NEH Foundation Project to Assess the Detroit Institute of Arts Archives

FAIN: PW-234859-16

Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI 48202-4008)
Maria R. Ketcham (Project Director: July 2015 to November 2017)

Foundations-level assessment of a collection of 11,000 linear feet of the Detroit Institute of Arts’s administrative records, dating back to the museum’s founding.  Assessment will include 30 years of unprocessed artists’ correspondence, acquisition records, director’s files, and curators’ exhibition papers.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) seeks a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundation Grant of $40,000 to establish intellectual control over its archives. This will be accomplished via a holdings survey and assessment of the humanities  value of unprocessed archival documents held at the DIA. The project will 1) capture the current scope of materials housed in the Archives, 2) analyze and evaluate the humanities content of the Archives, 3) improve control over the collection, 4) assess unprocessed materials in the Archives against updated records retention schedules, 5) identify preservation issues, and 6) recommend next steps towards improving access to the archives and stewardship of these important documents.