reference weeding

I'm sure that you will get many and varied responses to this question. If you are not absolutely desperate for space, I would advise you to hang onto Bryan. It is not really superseded by other publications, especially not by Grove. You will find artists in Bryan that you will not find in many other English-language sources; this is particularly true of artists who were enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame in the mid to late nineteenth century and who lapsed into obscurity with the dawn of the twentieth century. Depending on the kind of research done at your institution, you may also find it useful to have the historical perspective that an old reference work provides.

Ultimately, of course, it depends on how valuable the information in Bryan is to your institution's research needs. Our library does lots of research for members of the public who own works of art and want biographical information on their artist--Bryan's Dictionary is useful for that kind of research. I just opened a few pages and picked three names. The first two were also in Grove, but my third randomly-chosen name--Augustus Jules Bouvier--was in not in Grove, though he was in the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, Bénézit, Thieme-Becker (which cited Bryan), and the Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists. The information in the English-language source did not duplicate the information in Bryan.

Clare M. Vasquez, Reference Specialist

Richardson Library, Saint Louis Art Museum

1 Fine Arts Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63110-1380 USA

314-655-5252 (voice) 314-721-6172 (fax)

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