March 30, 2022, 2-3 pm ET
Fourteen attendees, including the SIG’s two Co-coordinators, joined the 2021 virtual annual meeting. Co-coordinators Rebecca Friedman and Sara Ellis introduced themselves and provided the meeting agenda, as follows:
Agenda
- Introductions and Land Acknowledgement
- Annual Report
- Artist File Directory Update
- Member Projects
- Call for new co-coordinators
- Other member updates
Annual Report
A brief review of SIG activity over the past year:
http://artistfiles.arlisna.org/annual-report-2021/
Highlights included a session hosted by the SIG in August 2021 – an online discussion forum on the topic of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in artist file collections. A recording of the session is available on the ARLIS/NA Kaltura Channel:
https://mediaspace.msu.edu/media/ARLIS+NA+Artist+Files+Special+Interest+GroupA+Equity%2C+Diversity+%26+Inclusion+Discussion+Panel/1_9u95cbj9/208298113
[A Google Doc from the August session was shared with attendees at the spring meeting, who may be interested in adding new content].
Artist File Directory Update
A brief overview (history), current situation, and SIG member feedback (Rebecca).
Sam Duncan managed the Artist Files Directory for a number of years. He spent a lot of time trying to revive it, worked with developers, etc. At one point, the SIG had asked for funding to support this project (unsure of how much was received).
Currently, the files aren’t accessible. Content is sitting in GitHub and needs to be hosted on a platform that supports Python/Django.
The SIG has been in touch with ARLIS leadership to address how to transition this content to the ARLIS/NA Commons. It seems that what is being offered in the Commons may not be sufficient to handle the Artist Files Directory, and it can’t be managed on the ARLIS website.
The SIG co-coordinators have been talking about scaling down this project. The Artists in Canada (https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/aac-aic/description-about.app?lang=en) and Canadian Women Artists History Initiative (https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/art-history/research/cwahi/artists.html) databases were provided as examples of pared down platforms.
Rebecca shared screenshots of examples of what the Artist Files Directory site could look like: information boxes, layout; descriptions of collections, artists, etc., and a spreadsheet of institutional contributors/holdings. The SIG already has a spreadsheet with this kind of information.
The SIG continues to remain interested in making files more findable. But it is a question of time, resources, etc. and whether ARLIS/NA is in a position to move forward with support for this, which is unclear. Ultimately, what is the primary goal for the SIG with this work?
Going forward, there are possibilities for working with Wikidata, rather than a static site, so that the project is a live thing with consistent updating.
An example was provided of an entry for Alma Thomas, with the property of “artist files at” toward the middle: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4733608
Alma (used for the library) and ArchivesSpace (used for the archives) were also suggested. See: link to a similar Alma Thomas example: https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/?q=%22alma+thomas%22
https://archivesspace.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/51943
ArchiveGrid was also mentioned. It is semi-beta out of OCLC. See: https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/
A list of name / correspondence files was embedded within the Jean Charlot Collection and this is harvested by Google. See: https://archivesspace.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/51943
Another example was provided of a project on moving an artist file database to GitHub:
https://chicagoartists.github.io
Wikidata is worth trying, but it was mentioned that this is not the only option.
Working at the collection level, and not the artists’ level, might make the directory project more manageable.
The Artists’ Book Thesaurus was mentioned, an ARLIS/NA publication with prescribed vocabulary for describing artists’ books within a collection (this could be a useful resource for indexing information about artist files).
Attendees agreed that it is worth having an additional, stand alone session to discuss next steps.
Member Projects
The State of Artists’ Files in Canadian ARCs and GLAMs, Sara Ellis
Sara discussed an ongoing research project with colleague John Latour at Concordia University.
It employs a bilingual (English/French) online questionnaire (30 questions with multiple choice and open text options) to survey GLAMs (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) and ARCs (artist run centres) from across Canada in order to better understand their artists’ file management behaviour.
- The survey ran throughout March and closes tomorrow.
- Response rate ~48%
The intent of this research is to identify:
- The current landscape of artist file collections in Canada: who is collecting artists’ files, what types of materials are being collected, and how these collections are documented, maintained, developed, and accessed
- Challenges and opportunities for organizations that collect and maintain artists’ files
- Emerging trends in the collection and maintenance of artists’ files
Nearly 170 organizations were contacted to complete the survey, selected based on their membership of one of the following professional associations:
- Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA)
- Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)
- Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO)
- Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC)
- Artists in Canada Union List maintained by the National Gallery of Canada Library & Archives
Research outputs will include an initial Open Access report of findings followed by a more in-depth article with accompanying literature review, analysis, etc.
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The New Art Museum Library: “Ephemeral Survival, Managing Physical and Digital Artist File Collections,” Alexandra Reigle & Simon Underschultz (Rebecca)
Rebecca recently chatted with Alexandra Reigle about the work behind this book chapter.
It can be a challenge to make decisions about scope when working in a geographic area that has multiple arts organizations in close proximity – i.e., attention needs to be given to managing overlaps/gaps in collecting areas and thinking about issues with space and resources at individual organizations.
This publication was written specifically for art museums, but academic institutions are also working with legacy artist file collections. It might be a bit different at the latter, since file acquisition isn’t based on a specific art collection as it is at a museum, but there are also lots of commonalities.
Reigle and Underschultz had some involvement with the Wikidata project for this research, and relied heavily on Artist Files Revealed: Documentation and Access for this publication: https://assets.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/arlisna/pdfs-and-documents/research_and_reports/artist_files_revealed.pdf
Call for new co-coordinators
No expressions of interest were put forward. Rebecca will ask at the conference in Chicago.
Other member updates
A question came up about how to address the information gap between legacy files maintained at institutions and what is available online.
There is ~20 year gap between when major print publications leave off (c. 1990) and when artists begin to produce websites. How can we work to close the gap and make information more available? Digitizing materials from artist-run-centres is one example but once it is digitized, how can it be shared out?
Previous collecting practices were white male centric. In the 1990s organizations began to focus on expanding inclusion but that came with difficulties around description, categorizing, etc.
One organization that is doing this well is Artexte: https://artexte.ca/en/collection/?noredirect=en_CA
It was mentioned that the AGO Artist File Fair (https://ago.ca/events/artist-file-fair) has shone a light on this period. It’s also important to consider living memory and current archives that organizations may not be able to acquire yet. Keeping a look out for artists’ donations, etc., as some organizations are contacted about this regularly.
The transition away from print ephemera to purely digital formats, where nothing that can be added to an artist file, further solidifies legacy collections.
Many organizations no longer add new content except within very specific contexts. E.g., working with local organizations to acquire print material as available, within a very specific focus. Including artists who have been overlooked in the past. Balancing print and digital occasionally means printing online content for the file.