Department of Art Archive
Archive access increasing in Fall 2025, stay tuned!
Our Department Archive is growing, and we'll soon be opening a reading room for it in the Center for the Arts. If you are interested in donating to this newly publicly accessible collection, see more on donating below!
Highlight of stored archival holdings in the Department of Art.
The Department of Art Archive is a growing collection. If you are a current student or alumni, please consider donating materials, especially photographs of your work and activities from your time in the Department. Due to storage space constraints, framed and oversized canvas, and sculptures, are not typically accepted. If you would like to consult with us on the ability to donate, please reach out!
The Department of Art's primary archival collections are stored in the Art Resource Manager's office, in room 129 of the Center for the Arts. Various sub-collections are stored privately in other locations in the building. As these collections are inventoried more information will become available about the extent and access to these materials. Archival processing is ongoing, and finding aid are expected to be ready for public use throughout 2024 and 2025.
Most of the archival collections are currently available "by appointment only" through the Art Resource Manager. See contact information below. Collections include:
- Bound theses of MFA, MA, and PhD graduates of the Department.
- Print copies only: 1993-2018; Digital copies: 2019-Present
- Graduate theses are for INTERNAL use only. Faculty, Staff, and students of the Department may view, but may not duplicate or distribute in any way.
- Select poster, flyers and postcards of Department exhibitions.
- For exhibition details, posters, and images from the most recent years, see our online Exhibitions Archive.
- Artworks on paper, espcially photographic and other print media.
- Select catalogues and publications related to graduate and undergraduate thesis projects, and Faculty professional activities.
- Ephemera from various Department activities.
- For news about faculty, student, and alumni achievements, and Department events from recent years, see our online News center.
Note: There is crossover in the collections of the Department Archive and the Art Resource Center.
- 35mm and Magic Lantern glass slides
- Currently comprising over 150,000 35mm slides and lantern slides, this collection of slides was previously part of what was referred to as the "Visual Resources Collection" (VRC). The VRC was established in the mid 20th-century to support teaching in the fields of Art, Art History, and Architecture. The 35mm slides are available for borrowing, and the glass slides are for browsing only.
- Photographs of activities and art-making done in relation to UB Art classes.
- Documentation from exhibitions hosted in relation to UB Art students completing their degree requirements, or of Art faculty (posters, show postcards, etc.)
- Works of Art:
- Created by artists while enrolled in UB Art classes, or while appointed as UB Art faculty/staff
- 2-Dimensional works encouraged
- Pending storage availability: SMALL 3-Dimensional works
- Created by artists while enrolled in UB Art classes, or while appointed as UB Art faculty/staff
- Essays or other written projects
- Created by artists while enrolled in UB Art classes, or while appointed as UB Art faculty/staff
For digital images, you are welcome to submit them directly through our ubART Archive_General purpose donation upload form. It is encouraged that you download the donation form and upload that with digital files.
Physical items being donated must be accompanied by a donation form:
Whitney Kehl Chamberlain (she/her)
Art Resource Manager, Instructional Support Technician
Department of Art
Ph: 716-645-0525 Em: whitneyk@buffalo.edu Rm: 129 CFA