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I was asked to send the list the replies to my question about what to do
with old study prints. Here they are:
***************************
> Colleagues, perhaps you can help--
>
> Our library has been storing old study prints for the art
department.
> We now need the space and the department is trying to decide what to
do
> with the prints. The collection covers sculpture, painting and
> architecture, all periods, all countries. Each photo is mounted on
a
> board with either a label on the front or a written identification
on
> the back. Most are about 10 x 14 but some are much larger. The
> majority are in black and white. The quality of the reproductions
> ranges from mediocre to excellent. On the back of each board is the
> following: Picture supplied and mounted by Rudolf Lesch, New York.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1. Do any of your art departments have similar study prints? If
so,
> how are they used?
I MOVED THE FA DEPT. PHOTO ARCHIVES COLLECTION, c. 50,000, TO
THE
FA LIBRARY OVER 15 YEARS AGO. WE CIRCULATE THIS MATERIAL LIKE BOOKS
BUT
THERE ARE NO CALL NUMBERS, ETC.
> 2. Do you know if there are any libraries or museums that might be
>
interested in this collection should the art dept. choose to get rid of
>
it? NO, I REALLY CANNOT HANDLE ANY MORE OF THIS TYPE OF MATERIAL IN
MY
LIBRARY.
B.J. IRVINE
************************
The MFA has donated many of these kinds of things to the Photographic
Archives at the Harvard Art Library. I was not here at the time, but
I
don't think they were primarily from our collection.
Good luck,
Debbie Smedstad
Deborah Barlow Smedstad
Head Librarian
William Morris Hunt Memorial Library
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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University of Maryland has such a collection of drymounted, art
reproductions; for many years, we drymounted images from book covers
and
images from discarded books. These are seldom used and occupy much
needed space. I met with the academic departments that we serve (Art
and Art History); I outlined my reasons for wanting to discard this
collection, and they supported me. Some faculty wanted to select
prints
for theoir own use, so I allowed that to happen over a month's time;
but, only a tiny number of reproductions left the collection that way.
I have not found any simple, inexpensive way to distribute these
(donation to a high school, campus sale, etc.), so I will have the
collection simply brought to recycling over the Summer.
Joan Stahl
*************************************
On a much larger scale, I suspect, Yale is faced with much the same
problem, as we have had a collection of mounted study photographs and
prints dating from the early days of the Yale School of Art, and now
numbering around 175,000. We, too, have different sizes--most of the
collection is mounted on 11x14 boards but another group is on 14x16,
and
there is still another group on oversize mounts around 18x24. (inches
in
all cases). And we have postcards.
Most of these reproductions have been used to post for class study, or
to
collect in a box for a research assignment; now the class study has
moved
in many cases to images posted on webpages. The mounted photos are
kept
in filing cabinets easily accessable to browsers; the current feeling
is
to box them, develope an online guide, and then ship the boxes off
campus
to the overflow facility, to be called for as needed. There is quite a
bit
of faculty resistance to this plan, and it does destroy its major asset
of
quick reference. Our photos and prints are now used mainly by the art
historians, not the School of Art, and while the use has fallen off in
recent years it has not stopped (20-30 are out for a PhD oral exam
right
now).
There is also a plan to find funding to scan the images so they will be
available on line.
We're not sure what the solution will be; certainly nothing will
satisfy
everyone involved. This doesn't answer your question of what to do
with
your mounted material, but to let you know you're not alone! Some types
of
material are, of course, more worth keeping than others--local tie-ins,
history of the school/college/area, special collections of in-depth
material not available elsewhere, examples of history of photography or
superior reproductions. It's not an easy call for any of us, and there
are quite a few of these collections around--Harvard, Smith, Princeton,
and I think Cleveland Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, just to hit the
big ones.
I'm sure you'll have other answers. It will be interesting to see what
turns up.
Helen Chillman, Yale
***********************
What a timely question! My library also has a large collection of
these
kinds of reproductions. Most of them date back to the beginnings of
the
Library in the late 1920s / early 1930s. Alas, NO ONE has used them
in
years and years, and they are taking up a great deal of valuable
real-estate in our wee library. I just put out the first box of them
with a sign "Free to Good Home", and most of them are gone now - Fine
Art students came and selected what they wanted. There are many more
left, and I'll keep a selection of them for posterity's sake. I
sometimes sell and buy ephemera at old paper show and sales, and quite
honestly, I see very little monetary value in them as well. I thought
about maybe listing them on Ebay, but there would probably be little
return for the labour involved. Please let me know if you have other
responses about this - I am very interested. Also - I know that the
Fine Art LIbrary at the University of British Columbia has quite a
large
collection, as it is promoted on their website.
Cheers,
Margaret English
Librarian
Department of Fine Art Library
University of Toronto
*************************
Here at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York we have a number of
study prints similar to what you have described. Currently they are
in
a locked section of the stack area and are not in the online catalog.
If you are not planning to post responses to your query on ARLIS-L
could
you share any/all responses with us.
Basically our study prints are in storage until we decide what to do.
A
couple of librarians have raised the idea that we might digitize them,
front and back. But so far there has been no action taken by staff.
Best regards,
Tony
Tony White
Art & Architecture Librarian
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, NY 11205
************************************
Gail R. Gilbert
Margaret M. Bridwell Art Library
Schneider Hall
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
502-852-6741
library.louisville.edu/art
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