The Archives serve as the institutional repository for the Center for Curatorial Studies and as a collecting repository which actively acquires, preserves, and provides access to a wide range of primary materials documenting the history of the contemporary visual arts and the institutions and practices of exhibition-making since the 1960s. The Archives are committed to collecting the physical and digital manifestations and documentary traces in their original formats, including archives and manuscripts, artifacts, books and publications, and other analog and digital media.
The Archives complement and enrich a range of research collections including the Hessel Museum of Art’s rich permanent collection and the holdings of the CCS Bard Library. The CCS Bard Library and Archives support research by a wide range of constituencies including students in the MA Program in Curatorial Studies, Bard College undergraduates, faculty, and other researchers and scholars whose work relies on access to primary resource materials.
Collecting Archives
The Archives & Manuscripts Collection represents the collecting repository component of the Archives. By actively acquiring, preserving, and providing access to the archives and manuscripts of contemporary art curators, innovative commercial art galleries, arts collectives and initiatives, the Archives & Manuscripts Collection seeks to document the history of the contemporary visual arts and the institutions and practices of exhibition-making since the 1960s, representing a broad range of contemporary discourses and curatorial practices.
CCS Bard Institutional Archives & Study Collections
The Institutional Archives and Study Collections document the development of the Center for Curatorial Studies as an exhibition, education, and research center dedicated to the study of art and curatorial practices from the 1960’s to the present. The collection includes documentation for the full exhibition history of the CCS Galleries and the Hessel Museum of Art, as well as the development and history of the MA Program in Curatorial Studies.