Archives at the Library

Research in the Archives

The ACC Library & Archives is home to four major archival collections documenting the history of contemporary craft:

Researchers can conduct preliminary research in the archives collections by consulting the finding-aid documents, available through the links above. The finding aids provide context and an overview for each processed collection. The Library provides access to all archival collections onsite.

For information on donating materials to the archive, please visit our Library Donation Policy page.

Digitization of Archives Collections

Some materials* are available online as part of the American Craft Council Library Digital Collections. At present, select materials from the following collections are available:

Craft Horizons magazine (1941-1979) / American Craft (1979-1990)
This collection contains the entire run of Craft Horizons magazine, published from November 1941 to May 1979. The collection also contains the first ten years of the magazine after its name change to American Craft in June 1979. Digitization of the collection was made possible with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

ACC Conferences, Exhibitions and Fairs (all) OR by decade:
These four collections, organized by decade, contain archival documentation of craft conferences, exhibitions, fairs, and other events sponsored or hosted by the American Craft Council.

ACC Newsletters (1957-1986)
This collection contains complete runs of three major ACC newsletters from the past: Forum (1957-59); Outlook (1960-1976); and Craft World (1976-1986), a Council bulletin published in American Craft magazine. Digitization was made possible by a grant from the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF).

ACC Artists' Files Collection
With the assistance of a grant from the NEA, nearly 3,000 images of works by leading contemporary craft artists - part of the ACC's Your Portable Museum Slide & Film Service - have been digitized and are available here. Also included in the ACC Artists' Files Collection are materials documenting the work of members of the ACC's College of Fellows and Gold Medal award winners.

NOTE: To access digital resources on specific exhibitions held at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts / American Craft Museum between 1956 and 1990, please check out our Museum Finding Aid.

*Please be aware that the content available online represents a small percentage of archival documentation available at the ACC Library. Digitization of the archives is ongoing.

If you have more information about any materials included in the archives collections or if you are the copyright owner and believe our website has not properly attributed your work to you or has used it without permission, please let us know. Email us at [email protected] with your contact information and a link to the relevant content.