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‘Highly idiosyncratic and only half tamed’: the Institute of Fine Arts libraries and art history in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Clare Hills-Nova
Clare Hills-Nova*
Affiliation:
Institute of Fine Arts Libraries, New York University, 1 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10021, USA Sackler Library, Oxford University, 1 St. John Street, Oxford OX1 2LG, UK
*
Email: clare.hills-nova@ouls.ox.ac.uk
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Extract

The history of the Institute of Fine Arts library collections cannot be disentangled from the intellectual and physical history of the Institute itself. Housed in various locations since 1938, the collections have grown parallel to the interests of the IFA’s faculty, many of whom, in its early years, were exiles from Europe and brought different approaches to the study of art. Amidst New York’s array of outstanding art research libraries, the IFA’s once extremely modest collection now comprises some 175,000 volumes, divided between two libraries: the Chan Library (for art history and archaeology) and the Conservation Center Library.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , 2007 , pp. 17 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2007

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References

References

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46. Curiously, the course listings for the post-1966 period do not indicate that any classes were taught specifically on the flood. (Titles of the conservation classes tend, however, to be extremely generic.)Google Scholar
47. Books on ancient Egypt, for example, were shifted to the inhospitable sub-basement until flooding and a carbon monoxide poisoning incident rendered this untenable. They and some other items were then moved to the grand entrance hall, with the result that an intimidating wall of IFA PhD dissertations and MA theses greeted visitors and reminded the community daily of its antecedents.Google Scholar
48. Johnson was joined in the project by Richard Foster (d. 2002), who went on to redesign the IFA’s library space.Google Scholar
49. In 2007, a long-requested delivery service between Bobst and the IFA will begin and the need for duplication may be reduced.Google Scholar
50. Robert Rosenblum (1927-2006; IFA 1966-2006), it should be noted, had been teaching modern art since 1967, when he gave a seminar on Picasso. His interests, however, were always extremely diversified and additional faculty members in the area were clearly needed.Google Scholar

Additional sources

On the Institute of Fine Arts' web pages:

IFA faculty and their courses, 1922-present: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/ifa/curriculum/courses.htm. Google Scholar
Completed dissertations, 1933- present: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/ifa/research/dissertations.htm. Google Scholar
Dictionary of art historians, http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/. Google Scholar
Coolidge, John, ‘Studies on Vignola’ (PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, 1948).Google Scholar
Posner, D. and Posner, K., ‘Walter Friedlaender (1873-1966),’ Art journal 26, no. 3 (1966): 258.Google Scholar
Rodda, Jenni, ‘An analysis of the lantern slide collection at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,’ VRA Bulletin 32, no. 3 (Winter 2005): 19–58.Google Scholar
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