Are you an artist from the Greater Cincinnati area?

Do you have friends or relatives who are or were?

Are you part of a local art group or organization?

If so, you might be interested to know that the Cincinnati Art Museum Archives collects the papers and records of local artists and art organizations. In our collection we have original materials relating to Rookwood Pottery, Cincinnati Art Club, Frank Duveneck, Elizabeth Nourse, Paul Ashbrook, and others.

We also have reference files relating to many hundreds of local artists. Compiled by the Museum over the last 100 years - and still updated - these files typically include newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and photographs of artists’ work.

If you come to the Mary R. Schiff Library during November, you can see a selection of recent donations to the archives in our display case. These include the letters of Mollie Duveneck, younger sister of artist Frank. This cache of correspondence was found hidden in the old family house in Covington, and chronicles Mollie’s doomed love affair with an older, married man.

As well as materials reflecting the city’s illustrious art heritage, we’re also keen to ensure our collection represents the current artistic landscape, including contemporary local artists. For example, recently we were pleased to receive a selection of exhibition announcements relating to local artist Thom Shaw (1947-2010), known for his prints that unflinchingly addressed racial, social and economic inequities. Some of these are also on show in the library.

So, if you have any papers, photographs, scrapbooks, or other documents you think should be preserved and made available to future generations of art historians, the Archives would love to hear from you.