Archives of American Art

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston records

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.museof
Creators:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. School
Dates:
1876-1962
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
38 Volumes
(on 7 microfilm reels)
1 Reel
Index cards on 1 microfilm reel
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Records and indexes to the records of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1837-1962, consisting primarily of meeting minutes of the governing committees and Secretary, early student registration records, annual reports and catalogs, scrapbooks of school and student activities and exhibitions.
Scope and Contents
Included are: Records of the Permanent Committee, 1876-1901 (3 v.), containing minutes, a statement on the founding of the School, and a petitition to the MFA Trustees about the relation of the School to the Museum; School of Drawing and Painting, Secretary's Record, 1888-1902 (1 v.), containing minutes of the Permanent Committee, the Managing Committee, and various sub-committees; Records of the School Council, 1902-1954 (5 v.), containing minutes, actions, and inserts of notes, lists, and letters; Registers of Pupils, ca. 1882-1927 (3 v.); School Annual Reports, 1877-1930, and School Annual Catalogs, 1931-1957, bound together in six volumes; Alumni Association By-Laws, 1924 (1 v.); Paige Scholarship Rules, 1900-1913; and a file of correspondence with architect Guy Lowell regarding the School building, 1924-1928.
Scope and Contents
There are eighteen volumes of scrapbooks, 1880-1962, chronologically documenting student, teacher, and school activities and containing clippings, catalogs, brochures, flyers, photographs, and scattered letters, announcements, and reports, as well as other ephemera; a scrapbook of exhibitions, 1927-1953 (1 v.) containing exhibition announcements, entry forms, and invitations; several photographs, 1877-1920s, depicting 19th century students and teachers, including one photograph possibly of William Morris Hunt teaching in a studio in the late 1870s, snapshots of students in the 1920s, and photographs of the School Building upon completion of construction in 1927.
Scope and Contents
REEL 5050: Card indexes, including: an alphabetical index to the Registers of Pupils indicating dates of entrance and courses taken, including summer and evening schools and a cross reference to married names; a name index to student names in the scrapbooks; and a subject index to the Records of the School Council, with summaries of actions.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Art school. From 1877-1901 was called the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Managing body from its founding until 1902 was the Permanent Committee, followed by the Council of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts into the 1950s, with the chairman serving as the head of the School and a Manager in charge of day-to-day management. In the 1950s, a member of the faculty was made the first Head of the School. The School functioned until 1909 in the first Museum building on Copley Square, moving to a temporary space adjacent to the Museum's present site on Huntington Avenue until the permanent structure opened in 1927.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reels 4996-5002 and 5050 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Existence and Location of Originals
Originals in: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The records were lent for microfilming in 1995, and the card indices in 1996 by the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Microfilming of the records made possible through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Osgood.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art students Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art schools -- Massachusetts Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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