By Samantha Norling
Title: IMA Exhibition Records, 1883-
ID: IMA/EXH/001
Primary Creator: Indianapolis Museum of Art
Other Creators: Art Association of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, John Herron Art Institute
Extent: 0.0
Arrangement:
The IMA Archives Exhibition Records are arranged chronologically by opening date of the exhibition. Within an exhibition file(s), the records are broken into ten broad categories:
1.) General
2.) Catalogue
3.) Condition Reports
4.) Finance/Insurance
5.) Labels
6.) Meetings
7.) Photography/Installation
8.) Publicity/Education
9.) Receipts/Checklists
10.) Shipping
Some exhibition records (those that exhibited at multiple venues and/or have extensive lender documentation) require the use of two additional file categories:
11.) Lenders
12.) Venues
Records related to specific lenders and venues are filed according to the 10-category system within the appropriate lender or venue file.
Subjects: Art, Art, African, Art, American, Art, Asian, Art, European, Art--Collectors and collecting, Art--Exhibitions, Art--Indiana--Indianapolis--Exhibitions, Ceramics, Design, Exhibitions, Fashion, Interior decoration, Painting, Painting--Indiana--Indianapolis--Exhibitions, Photography, Pottery, Prints, Wood-engraving
Forms of Material: brochures, checklists, clippings (information artifacts), condition reports, contracts documents, design drawings, exhibition catalogs, financial records, invoices, lists (document genres), memorandums, negatives (photographic), newsletters, photographic prints, photographs, price lists, renderings (drawings), shipping records, slides (photographs)
Languages: English
On November 7, 1883, an exhibition of 453 works by 137 artists opened at the English Hotel on the downtown Indianapolis Circle. It was the first exhibition organized by the Art Association of Indianapolis, which well-known suffragette May Wright Sewell, her husband Theodore, and a small group of art-minded citizens had formed a few months earlier. In the process, they wrote the mission statement that spelled out their intentions. The success of that exhibition, which attracted sizable crowds throughout its three-week run, established the Art Association as a viable factor in the local cultural scene and led to more exhibitions, as well as lectures and eventually a campus featuring both a museum and an art school (the John Herron Art Museum and John Herron School of Art, together known as the John Herron Art Institute from 1902 to 1967).
Though the Sewalls were never timid about dreaming big, even they would be shocked to see what the small group they helped found over 130 years ago has become. Since the Art Association of Indianapolis changed its name to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1969—a precursor to its move the following year from its longtime home on the campus of the John Herron Art Institute at 16th and Pennsylvania streets into a new building at 38th Street and Michigan Road—the organization has evolved into the fifth largest encyclopedic art museum in the country, with active exhibition and education programs that far surpass anything the Art Association’s founders could have imagined.
Throughout the institution's history, exhibitions have remained one of the primary activities of the museum, with each exhibition involving staff members and support from every department. The following are lists of directors, presidents, curators, and conservators who represent the primary records creators of this collection:
Institutional Names
Art Association of Indianapolis: 1883-1969
John Herron Art Institute: 1902
John Herron Art Museum: 1902-1969 (separated from IMA)
John Herron School of Art: 1902-July 1, 1967 (joins IUPUI)
Indianapolis Museum of Art: 1969-
Art Association of Indianapolis 1883-1969
Founder
May Wright Sewall: 1883
Presidents
Albert E. Fletcher (resigned): 1883
Nathaniel A. Hyde: 1883-1893
May Wright Sewall: 1893-1898
Hugh H. Hanna: 1898-1904
India C. Harris: 1904-1907
Evans Woollen: 1907-1941
Caroline Marmon Fesler: 1941-1947
Anton Scherrer: 1947-1959
Blanche Stillson (acting president): 1959-1960
Robert S. Ashby: 1960-1962
John G. Rauch, Sr.: 1960-1969
John Herron Art Institute 1902-1969
Directors
William Henry Fox: 1905-1910
Milton Matter (interim-museum): 1911-<a>1912</a>
William Coughlen (school): 1911-1913
Frederic Allen Whiting (museum): 1912-1913
Harold Haven Brown: 1914-1922
J. Arthur MacLean: 1923-<a>1926</a>
Wilbur D. Peat: 1929-1970
Carl Weinhard, Jr.: 1965-1975 (IMA 1969-1975)
Assistant/Deputy Directors
Florence Bradshaw Brown: 1921-1922
Dorothy Blair: 1923-1926
Francis W. Bilodeau: 1960
Indianapolis Museum of Art 1969-present
Directors
Carl J. Weinhardt, Jr.: 1969-1975 (1965-1968 JHAI)
Robert Yassin: 1975-1989
E. Kirk McKinney, Jr.: 1987-1990
Bret Waller: 1990-2001
Anthony Hirschel: 2001-2004
Lawrence O’Connor (interim director): 2004-2006
Maxwell Anderson: 2006-2011
Charles L. Venable: 2012-2015
Deputy Directors
Timothy L. Boruff: 1997?-2002
Diane DeGrazia: 2004-2006
Curatorial
Curator (General)
Anna E. Turrell: 1901?-1912
Anna Hasselman: 1922-1952
Robert O. Parks: 1949-1950
Stephen E. Ostrow: 1966-1968
Jeffrey R. Brown: 1968-1972?
Anthony Janson: 1979?-1983
Hollister Sturges III: 1984-1986
Robert A. Yassin: 1987-1988
Ellen W. Lee: 1990-2015
Assistant Curator
Mary Margaret Miller: 1931
Paul Hadley: 1932-1937
Robert Tschaegle: 1937-1940
Mel [Mrs. Michael] Driver: 1964-1965
Mrs. Daniel L. Halas: 1966-1967
Ellen W. Lee: 1972-1973?
Curator for Special Exhibitions
Suzanne S. Reahard (assistant): 1973-1975?
Robert L. Warrum: 1974?
Paintings
Anna Hasselman: 1923-1925
Robert O. Parks: 1954-1955
David G. Carter: 1955-1958
Curtis G. Coley: 1960-1964
Painting and Sculpture
Anthony Janson (senior curator): 1979?-1983
Ellen Lee: 1978?-1991
Harriet G. Warkel: 1997?-2006
American Painting and Sculpture
Harriet G. Warkel: 2006-2010
Painting and Sculpture to/before 1800
Ronda J. Kasl: 1992-2013
Drawings & Prints (Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1992-present)
Alfred M. Brooks (Prints): 1911-1922
Curtis G. Coley: 1962-1964
Ronald E. Spangler (technical assistant): 1971-1972
Lynn L. Karn (associate): 1971-1978
Martin Krause, Jr.: 1978?-present
Annette Schlangenhauff (associate): 2006-2007
Curator of Education
John E. Brown: 1953-1957
Francis W. Bilodeau (supervisor of education): 1960-1961
Harry H. Hilberry: 1962-1964
Ann Abbinanti: 1965-1966
Mel Driver: 1966-1967
Jerome E. Sirkoski: 1967-1971
Peggy A. Loar: 1971-1974?
Helen Ferrulli (Director): 1981?-1988
Assistant Curator of Education
Elizabeth Loer: 1962
Ann Abbinanti: 1963-1964
Mrs. Bezie Merchant [Droege]: 1966-1968
Mrs. Randall D. Rogers (junior curator): 1968-1969
Jaci Tomulonis (junior curator): 1970-1971
Marla K. Dankert: 1971-1973
Assistant Curator for Media (under Education)
Donald M. Frick: 1973-?
Decorative Arts
Phillip B. Solomon: 1967-1971
Lynn Karn (assistant): 1970-1971
Peggy S. Gilfoy: 1971-1976
Catherine Lippert: 1975-1983
Amanda Austin (assistant): 1985-1986
Barry L. Shifman (associate): 1988-2003
American Decorative Arts
Bradley Brooks: 2005-2014
Curator of Clowes Fund Collection
Allen W. Clowes: 1971-1973
A. Ian Fraser (research curator): 1971-1994?
Honorary Curator of Music
Frank E. Cooper: 1971-1973
Textiles
Eliza M. Niblack: 1921-1922
Peggy Gilfoy: 1974?-1988
Textiles and Costumes (later Textiles and Fashion Arts, 2005-present)
Niloo Imami-Paydar: 1988-present
Petra Slinkard (associate): 2010-2013
Ethnographic Arts
Peggy Gilfoy: 1974?-1988
Theodore Celenko: 1988-1989
African, South Pacific, and Precolumbian Art (later the Americas, 2005-present)
Theodore Celenko: 1990-2007
Mellon Global Curatorial Assistant
Kristin Krause Gotway: 2010-present
Oriental Art
J. Arthur MacLean: 1923-1925
Paul A. J. Spheeris (acting curator): 1973-?
Yutaka Mino: 1978?-1983
James Robinson: 1984-1989
Jane Weldon Myers Curator of Asian Art
James J. Robinson: 1990-2007
Asian Art
John Teramoto: 2000-present
Sayuri Guelce (curatorial assistant): 2011-2014
European Art
Dorothy Blair: 1923-1925
Robert A. Yassin: 1973
European Painting and Sculpture
Annette Schlagenhauff (assistant): 2003-?
Rebecca Long (assistant): 2009-2013
European Painting and Sculpture Before 1800
Rebecca Long: 2013-2014
American Art
Jeffrey R. Brown: 1973
Contemporary Art
Holliday T. Day: 1985-1999
Lena Vigna: 2000-2001
Lisa D. Freiman: 2002-2011
Rebecca Uchill (assistant/associate): 2006-2010
Sarah Green (assistant/associate 2008-2010): 2008-2013
Allison Unruh (associate): 2008-2010
Amanda York (curatorial assistant): 2009-2011
Tricia Paik: 2014-present
Design Arts
R. Craig Miller: 2008-2011
Associate Curator for Research
Annette Schlangenhauff: 2010-present
Audience Experience and Performance
Scott Stulen: 2014-present
Head Conservator
Paul A.J. Spheeris: 1967-1973
Martin Radecki (assistant from 1971-1973): 1971-2007
David A. Miller: 2008-present
Art
Art, African
Art, American
Art, Asian
Art, European
Art--Collectors and collecting
Art--Exhibitions
Art--Indiana--Indianapolis--Exhibitions
Ceramics
Design
Exhibitions
Fashion
Interior decoration
Painting
Painting--Indiana--Indianapolis--Exhibitions
Photography
Pottery
Prints
Wood-engraving
Repository: Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives
Accruals: Additions to the IMA Exhibition Records are regularly transferred to the IMA Archives from various departments throughout the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Access Restrictions:
Complete exhibition records from 1883 through 2002 are available for research through the IMA Archives. For records from 2002 to the present, IMA Registration is the primary holder until records are ready for transfer to the IMA Archives. Some records have been transferred directly to the IMA Archives from the office of origin instead of going through Registration.
Access Restrictions:
IMA Curatorial and Registration exhibition files are automatically closed to the public for ten years from the exhibition closing date. After ten years the records will be opened for outside research once they are officially processed by the Archivist. Within the open collection, the following record groups will be restricted until 25 years have passed, and then made available to outside researchers at the discretion of the archivist and the Registration Department:
- Incoming and outgoing loans (receipts, finance, shipping, etc.)
- Donors and donations (including prices paid for museum objects)
- Fundraising and grant proposals
- Artwork/object condition (incident and treatment reports, treatment proposals, photographic documentation of damage and treatments)
- Board of Governors, Executive Committee, and Fine Arts Committee records
The following record groups will be permanently restricted to outside researchers:
- Private and anonymous lenders
- Insurance and appraisals
- Sensitive issues, personal information, and personnel actions
Documents that discuss or relate to an artwork/object's value will be closed for twenty-five years from the date of creation.
Use Restrictions: Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder. Please contact the Archivist for more information.
Technical Access Note: Born-digital exhibition records may not be available for research due to technical limitations.
Acquisition Source: Various IMA departments, primarily Registration
Acquisition Method: Transfer
Preferred Citation: [Title of item], [Date], [Container information], Exhibition Records (EXH001), IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN.
