Descriptive Entry

These records consist of professional correspondence and administrative and research files of a number of curators from the Department of Painting and Sculpture. Included are correspondence and memoranda with HMSG staff, artists, galleries, and other museums; loan agreements, checklists, scripts, and installation plans for HMSG exhibitions; biographical information on, and interviews with, artists; photographs, slides, and transparencies of works of art; files concerning lectures and classes given by curators; intern and fellowship program information; curators' activity reports to HMSG administration; minutes from committee meetings; and audio recordings of lectures and interviews about HMSG exhibitions.

Records dating from before the 1974 opening of the Museum consist mainly of correspondence to either Joseph H. Hirshhorn or Abram Lerner, first Director of HMSG, mostly concerning art for sale or donation to the new Museum.

Historical Note

The Department of Painting and Sculpture was created in 1967, shortly after the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) was founded. The Department had offices in New York City until 1974, when construction was completed on the museum building in Washington, D.C. Curators represented in these records include Charles W. Millard III, Chief Curator, 1974-1986; Cynthia Jaffee McCabe, Associate Curator, 1967-1973, Curator, 1974-1978, Curator of Exhibitions, 1979-1986; Judith K. Zilczer, Research Assistant, 1974-1975, Historian, 1975-1989, Associate Curator of Painting, 1990, Curator of Painting, 1990- ; Howard N. Fox, Museum Technician, 1975-1978, Assistant Curator for Exhibitions, 1979-1981, Associate Curator for Exhibitions, 1982-1985; and Ned Rifkin, Chief Curator for Exhibitions, 1986-1991.