Lucy Lippard Women’s Art Registry

Dates

Majority of material found within 1970-2017

Scope and Content Note

The Lucy R. Lippard Women’s Art Registry comprises 112 cubic feet (109 records center cartons, two oversize boxes, and one oversize drawer) spanning the period 1970 to the present. The collection documents thousands of women artists, primarily American artists active since 1945, but also including some international artists and historical figures. It also documents women’s activism in the feminist art movement of the 1970s. Document types are primarily postcards, flyers, invitations, exhibit catalogs, slides, resumes, press releases, clippings, and photographs. Also includes correspondence, statistics, and documentation of protests. Also includes an audio tape, CD, and a few pieces of original art.

Extent

110 cubic feet (109 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, and 5 oversize map folders)

Language of Materials

English

Provenance Note

While almost all material was donated by Lucy Lippard, the collection also includes two boxes of catalogs donated by American painter and collagist Nancy Spero (1926–2009).

Additional Description

Abstract

The Lucy Lippard Women's Art Registry began as a slide registry for the ADHOC Women Artist's Committee. Lippard was a member of the ADHOC committee which was formed, first in response to the Whitney Museum's lack of women artists and second in response to the Art worker's Coalition lack of focus on gender in the art world. The women artist slide registry also began collecting catalogs, announcements, and ephemera in order to combat ignorance of women artists. The collection contains documents related to individual artists and feminist organizations like: West East Bag, ADHOC Committee of Women Artists, Women Artists Visibility Event, Martha Rosler, Adrian Piper, and countless others.

Administrative History

The Lucy R. Lippard Women’s Art Registry had its origins in the early years of the feminist art movement. In 1971, a group of activists founded West East Bag (WEB), which was designed to be an international information network of women artists. One of the purposes of WEB was to start up women’s art registries in cities throughout the country. The New York registry was originally known as the ADHOC Women’s Art Registry, and run by art critic, writer, curator, and activist Lucy Lippard (born 1937) and a small committee. The ADHOC Women’s Art Registry collected slides, resumes, and addresses of women artists, in order to make their work available while bypassing the gallery system, which excluded women. In the 1970s, Lippard kept the Women’s Art Registry in her home in New York City. After the foundation of the New York Feminist Art Institute (NYFAI) in 1979, Lippard donated the registry for the school’s library, and it was maintained by staff and students. When NYFAI ceased operations in 1992–93, it donated its archives to Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University Libraries. The Women’s Art Registry was donated along with the organization’s own records. In subsequent years, Lippard continued to donate material on a yearly basis directly to Rutgers. With changes in technology and the increasing visibility of women artists, the nature of the material changed to invitations, catalogs, and publicity material documenting women artists rather than slides and resumes.

Arrangement Note

The original Women’s Art Registry, dating from the 1970s and early 1980s is filed by artist name. The rest of the collection is filed by date. Since 1992, various efforts have been made to arrange and describe the unprocessed boxes in the collection. In 1995, as part of a Mason Gross School of the Arts class project, each student was given the assignment of organizing one box and documenting it at the item level. Nine boxes were done in this way and are noted on the finding aid.

Another group of boxes dating from 1985 to 1990 was organized by Rutgers, New Brunswick Libraries staff and student workers. This material was recorded by artist name on spreadsheets including cross references to artists participating in group shows. A few boxes were organized either A to Z or by artist name by student workers or interns at Special Collections and University Archives.

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Inventory to the Lucy Lippard Women’s Art Registry
Status: Edited Full Draft
Author: Stephanie Crawford and Fernanda Perrone
Date: May 2019
Language of description note: Finding aid is written in English.
Sponsor: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.