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Archival Collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art

This platform contains detailed descriptive information about archival collections that are available for research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Navigate to Collections to access published finding aids. Finding aids provide a summary of a collection’s history and arrangement, information about its creator, and an inventory of its contents. Navigate to Digital Objects to browse digital reproductions of archival materials from all collections.

About the Archives:

The Whitney Museum of American Art Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to primary sources pertaining to the study of modern and contemporary American art and artists. The institutional archives document the origins, development, and activities of the Museum from the founding of the Whitney Studio in 1913 to the present day. Additional holdings include research and manuscript collections such as the Arshile Gorky Research Collection and the Sanborn Hopper Archive.

The Archives are open to researchers, and are regularly accessed by a wide range of constituencies that include scholars, curators, artists and graduate students. Use of these collections inform and support numerous exhibitions, books, articles, catalogues, dissertations, public programs and other projects. The Whitney Museum of American Art Archives provides free and open access to the fullest extent possible.
Welcome To The Archival Collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Researchers may search across all archival collections below:




Access to the Archives:

Researchers may consult archival materials on-site at the Frances Mulhall Achilles Library and Archives in West Chelsea. To request an appointment, please send an email to archives@whitney.org with the following information:
Note: This platform contains information about archival collections only. To search for Library and Special Collections resources, please visit library.whitney.org. To search for information about artists and artworks in the Museum’s permanent collection, please visit collection.whitney.org.