The Museum Archives is a valuable and engaging resource that documents the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner and the history of the Museum. The archival collection complements the Museum’s art collection and provides a window on the world of the museum’s founder.
Mission
The core mission of the Archives is to collect, arrange, describe, and preserve the personal papers of Isabella Stewart Gardner as well as the Museum records of enduring administrative, legal, fiscal, intrinsic and historical value. The Archives staff maintains appropriate facilities for the retention, preservation, and research use of the Gardner Personal Papers and the Museum Records.
The Archives serves as a research center for the study of these materials by members of the staff, the artists and scholars-in-residence, and outside scholars. The staff promotes knowledge and understanding of the personal life of the founder, as well as the origins, development and goals of the Museum.
Scope of the Archival Collections
At the heart of the Museum Archives is Isabella Stewart Gardner’s personal correspondence. The collection consists of over 6,000 letters from approximately 1,000 correspondents, including Henry James, John Singer Sargent, Henry Adams, and Julia Ward Howe. In addition to the letters, the holdings include diaries, travel scrapbooks, guest books, newspaper clippings, literary and musical manuscripts, as well as photographs of her homes, art objects, friends, and relatives. The Archives is also the repository for the Museum’s operational records from its founding to the present. These materials include the records of past museum directors, curators, and departmental staff. They document subjects such as collection acquisitions, exhibitions, museum programs, and the construction and maintenance of the building and grounds.
Access to the Archival Collections
Current Access Restrictions: The Museum is in the final stages of a major building expansion and therefore the Archives is not open for study by outside scholars at this time. When the Museum re-opens in January 2012 the Archives will offer reference service in a new reading room that will provide scholars a quiet and comfortable space to explore the collections. All reference requests must be made in writing and will be conducted by appointment only. Please visit the Museum web site regularly for updated information about the opening of the new facility. Until then, we encourage you to send an e-mail to the Archives staff outlining your research and particular interest in the Gardner Museum Archives. We will respond as soon as possible.
Resources
Finding aids, indices, transcripts, and digital surrogates are available for some sections of the collection. Please contact the Archives for more information about these resources.
The bulk of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s personal correspondence and the Museum’s incorporation documents are available on microfilm. Researchers should consult the microfilm as a first step for using the collections. It can be obtained from the Archives of American Art through the Interlibrary Loan system. Click here for a list of names included in Gardner's personal correspondence (1.41 MB).
A selection of Gardner’s travel scrapbooks can be found on the Museum web site. The scrapbook digitization project, funded by the Leon Levy Foundation, is a work in progress with new images and transcripts being added periodically.
Lisa Long Feldmann
Museum Archivist
lfeldmann
isgm.org
Shana McKenna
Assistant Archivist and Collections Specialist
smckennaisgm.org
© 2012 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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