The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has a robust network of libraries, archives, and other collections, all filled with artifacts unique to our school. Below is a short introduction to some of them, as well as highlights to help get you started on your research adventures.
Physical Libraries/Collections
1: Flaxman
The Flaxman Library is SAIC’s main library; it includes the stacks as well as several archives and special collections, occupying the fifth and sixth floors of the Sharp building. The main stacks are available to all SAIC students and faculty, while the other collections are generally non-circulating and only available by appointment.
Highlights:
“The Hospital Suite” John Porcellino, 2014
“Decolonize Drag” Kareem Khubchandani, 2023
“Day Without Art: A Silent Processional” Iris Moore, photo by Tracy Bair, 1992
2: Joan Flasch
Within the Flaxman’s fifth floor is the Joan Flasch Artists’ Books Collection. It holds over 13,000 artist publications, including books (broadly defined), zines, prints, mail art, and audio/video recordings. It is available to both the SAIC community and the public by appointment.
Highlights:
“Things Get In You” Megan Diddie, 2015
“Abolition Is Everything” Sarah Shotland, 2021
“Rusty Brown: lunchbox storybook and plot reminder” Chris Ware, 2004
3: Fashion Resource Center
Located on the seventh floor of the Sullivan building, the Fashion Resource Center is a hands-on collection of garments and accessories from the late 1800s to present day. They also house a print archive of magazines, encyclopedias, and other fashion publications; as well as fabric samples. It is available to the SAIC community by appointment.
Highlights:
“Late Victorian Evening Capelet” 1890
“Yohji Yamamoto Large Parasol” Yohji Yamamoto, 1988
“Hallmark Mod Retro Flower Print Paper Shift Dress” 1966
4: Textile Resource Center
On the ninth floor of Sharp is the Textile Resource Center, which provides access to textiles and materials, including pre-Columbian wearables and contemporary fiber art. It also includes books as well as video and audio recordings about textiles, history, and critical theory. It is available to both the SAIC community and the public by appointment.
Highlights:
“Zulu Telephone Wire Basket” Zanele Zondi, 2005-2010
“Wild Silk Dupatta” Shri Gandhi Ashram 20th Century
“Lakeside Marble Boat Weaving” Hangzhou Brocade Factory, 1984
5: Ryerson and Burnham Libraries (AIC)
The Ryerson and Burnham Library, located within the Art Institute of Chicago, is a massive non-circulating museum library and archive containing books, photographs, letters, artists’ sketchbooks, and other materials, available to anyone by appointment.
Highlights:
“It’s life as I see it: Black cartoonists in Chicago, 1940-1980” Edited by Dan Nadel, 2021
“Ivan Albright Collection” 1888-1995
PAGE 2: Digital Collections
Many of SAIC’s archives require appointments, but don’t let that dissuade you from visiting! The appointment process varies, but usually involves sending an email or filling out a form and letting an archivist know what you want them to pull. That said, if you want a simpler experience, SAIC’s digital collections still have a lot to offer.
1: SAIC Digital Collections
The SAIC Digital Collections are an online repository of SAIC’s archives, managed by the Flaxman Library and available to all students and faculty. It includes documentation of much of the school’s physical archives. Use it to plan a visit, or maybe it’s all you need for your research.
Incredibly biased highlights:
“F Newsmagazine February 1991” Black History Month Issue
“F Newsmagazine Special Issue Summer 2021”
“The Art Student, February 1916, Vol. 1, No. 4” (an early SAIC student publication)
One of many parts of the SAIC Digital Collections, the Film, Video, New Media, and Animation Department Archives are an eclectic assemblage of video works, student films, guest lectures, and works by faculty and alumni. While these archives exist physically, their contents are easily streamed online through Panopto for those with an SAIC login.
Highlights:
“The Angels Bowling” Caroline Plazek Miller, 1994
“Schlafbau” Helen Mirra, 1995
“MFA Thesis Exhibition #3” William Morris, Syeed Milky, Kristen Bjaastad, Georgia Grawe, and Stashu Kybartas, 1988
3: Video Data Bank
The Video Data Bank is affiliated with SAIC, but is not part of Flaxman or the SAIC Digital Collections. It’s an archive of experimental video art located on the 14th floor of Sharp, with screenings available by appointment. While some contents of the VDB are only available for purchase, others are online through their Educational Streaming Platform, accessible with an SAIC login.
Highlights:
“Danny” Stashu Kybartas, 1986
“Creatura Dada” Caroline Monnet, 2016
“A Declaration of Poetic Disobedience” Guillermo Gomez-Peña, 2005
4: ARTSTOR/JSTOR
SAIC provides access to a few databases including the digital library JSTOR, as well as its image database ARTSTOR. Flaxman also has its own repository of images within ARTSTOR available privately to SAIC, including images used as teaching and research materials, and images pertaining to the school’s history.
“Demonstration against ‘What is the Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag?’ March 12, 1989”
“Flaxman Library Orientation” 1991
“MacLean Visual Resources Center Orientation” 1988 (a now defunct SAIC collection)
5: AIC Digital Collections
The Art Institute Ryerson and Burnham Libraries have very few archive/library items available digitally — only about 3% of their collection. What they do have includes some, largely architectural, image databases and a few digital oral history collections. The library also provides access to a wide range of outside databases/journals through its website.
Highlights:
“Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context, & Enquiry” 1999
“Wrightiana Collection”1897-2017
“Self Portrait of R. Buckminster Fuller” (Oral History), 1977
Honorable Mentions/Other Flaxman Collections:
16mm Film Study Collection, Randolph Street Gallery Archive, Chicago Cultural Plan, The Correspondence Art Collection, The Ephemera Files, The Goat Island Archives, The Threewalls Gallery Archives, Tony Zwicker Archive, Warren Menaker Thought Books, Conversations at the Edge, Roger Brown Estate Collection, SAIC Media Archives, and SAIC at Homan Square.
