This month we're taking the first steps towards fulfilling our New Year's resolution to grow our collection online. A significant collection within the American Craft Council library is the Your Portable Museum archive, a series of slides, filmstrips, transcripts, and catalogs arranged in thematic sets and made available to the public for borrowing, rental, or sale between 1959 and the early 1980s. Included in these 152 slide kits are more than 8,200 one-of-a-kind images detailing various exhibitions at the American Craft Museum. The kits cover a range of craft disciplines and feature the works of many important artists of the mid-late 20th century.


Samples of the types of work featured in the kits include:

Woodenworks: 50 slides that document a 1972 exhibition of five contemporary craftsmen (Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Wendell Castle, Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof, and George Nakashima) and which was jointly sponsored by Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, and the Minnesota Museum of Art.



Lenore Tawney: two sets, the first containing slides of Tawney's weavings and construction from the late 1950's-1969, the second a collection of slides, a filmstrip and catalog featuring weavings, collages and drawings from a solo exhibition held in 1974. 



Grass: a 1977 exhibition organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and held at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts that documents the evolution of grass objects and includes examples from countries around the world and a number of Native American tribes including the Cherokee, Chetimacha, Seneca, and others. Included in this kit are 85 slides, an original exhibition catalogue, and significant historical notes.

Increasing accessibility to craft resources for members nationwide is the core focus of the American Craft Council library in its new location. With the aid of a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the library is in the initial stages of a project to digitize a portion of the Your Portable Museum slides, videos, and transcripts. This collection will be made available online by late 2011. With a major website redesign underway, the library envisions being the heart of information for artists and researchers in the field of craft today.

Feel free to contact the ACC library at 612.206.3118 or [email protected] for assistance with any of your craft research needs.