Descriptive Entry

These records include administrative subject files, personnel records, financial and budgetary materials, and exhibition files. The administrative subject files contain letters, memoranda, reports, inventories, and other records which chronicle the day-to-day operations of NCFA. Among these are correspondence with NCFA curators and Smithsonian administrators; the development and opening of the Renwick Gallery; the Bicentennial Inventory of American Painting and other NCFA activities celebrating the Bicentennial of the American Revolution; correspondence concerning the purchase of the Juley Collection of photographs; and records documenting a number of NCFA-supervised museums and projects, such as the International Art Program (under both United States Information Agency and NCFA direction), the Barney Studio House, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Personnel records include NCFA staff lists and organizational charts, curricula vitae, and position descriptions. Financial and budgetary records document NCFA administrative and exhibition budgets, 1966-1978. Exhibition records contain internal memoranda; correspondence with artists, agents, lending institutions, and corporate sponsors; lending agreements, expense reports, and other official receipts and records concerning the organization and implementation of exhibitions at both NCFA and the Renwick Gallery.

Historical Note

Early administrative records of the National Collection of Fine Arts (NCFA) were maintained in the Central Administrative File. See Record Unit 313.

David W. Scott served as Director, 1965-1968, and Robert Tyler Davis as Acting Director, 1969. Joshua C. Taylor was appointed Director in 1970 and held the position, 1970-1981.

Administrators during the period covered by the records were: Harry W. Zichterman and Louise W. Robinson, Administrative Officers, 1965-1968; Harry W. Zichterman, Administrative Officer, Planning and Budget, 1969-1970; George Riggs, Administrative Officer, 1971-1972; Harry Jordan, Administrative Officer, 1973, Assistant Director for Administration and Management, 1974-1976; and H. Eugene Kelson, Administrator, 1977-1980.