NHPRC GRANT FOR DETAILED PROCESSING OF GUGGENHEIM RECORDS

In June 2009, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission approved $140,400 over two years for the purpose of arranging, describing, digitizing, and making more accessible five key archival collections that address the administrative and exhibition history of the first 50 years of the Guggenheim. These collections include the Hilla Rebay records (1939–1952), from the first director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which became the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952; James Johnson Sweeney records (1952–1960), from the second director of the museum and first director to work in the completed Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building at 1071 Fifth Avenue; Thomas M. Messer records (1961–1987), from the third Guggenheim director; Exhibition records (1939-1987); and the Reel to Reel collection, a compilation of over 650 audiotapes, dating from 1952–1990, which document lectures, symposia, and radio shows produced at the Guggenheim.

THE HILLA VON REBAY FOUNDATION ARCHIVE PROJECT

As professional standards and methodologies in the field of archival science have changed and new technologies have emerged, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Library and Archives Department embarked on a project to process, re-house, and arrange access to The Hilla von Rebay Foundation Archive according to current standards and practices, thanks to support from The Hilla von Rebay Foundation. As part of this project, which began in January 2008 and concluded in August 2009, the Guggenheim created a finding aid and digitized key materials from the collection, making this archive searchable online. Now, more than 150 lectures and other writings, such as letters, holiday cards, and articles, by Hilla Rebay have been digitized and are available to the general public online, as are hundreds of installation and scrapbook photographs of exhibitions at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting and of Rebay and her associates and friends.

ADDITIONAL LIBRARY & ARCHIVES PROJECTS IN NEED OF FUNDING

Reel to Reel Collection
The Guggenheim seeks additional funding to complete the digitization of the museum’s Reel to Reel audiotape collection, making the entire collection of over 650 lectures and symposia hosted at the museum from 1952 through 1990 accessible to researchers and scholars.

Research Center
Support is needed to establish a research center incorporating a reading room to foster and facilitate scholarship. A research center would provide researchers and scholars with a place to reference and analyze non-circulating materials in the library and museum archives, including books, periodicals, exhibition catalogues, original correspondence, and other special-collection materials.