The museum’s Research Center holds more than five million items illuminating the global history of art, architecture, and design.
Artist Ivan Albright’s sketchbooks are held in the Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
On this page, read about the variety of collections we offer and how to access them, whether you visit us online or in our stunning reading room.
Archives
Archives are singular documents essential for original research. These collections are entirely unique to our institution: blueprints, correspondence, business records, gallery ephemera, sketchbooks, and more. Archival holdings are organized in finding aids. Explore them here.
Art Monographs and Exhibition Catalogs
The Library actively collects scholarship on art, architecture, and design topics published around the world. Print publications are the bedrock of contemporary research, connecting researchers to new ideas, interpretations, and object histories. Explore monographs.
Auction Catalogs
Some auction records are now available digitally. However, art sales prior to the year 2000 are still predominantly on paper, and catalogs from smaller firms are rare. For more than 125 years, the Library has collected auction catalogs from around the world, and many date back to the nineteenth century. View auction catalogs.
Artist Files
Gallery ephemera, postcards, brochures, checklists, and shortform artist publications are some of the fascinating items held in the Library’s 40,000+ Artist Files.
Artist-Made Books
From the traditional to the truly unique, discover how artists have interrogated and stretched the definition of “book.” See our artist books in the catalog here.
Digital Collections
Our digital tools put millions of resources at your fingertips. We offer everything from born-digital publications to digitized documents and photographs from our archives. View our collections here and explore more digital resources here.
Oral Histories
Interviews with hundreds of architects and artists have been recorded and transcribed by the Chicago Architects Oral History Project, the Chicago Visual Artist Oral History Archive (collected by Linda L. Kramer and Sandra Binion), the New Bauhaus/Institute of Design interview project (made possible by a grant from the Moholy-Nagy Foundation), and other endeavors. Search our oral history resources.
Rare and Special Collections
Half of the Library’s print collection, and all of the Archives’s unique holdings can be considered ‘rare’ and exclusive to the Art Institute. Rare and special materials can be located via the online catalog.
Research Databases
These links are gateways to online resources managed by third parties. Some are subscription-based and accessible with Art Institute/SAIC credentials or via on-site use on the museum’s network. Millions of art resources are aggregated in these databases.
Serials and Periodicals
Serials are print or digital publications issued in parts, usually bearing issue numbers and/or dates. A periodical is a type of serial published with a fixed interval between each issue. Magazines, scholarly journals, newsletters, newspapers, and annual reports all fall into this category. The Library’s serials chronicle the activities of art societies or artist collectives, period art criticism, and popular culture. Search for serials.
