Collection Strengths
Thanks to alumni donations, we hold comprehensive collections of prints, drawings, and illustrated editions by William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray, George Cruikshank, Honoré Daumier, Thomas Nast, Whitney Darrow Jr., Henry Martin, and many others from the 18th century to the present
The Graphic Arts division houses the Laurence Hutton Death Mask Collection. Each of the death masks can be viewed online in the digital collection.
For an online checklist of optical devices housed in Graphic Arts, see Optical Devices on Display, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, 2012. (Please note: Due to library renovations, the
Vintage photographs by Carl Van Vechten, Alexander Gardner, and Edward Steichen were given by these artists specifically to the graphic arts collection.
Charles Rahn Fry Pochoir Collection holds nearly 200 books, magazines, portfolios, and individual examples of pochoir (stencil) coloring, primarily from Paris in the early 20th century Paris.
An extensive collection of 19th century American birds-eye-views was given by Leonard L. Milberg, Class of 1953. Elmer Adler’s collection specializing in portraits of artists and writers now numbers over 6,000.
Of special interest are the Sinclair Hamilton Collection of American Illustrated Books, which includes over 2,600 books and broadsides with woodcuts or wood engravings from 1670 to 1870; a nearly complete set of books designed and printed by John Baskerville; 2,000 volumes illustrated with origin
Over 4,000 oil, watercolor, pastel, and pen & ink paintings and drawings have been acquired including important work by Arthur Dove, Thomas Rowlandson, William Blake, and Junius Stearns. Comprehensive collections of F.O.C.
Regarding fine art appraisals, see this list.