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DMFA Exhibition Records: 1903-1983

 Collection
Identifier: MA-040

Scope and Contents

The collection contains records of exhibitions held at the museum from 1903-1983. This time period encompasses exhibitions at the Art Room of the Dallas Public Library, Textile and Fine Arts Building, Halaby Galleries, Dallas Power and Light Building, Fair Park, and other offsite locations. The exhibition records document both loan or toruing exhibitions and those organized by museum staff Records for each exhibition may include: publications, ephemera/printed material (brochures, invitations), checklists, correspondence, loan forms, shipping information, financial information, installation plans, educational programming, special events, publicity, and news coverage.

Extant records are sparse for exhibitions held in the first 30-40 years of the museum's existance, therefore the collection is not a complete representation of the museum's exhibition history.

Dates

  • 1903 - 1983

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for public research.

Researchers must make an appointment to view this collection; contact the archives at archives@DMA.org.

Institution-wide restriction on publicly disclosing the purchase price, appraisal or insurance value of a work of art (DMA Acquisition and Deaccession Policies and Procedures) or anonymous donor and lender information may apply to this collection. This information is only accessible to DMA staff or representatives.

Extent

28.71 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection contains records of exhibitions held at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts from 1903-1983. This time period encompasses exhibitions at the Art Room of the Dallas Public Library, Textile and Fine Arts Building, Halaby Galleries, Dallas Power and Light Building, Fair Park, and other offsite locations. Records for each exhibition may include: publications, ephemera/printed material (brochures, invitations), checklists, correspondence, loan forms, shipping information, financial information, installation plans, educational programming, special events, publicity, and news coverage. Note that extant records are sparse for exhibitions held in the first 30-40 years of the museum's existance. Exhibitions records are arranged chronologically by exhibition start date.

Arrangement

Exhibition records are arranged chronologically by exhibition start date.

Existence and Location of Copies

Selected material from exhibition files has been digitized and is available throug the Portal to Texas History: https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/DMA/browse/

Related Materials

MA-041 - Exhibition Records: 1979-present

PC-002 - Exhibition Photography, 1941-2011

Processing Information

Exhibitions from the years 1903-1963 were originally processed by Archivist Sammie Morris, circa 2000-2003. These exhibition records were reprocessed by Archivist Hillary Bober in 2016-2017 to faciliate easier access to records and the necessary re-boxing of the early years of the collection due to additions over time. Exhibitions from the years 1964-1978 were originally processed by Project Archivist Jonathan Frembling in 2005. The entire range of years 1903-1978 were re-boxed and redescribed, though only exhibitions from years 1903-1963 were re-foldered as well. At this time, the Archivist decided to split the exhibition records into two groups, 1903-1983 and 1983-present dividing at the move from Fair Park to downtown and the name change from DMFA to DMA.

Additional description/notes were added for DACS compliance and ArchivesSpace local usage guidelines in 2021.

Title
Finding Aid to the DMFA Exhibition Records: 1903-1983
Author
Hillary Bober
Date
2017-03-03
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2021-11-11: Museum Archives collection number assigned as identifier following new protocol. Accession number was 2017.002

Repository Details

Part of the Dallas Museum of Art Archives Repository

Contact:
1717 N. Harwood St.
Dallas TX 75201 US