BICENTENNIAL INVENTORY OF AMERICAN PAINTINGSAuthor(s): Martha Shipman AndrewsSource: ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 6 (OCTOBER 1973), p. 33Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27945214 .

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BICENTENNIAL INVENTORY OF AMERICAN PAINTINGS In 1971 the National Collection of Fine Arts of the Smith sonian Institution undertook a project in honor of the nation's Bicentennial celebration to seek out, identify and record the entire body of American paintings from our earliest history to the end of the 19th century. This BI CENTENNIAL INVENTORY OF AMERICAN PAINTINGS EXECUTED BEFORE 1914 was designed to fill an obvious need resulting from the growing interest in the history and art of America over the past decade. Much of our native art until recently lay ignored or undiscovered in all parts of the

country, some American artists were known only by a few

representative works housed in major museums while the

great majority of their paintings rested in private hands; other painters' identities remained a mystery because neither the interest nor the research tools were available to analyze and link clues to establish positive identifications.

In creating the Inventory, the National Collection is making accessible a central record of all those works executed in oil, watercolor and pastel by painters, American either by birth, adoption or association. In so doing, we shall hopefully elimi nate for the scholar the time-consuming and often frustrating task of locating paintings pertinent to his study; by providing this centralized research tool, we can likewise serve the nation's institutions by reducing the numbers of collection

inquiries that tax already limited staffs and resources. The

paintings themselves will benefit, too, by a new awareness of the need for active preservation programs.

In light of these enormous goals, it may be wondered how the Inventory staff is able to seek out and encourage the

cooperation of the nation's collectors, potentially millions in number. Growth of the Inventory depends in greatest part upon our capturing the interest of everyone possessing some

knowledge of American paintings and where they are located. Publications are, of course, a major source of information; historical societies and museums, another. Approximately 6000 institutions received questionnaires from the Inventory in the early days of the project; some 25% of these responded

with information or plans to contribute data. In addition, hundreds of community groups across the country are in progress organizing canvassing efforts. These organizers repre sent such diverse elements as local historical society staffs, volunteers from the American Association of University Women, and a University librarian from Southern California. Such survey groups remain under the general supervision of the Inventory which freely supplies forms and suggestions for

procedures, but no fixed rules of operation are prescribed. These groups frequently generate their own highly successful local publicity from which the Inventory benefits by receiving direct contributions from individual collectors. Lines of com munication are established by word of mouth throughout the country; a contact in Virginia recently prompted a con tribution from Montana.

The Inventory takes the form of a multi-volumed, computer -

printed list incorporating the painting collections reported by museums, historical societies and other major public institutions, across the country; material from published sources; and pain tings reported by private individuals. This massive compilation of information now numbering about 45,000 entries is ordered in three indexes: by artist; by subject matter; and by location and ownership as indicated by our source. Only the most basic

descriptive identification is included for each entry: artist (if known); title; date; medium; dimensions; present ownership (this may be withheld at the owner's request); present loca tion; subject matter (up to six separate classifications per entry); bibliographic citation (if such supplementary informa

tion is available) and a reproduction citation. Each entry also contains a source from which the information is taken. The

Inventory staff can supply forms for reporting such data but their use is not essential. In an effort to gather as many refer ences as possible and to cause as little inconvenience to busy schedules as is necessary, we take the data in any form; even the most fragmentary references are entered. The data is neither analyzed nor verified; these tasks and the conclusions to be drawn from the data are left to eventual users.

Operating and developing alongside the computer listing of works is the Inventory's "Image" file or photographic refer ence file. Because of the enormity of our stated task and the vast numbers of listings anticipated, we cannot hope to pur chase high quality photographs of each entry. Purchase funds are reserved for selective acquisition of relatively rare, unpub lished items. We encourage our contributors to send along a

photograph or reproduction of their paintings or to tell us where one might be available. Those reproductions we receive

range from professional 8x10 glossy prints to polaroid snap shots, postcards, slides and newspaper clippings?whatever is

most convenient for the contributor to supply. We have been

especially fortunate in that several eminent American art historians and conservators have donated extensive numbers of photographs from their personal archives. For those cases where donations of photographs are not possible, an office

photo copier capable of producing clear, readable reproduc tions enables us to borrow entire collections for copying.

At present the Inventory's Image File contains 10,000 catalogued and mounted items.. (Reproductions representing an entry in the computer listing are assigned a special photo graph code number, mounted on uniform legal-size Permalife board and stored in metal "conservafile" cabinets.) In addi tion, we maintain a stockpile of about 30,000 randomly acquired, unidentified photographs and clippings. These files

represent the fruits of an early project to comb the vertical files of our neighbors, the National Collection of Fine Arts National Portrait Gallery Library and the Archives of Ameri can Art. Thus, for well over 80% of the computer listings, the

Inventory can supply either an "image" from its own files or a citation to a published reproduction. The Image File will remain purely a reference collection for use in the Inventory office only, no reproductions will be copied for distribution to the public.

In July 1976, having completed its formative stage, the

Inventory will be opened to researchers. Its operations and maintenance will become a function of the National Collec tion of Fine Arts-National Portrait Gallery Library. The work of updating information and acquiring reproductions as well as assisting researchers through correspondence will continue.

Although the complete Inventory will be too voluminous for

general publication and distribution, a guide to the Inventory's sources will be published. All organizations contributing infor

mation on paintings in their collections or others known to them will receive copies of the printed listing of their col lection for their own reference and, upon request, other blocks of computer-stored data that may help them in their own programs.

The Inventory staff always welcomes inquiries regarding its aims and operations and is most willing to supply further

descriptive material on conducting a survey and reporting paintings to all interested parties. Our mailing address is: Bicentennial Inventory of American Paintings, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560.

?Martha Shipman Andrews Assistant to the Co-ordinator

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