This record unit primarily documents the interior construction of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG). There is a smaller amount of documentation regarding the National Zoological Park restaurant. Included are correspondence with contractors and suppliers, blueprints, specifications, and photographs.

This accession consists of records which document the research, development, fundraising, publicity, production, and execution of exhibitions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), previously known as the National Museum of American Art, 1980-2000, as well as exhibitions displayed in the Renwick Gallery. These materials were primarily ...

The records of the Downtown Gallery date from 1824 to 1974 (bulk 1926-1969) and measure 109.56 linear feet. The records present a comprehensive portrait of a significant commercial gallery that operated as a successful business for more than forty years, representing major contemporary American artists and engendering appreciation for early American folk art. There is an unprocessed addition to this collection dating circa 1970 of a single financial/legal document.

The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's private art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the World Trade Center, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Miller's work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files of her husband Holger Cahill about his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is a scattered documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Also found is Dorothy Miller's collection of artists' Christmas cards and photographs of Miller and others. An addition to the papers includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number professional files are included, the majority of the addition relates to her personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection.

The Smithsonian Institution Archives began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program ...

This record unit documents the tenure of Charles Blitzer as assistant secretary for History and Art from 1973 to 1979. There are also records pertaining to the Office of Education and Training, 1965-1968, which Blitzer had directed. The celebration of the bicentennial of the American Revolution was a major Smithsonian project from 1972 to 197...

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 57.2 linear feet and date from 1920 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons' personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection.

These records document an important change in the scope of the Smithsonian's concerns. Four of the bureaus and offices represented in these records existed in some form prior to 1964: the National Museum of American History, the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the National Portrait Gallery. All the others we...

Exhibit scripts are the textual component of exhibits. These records document the production of labels and other text that accompany Smithsonian exhibits, and deal with matters of concept, design, scope, and style. The records occasionally contain photographs, brochures, memoranda and correspondence with curators, exhibits specialists, an...