Slides taken in Nigeria, 1965-67, a few years after independence and at the eve of the Biafra War by Edwin R. and Emily Dean. Emily Dean took most of the photographs. She taught at the St. Louis Secondary School. The images are typical for the time period (note that some of them are half frame images, taken with a type of camera heavily promoted in the 1960s). Geographic locations reflect the Deans' experiences and travel: the University of Ibadan Campus, the Jos Museum, Bida , Zaria, Kano, Lagos, and Abeokuta. Of particular interest is a series of Adire production in Abeokuta, the old palace at Idanre and the Timi of Ede's Shango shrine.

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

The Albert Duveen collection of artists' letters and ephemera measures 1.1 linear feet and dates from 1807 to 1946. Unrelated letters written by over 170 mostly 19th and early 20th century American artists are found in this compiled collection of art critic, dealer, and collector Albert Duveen. Additional ephemera includes printed material and photographs of artwork.

Photographs taken during a research trip to Mali in 1989 to study the art and architecture of the Dogon and Bamana peoples. Accompanying Dr. Ravenhill was Stanley Staniski from Media Resources. Their work resulted in the video production entitled, Togu na and Cheko: Change and Continuity in the Art of Mali, for the National Museum of African Art.

The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.

The papers of art historian Gabriella De Ferrari measure 7.7 linear feet and 0.012 GB and date from 1931-2011, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1975-2011. The collection provides an overview of her activities as an arts administrator, writer, and philanthropist through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, extensive writings and notes, subject files, printed and digital material, scrapbooks, and photographs.

The papers of printmaker and landscape painter Benson Bond Moore date from 1902 to 1995 and measure 5.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material, letters, scattered personal business records, notes and writings, twelve scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs. The papers also contain extensive artwork in the form of drawings and sketches, etchings, lithographs, and a few oil paintings.

The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.

The papers of California and New York painter Ethel Fisher measure 12.5 linear feet and date from 1930 to 2017. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, writings, project files, exhibition files, artists' files, personal business records, printed material, artwork and several sketchbooks, a few sound and video recordings, and photographic material.

Photographs by Wyatt MacGaffey, a prominent anthropologist with a lifelong scholarly interest in the Congo, taken during a survey on Belgian colonial architecture for a research project in Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) in 1980. His images of the often dilapidated buildings range from colonial mansions to views of African housing. Other photographs show small private homes and businesses as well as a mosque under construction by the Saudis and several churches. There are also many street scenes, images of the university and the Congo River. A series of five slides shows popular paintings (such as La Colonie Belge). The value of his images is enhanced by his notes, which record subjects and locations.