Research

Using Our Archival Collections

The San Francisco Art Institute Archives is an institutional collection that documents the history of SFAI, its curriculum, administration, students, faculty, exhibitions and events, as well as the history of some closely-affiliated organizations such as the San Francisco Art Association and the San Francisco Museum of Art (precursor to SFMOMA).

We welcome research questions and visits from researchers! The collections overview below should give you a sense of the types of material available in our archives, but it is not meant to be a comprehensive list. If you’re not sure whether we have what you’re looking for, just ask!

Collections Overview

The following is a general (but far from comprehensive!) list of our archival collections:

• Exhibition Records: Documentation of exhibitions that took place at SFAI throughout its history, including exhibition catalogs, announcements, installation photographs, press clippings, correspondence, etc.
• Artist Files: Files of manuscript material, press clippings, and other ephemera pertaining to significant SFAI-affiliated artists such as Carlos Villa, Jay De Feo, George Kuchar, John Collier, Jr., Joan Brown, Sargent Johnson, Jim Pomeroy, and Louise Dahl-Wolfe, among many others.
• Documentation of Institutional Governance, including Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws for the San Francisco Art Association and San Francisco Art Institute.

• Departmental Records: Documentation of SFAI’s academic programs, including groundbreaking programs such as the 1945 founding of its Fine Arts Photography Department by Ansel Adams; the establishment of the Isaac Walter Ceramics Department in the 1930s; the experimental Filmmaking Department founded by Sidney Peterson as Workshop 20; and the 1979 founding of the Performance/Video Department (Later New Genres).
• Founding and Development of the San Francisco Museum of Art: Material about the Palace of Fine Arts and the establishment of the San Francisco Museum of Art (now known as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art–SFMOMA) by the San Francisco Art Association. (Portions of this collection are also available on microfilm through the Archives of American Art.)
• Diego Rivera Collection: A collection of material pertaining to Diego Rivera’s The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City mural which he painted at the school in 1931. (See Finding Aid for this collection.)

• Subject Files: Subject-specific files related to moments and wide-ranging topics in SFAI’s history. (Ghosts, murals, music, sports, cartoonists, etc. etc.)
• Historical Photographs: A collection of photographs documenting the school’s history, including its students, faculty, buildings, exhibitions, and events.
• Publications: Newsletters, calendars, promotional material, and other publications generated by the school and its students.
• Student Publication: student newspapers, newsletters, literary magazines, and compilations of student work. (See finding aid for this collection)
• Film and Video Collections: Audiovisual collections including 16mm films (See finding aid for this collection), VHS tapes, and ¾ inch video tapes of student and faculty work, class projects, Performance-Video/New Genres Department Spring Shows, and other related experimental film and video work.

---

• Public Programs: Recordings, transcripts, announcements, and other ephemera documenting lectures by visiting artists and scholars.
• SFAI-sponsored Symposia (See Finding Aid for this collection), including the symposia organized by faculty member Carlos Villa around racial and cultural inclusivity in art; the long-running annual symposium on art criticism organized by Bill Berkson and Mark Van Proyen; and documentation of the 1949 Western Roundtable on Modern Art organized by Douglas MacAgy with participants that included Gregory Bateson, Kenneth Burke, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Duchamp, George Boas, Mark Tobey, Darius Milhaud, Robert Goldwater, Andrew Ritchie, and Alfred Frankenstein. (A large portion of the Western Roundtable collection is also available on microfilm through the Archives of American Art.)
• Administrator Papers: The papers of school administrators, including Lee Randolph (Director, 1917-1941), Douglas MacAgy (Director, 1945–1950), Ernest Mundt (Director, 1950-1955), Gurdon Woods (Director, 1955-1965), Fred Martin (Director 1965-1975, Dean 1983-1992).

• Poster Collection: Posters created for events and exhibitions. Posters of the San Francisco Poster Syndicate.
• Board Minutes: Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Faculty and Student Senate Minutes.
• Grants and Fellowships: Documentation of grant and fellowship programs, including the Albert M. Bender Grants-In-Aid Program (1941-1953) (see finding aid for this collection) and the Abraham Rosenberg Travelling Fellowship (1928-1854)
• Buildings and Grounds: Blueprints, construction schedules and plans, correspondence, and photographic documentation for 1926 the Arthur Brown-designed building at 800 Chestnut Street, and the 1969 Paffard Keatinge-Clay-designed addition.
• Marketing materials produced by the school over its history, including photographs and publications.
• Published monographs and serials related to the history of SFAI, SFAI-affiliated artists, and the art of Northern California.