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Collection Policy Statement Index
Contents
I. Scope
II. Fine prints
III. Posters
IV. Reproductions of works of art
V. Artists' drawings
VI. Architectural drawings and documentation
VII. Engineering drawings and documentation
VIII. Popular and applied graphic art
I. Scope
This statement includes graphic arts materials in non- book formats, as detailed in the Sections below. For books and periodicals, see the CPS Fine and Applied Arts - Books and Periodicals.
Paintings, sculptures, and other three-dimensional works of art are not acquired except under the special conditions described in the CPS for Non-Library Materials. Also not acquired: individual greeting cards; postcards unless they contain fine prints or photographs.
II. Fine prints
The Library of Congress selectively acquires woodcuts, engravings, etchings lithographs, and other types of original prints of the highest quality which relate to and complement the Library's existing fine print collection.
- The Library's fine print collection is international in Scope with particular emphasis on prints produced in the United States since 1870. In special instances efforts may be made to acquire the complete oeuvre of an American printmaker, e.g., James McNeil Whistler or Joseph Pennell.
- In acquiring works by contemporary United States and foreign artists, the Library seeks to include in its collections only major works by those who have had or potentially will have an impact on printmaking in the United States.
- The Library collects foreign prints which support the research collections and interests of the Library's area studies divisions.
- Existing strengths of the Fine Prints Collections, in such areas as early lithography, chiaroscuro woodcuts, and French nineteenth-century printmaking, are further developed through the acquisition of important examples of work in this area. Prints which are appropriate to a study collection on the history of printmaking technique are also acquired.
- The Library does not generally acquire fine prints which are represented in other national collections in Washington.
III. Posters
The Library attempts, within available resources, to acquire outstanding examples of posters produced throughout the world, with emphasis on:
- Examples illustrative of political, military, social, economic, industrial and cultural history, including advertising and propaganda, with priority given to documentation of the United States life and history;
- Examples of the work of major artists, with priority given to work of United States origin;
- Examples of motion picture posters, lobby cards, and related materials, which complement the already significant and comprehensive holdings that begin with depictions of the earliest presentations of the motion picture, to serial versions and feature length silent films and talkies through the emergence of the movie star and the rise of the great Hollywood studios, to the era of the blockbuster, special effects and independent film.
- Examples illustrative of the history of the poster as an art form, and as a medium of communication.
Every effort is to be made to achieve worldwide coverage.
IV. Reproductions of works of art
The Library of Congress selectively acquires reproductions relating directly to the materials and artists represented in the prints and Photographs Division, but only if comparable high-quality material is not available in book, microform, or other collected format.
V. Artists' drawings
The Library acquires drawings which substantially support or enrich the Library's existing graphic arts collections or which serve as primary research documents for American political, economic and social history, including the following:
- Fine, representative examples of preparatory studies, sketches, and finished drawings prepared for illustrations in American books and magazines.
- Selected drawings which support and related to the Library's existing collections of fine and historical prints and posters. These include drawings by major printmakers represented in the Library's collections and drawings executed in preparation for or closely relating to prints and posters in the collections.
- Drawings for American political and social cartoons and caricatures as documents of public opinion and of the history of visual satire and propaganda. Drawings for foreign political cartoons and caricature drawings of personalities of international prominence will be acquired selectively as documents of the comparative history of visual satire and propaganda.
- Topographical drawings of a scenographic character and other drawings of documentary value as records of American historical events and American urban and rural buildings, structures, and scenery.
- The Library will not acquire the following types of
materials:
- Drawings for portraits of American public figures, these being considered the responsibility of the National Portrait Gallery.
- Drawings for technical designs and diagrams.
VI. Architectural drawings and documentation
The Library of Congress acquires architectural drawings, photographs, and related documents of research value that substantially support or enrich the Library's existing architectural collections or will serve as primary research materials for the study of the architecture of the United States, its territories, and possessions. Materials to be acquired include:
- Selected original drawings by significant or potentially significant American architects, designers and planners. The Library will not normally collect detailed engineering drawings, or the entire output of an architect's office. The emphasis will be on buildings other than those erected by the Federal government, since the National Archives and Records Service is responsible for the building records of the majority of these structures.
- Selected measured drawings, photographs, and other documentation of existing, lost and, in some cases, unexecuted buildings; characteristic building types and technologies; historic structures; and the work of notable architects, craftsmen, engineers, landscape architects, urban planners and interior designers active in the United States. These materials include, but are not limited to, the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record.
- Selected drawings, photographs, and other documentation of buildings or sites outside the United States representing particular designers, techniques, building types and styles, technical or design innovations, etc., that have had notable impact on work in the United States or were influenced by work in this country.
- Materials relating to foreign buildings and sites that substantially strengthen or supplement the existing holdings of the Library, or fill notable gaps in the Library's record of the history of architecture in all countries.
- For Western architecture before 1800, the Library attempts to coordinate its acquisitions with those of the National Gallery of Art in order to avoid duplication. Similarly, the Library works with the Dumbarton Oaks Library to avoid duplication in the field of garden and landscape architecture.
- In general, the Library does not endeavor to build large collections of original architectural drawings, blueprints and specifications relating to the construction and building trades, as these fall within the scope of the collections of the National Building Museum.
- The Library, as part of its work towards the Cooperative Preservation of Architectural Records (COPAR), encourages the placement of archives of limited subject or geographical interest in appropriate regional collections. The Library collects information about such holdings and, where possible, microform copies of the same.
VII. Engineering drawing and documentation
- The Library of Congress attempts to build a documentary
collection of drawings, and related documents showing the history,
monuments, and achievements of civil engineering in the United
States, to complement the Historical American Engineering Record
(HAER). The purpose of HAER is to record the accomplishments of
engineering in the United States, its territories and possessions,
as shown in such installations as bridges, canals, waterworks,
irrigation systems, transportation systems, dams, tunnels, etc.
The types of materials to be acquired include measured drawings from existing structures, photographs, and accompanying historical and technical data. - The Library does not attempt, in general, to build large collections of original engineering or technical drawings, blueprints and specifications. The Library, rather, attempts to coordinate its acquisitions in the field of historic engineering with those of the National Museum of American History in order to avoid duplication.
VIII. Popular and applied graphic art
The Library selectively acquires popular and historical prints which are important documents of American history and the history of graphic art in the United States, or which relate to and complement the Library's existing graphic art study collection.
- Particular emphasis is placed on the acquisition of prints which are important pictorial records of the people, history, and culture of the United States and of its present and former territories and possessions. These include views of American buildings, cities, urban and rural sites, people, and events or personalities of work significance or of special importance to the history of the United States, and are acquired on a selective basis.
- The Library acquires on a selective basis important examples of the ornamental and functional uses of the graphic arts in the United States. The types of materials include, but are not limited to, illustrated sheet music, advertising labels, and bank- note engravings. Outstanding examples of foreign works in these categories will be acquired if they can be shown to have influenced developments in American illustration and graphic design.
- The Library collects foreign prints of historical significance which support the research interests and collections of the Library's various area studies divisions.
- Works which are of strictly local significance are considered the province of regional repositories. The Library attempts to direct such works to the appropriate institutions.
- Collections in most cases are confined to individually issued prints or series of prints, as distinct from those originally included in books or periodicals.
- In acquiring examples of popular and applied graphic arts, the holdings of other institutions in the Washington area are to be taken into account so that duplication is generally, though not necessarily, avoided. For example, the Library will not normally acquire portraits of American statesmen and public figures, as this intrudes upon the collection mission of the National Portrait Gallery.
- The Library acquires on a comprehensive basis American and foreign political satires, allegories, and caricatures and other types of political prints from the Reformation period to the present.
March 1983; Revised May 2000