Research and Outreach: Increasing representation of Indigenous American, Hispanic American, Asian American and Pacific Islander artists in The Met’s Thomas J. Watson Library.

FAIN: ZRE-284125-22

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY 10028-0113)
Jared Ash (Project Director: May 2021 to March 2024)

Expansion of access to materials by historically underrepresented artists within the Metropolitan Museum of Art's library collections, and retention of nine jobs.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library requests $468,500 to support a project that aims to assess, expand, and promote access to the Library’s collection of exhibition catalogs, monographs, and other publications that document, interpret, and illustrate the work of Indigenous American, Hispanic American, and Asian American/Pacific Islander artists. Over the course of one year grant funds will support 8 part-time positions—3 Bibliographers/Research Associates, 2 Metadata and Cataloging Librarians, and 3 Library Assistants—who will conduct bibliographic research with the goal of adding at least 600 publications by and about artists in each of the three heritage groups to the Library’s collection. Project staff will disseminate the resulting catalog records, resource guides, and artist indexes through public programs, presentations, and The Met’s social media, facilitating the identification and discovery of resources in Watson’s print or digital collections, or online.

Associated Products

Index of Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists (Web Resource)
Title: Index of Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists
Author: Project Staff
Abstract: The Index of Asian American and Pacific Islander Artists (IAAPI) is a research aid for identifying publications in Watsonline, the online catalog of the Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries, by and about artists of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage who have lived, worked, and studied in North America, primarily the United States.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/thomas-j-watson-library/research/index-of-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-artists

Index of Indigenous and Native American Artists (Web Resource)
Title: Index of Indigenous and Native American Artists
Author: Project Staff
Abstract: The Index of Indigenous and Native American Artists (IINAA) is a research aid for identifying publications in Watsonline, the online catalog of the Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries, by and about Native and Indigenous artists whose ancestral lands are in the contiguous United States, Alaska, and Canada. The Index is intended to be a guide for navigating the library's holdings, and not an authoritative list of all artists within this demographic.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/thomas-j-watson-library/research/index-of-indigenous-and-native-american-artists

Index of Latinx and Hispanic American Artists (Web Resource)
Title: Index of Latinx and Hispanic American Artists
Author: Project Staff
Abstract: The Index of Latinx and Hispanic American Artists (ILHAA) is a research aid for identifying publications in Watsonline, the online catalog of the Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries, by and about artists of Latinx and Hispanic American heritages who have lived, worked, and/or studied in the United States. This Index is intended to be a guide for navigating our holdings, not an authoritative list of all artists from these heritage groups.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/thomas-j-watson-library/research/index-of-latinx-and-hispanic-american-artists

Asian American and Pacific Islander Research Guide (Web Resource)
Title: Asian American and Pacific Islander Research Guide
Author: Anna Lee, Research Associate/Bibliographer
Abstract: Research guide listing books, e-books, periodicals, e-resources, organizations, and institutions related to Asian American and Pacific Islander artists.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/-/media/files/art/watson-library/guide_asianamericanandpacificislander.pdf?sc_lang=en&hash=2421BF0C39E17B7ED34058A8A177DB71

Indigenous American Art Research Guide (Web Resource)
Title: Indigenous American Art Research Guide
Author: Amanda Raquel Dorval, Research Associate/Bibliographer
Abstract: Research guide listing books, e-books, periodicals, e-resources, organizations, and institutions related to Indigenous American art and artists.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/-/media/files/art/watson-library/guide_indigenousamerican.pdf?sc_lang=en&hash=9B0679E2EF5D8DF2B9BA95F383168B0F

Latinx and Hispanic American Art Research Guide (Web Resource)
Title: Latinx and Hispanic American Art Research Guide
Author: Louisa Raitt, Research Associate/Bibliographer
Abstract: Research guide listing books, e-books, periodicals, e-resources, organizations, and institutions related to Latinx and Hispanic American art and artists.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/-/media/files/art/watson-library/guide_latinxhispanicamerican.pdf?sc_lang=en&hash=A3454FC2750BB0B5107593DC0315133D

Past/Present/Future: Expanding Indigenous American, Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Perspectives in Thomas J. Watson Library (Exhibition)
Title: Past/Present/Future: Expanding Indigenous American, Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Perspectives in Thomas J. Watson Library
Curator: Amanda Raquel Dorval, Anna Lee, and Louisa Raitt
Abstract: Past/Present/Future is the culminating exhibition to Thomas J. Watson Library's grant project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which aimed to assess and expand the library's collection of underrepresented heritage groups, especially Indigenous American, Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander artists. While it is impossible to apply a single definition or category to all the acquired titles, many explore a suspension or intervention of temporality, bound together by shared themes of colonialism, land sovereignty, reclamation, and reconciliation. Thus, the titles selected here present artists whose work confronts the past, reconciles the present, and draws out new possibilities for the future of historically marginalized people in the United States. This selection also mirrors Watson Library's own endeavors to build a diverse body of perspectives and resources dedicated to the study of visual art by confronting what has been overlooked in the past, addressing it in our present moment, and mapping out a future where the collection better aligns with its values and purposes.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/past-present-future

A Salute to the Artistic Legacy of Native American Veterans (Blog Post)
Title: A Salute to the Artistic Legacy of Native American Veterans
Author: Amanda Raquel Dorval
Abstract: Before I transitioned into a career in the field of library and archives, I served seven years on active duty in the US Air Force as an Arabic Cryptologic Language Analyst. Therefore, as a veteran—and because November is both the month in which we celebrate Veterans Day (November 11) and National Native American Heritage Month—I thought it fitting to focus this essay on Native American artists whose art careers have in some way been influenced by military service. My intention here is not to present a chronological account of the role Native Americans have played in the history of the US armed forces. For those who are interested in learning more about this history, Watson Library has recently acquired a copy of Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces, a catalog which accompanied an exhibition of the same title that took place at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) from November 11, 2020 to February 28, 2021.
Date: 11/09/2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/11/library-artistic-legacy-of-native-american-veterans
Website: In Circulation

Expanding the Collection (Blog Post)
Title: Expanding the Collection
Author: Helice Koffler
Abstract: In October 2021, Watson Library was awarded a grant as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities American Rescue Plan: Humanities Organizations program to fund a yearlong project to assess, expand, and promote access to the library’s collection of publications by and about Indigenous American, Hispanic American/Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander artists. Building upon experience gained from the African American Artist Project (AAAP), an eight-member project team—comprising three library associates, three research associate/bibliographers, and two cataloging and metadata associate librarians—was hired. Each team member works a part-time schedule of twenty hours per week and reports to Jared Ash, project director for the grant.
Date: 04/13/2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/4/library-neh-grant-introduction
Website: The Met Perspectives: In Circulation

Four Trailblazing Women Artists (Blog Post)
Title: Four Trailblazing Women Artists
Author: Helice Koffler
Abstract: Watson Library is celebrating Women's History Month this year by sharing a small selection of books by and about American women artists who were active during the early to mid-twentieth century. These books have been acquired recently or had their catalog records revisited by staff hired for the project, “Research and Outreach: Increasing Representation of Indigenous American, Hispanic American, Asian American and Pacific Islander artists in The Met’s Thomas J. Watson Library,” funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Date: 03/22/2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/3/library-four-women-artists
Website: Met Perspectives: In Circulation

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Watson Library (Blog Post)
Title: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Watson Library
Author: Anna Lee
Abstract: Since November 2021, Watson Library has conducted a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities titled “Research and Outreach: Increasing Representation of Indigenous American, Hispanic American, Asian American and Pacific Islander artists in The Met’s Thomas J. Watson Library.” The project, detailed in an earlier blog post by my colleague Helice Koffler, has enabled us to assess the existing collection of books in Watson with the goal of adding relevant monographs, exhibition catalogues, journals, zines, and artists’ books. I'd like to introduce a few of these recently added titles here to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Date: 05/18/2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/5/library-aapi-heritage-month-2022
Website: Met Perspectives: In Circulation

Arte en El Barrio: Latinx and Hispanic American Organizations, Workshops, and Alternative Spaces in New York City (Blog Post)
Title: Arte en El Barrio: Latinx and Hispanic American Organizations, Workshops, and Alternative Spaces in New York City
Author: Louisa M. Raitt
Abstract: Over the last ten months working as a Research Associate and Bibliographer for the NEH collection expansion grant project, I have researched over one thousand artists and helped Watson Library identify and acquire over seven hundred titles by or about Latinx and Hispanic American artists. As a transplant who moved to New York City to study early modern Spanish art, I was ignorant of the rich history of contemporary Latin American artists who have made New York their home. As we have researched, purchased, unboxed, and cataloged new titles for Watson Library, I have learned more about how much this thriving artistic community has championed the preservation and enrichment of the many cultural heritages that make up the broader Latinx and Hispanic American population of this city. And how, in their organizing and publications, they have altered the course of contemporary art in the United States.
Date: 09/28/2022
Primary URL: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/9/library-arte-en-el-barrio
Website: Met Perspectives: In Circulation

Met Instagram Posts (Blog Post)
Title: Met Instagram Posts
Author: Project Staff
Abstract: A series of 70 posts on Watson Library's dedicated Instagram account (@metlibrary) recounting the project's progress and results.
Date: 12/13/2022
Primary URL: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/metlibraryneh/
Website: @MetLibrary Instagram Page

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