The collection is arranged as 6 series.
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art was established in San Francisco, California by painter and sculptor Gertrud Parker in 1982. The museum was originally located in a house on Balboa Street and then moved to the Fort Mason Center where it operated for over twenty years before relocating to Yerba Buena Lane in 2006.
Notable exhibitions organized or held at the museum include
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art closed in December of 2012. The final exhibition was
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art records were donated by Jennifer McCabe, former executive director of the museum, in 2014.
Museum of Craft and Folk Art records, 1970-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection was processed by Rihoko Ueno in May, 2016. Born digital materials were processed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2019 with funding provided by Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art records measure 28.9 linear feet and 12.48 GB and date from 1970 to 2012. The museum was established in 1982 in San Francisco, California and exhibited local and national craft and folk art collections until it closed in 2012. The collection includes administration records, extensive exhibition files, artists' files, museum publications, printed material, video recordings, born digital items, and photographic material.
Administration records include museum bylaws, lists of early exhibitions, education program evaluations, documents related to public programs, and printed materials.
Exhibition files comprise the largest group of materials in the collection. Notable exhibitions documented include
Museum of Craft and Folk Art publications consist of exhibition catalogs, newsletters, reports, and announcements. There are several video recordings of events, such as fashion shows, that were held at the museum.
Printed materials and commercial video recordings include an oversize scrapbook, binders of exhibition press clippings, and folders of clippings on various topics, as well as documentaries and news coverage of the museum.
Photographic materials consist of slides, negatives, photographs, transparencies, and a photo album. The images are of artwork, exhibition installations, events, artists, and museum offices and staff.
This series is arranged alphabetically with the exception of the public programs folders, which are arranged chronologically. The museum often put up 2 shows at the same time, which is why there are 2 exhibition titles for every public program folder.
Administration records include Museum of Craft and Folk Art bylaws and guidelines, lists of early exhibitions, evaluations for education programs and public programs, and an architectural rendering of the Yerba Buena Lane building. Materials related to public programs consist of announcements, event scheduling documentation, printed and digital material, and questionnaires from program attendees. There are also 2 videocassettes (VHS) of events probably kept on file for reference.
The bulk of this series is comprised of Museum of Craft and Folk Art exhibitions, but there are also a few exhibitions at other art venues. The series includes correspondence, shipping notices, art inventories, price lists, printed materials, guest registers, and photographic materials. Notable exhibitions include
The exhibitions are arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by title within each year.
There is 1 videocassette (VHS) in the Dorothy Weiss exhibition files that includes footage from this show.
Includes 2 videocassettes (VHS), 1 of which also contains footage from
Film included: Parade (1952)
Partial transfer only.
Films included: Eat Pie, Share the Pie, Teach Pie, and The Whole Pie.
Artists' files includes resumes and inquiries from artists interested in exhibiting at the MOCFA but not necessarily represented by the museum, which were kept on file for reference, along with several recordings of artists, probably performances or interviews or studio tours, that were not clearly related to any exhibition. There are 8 videocassettes (VHS) and 1 electronic disk (CD).
Museum of Craft and Folk Art (MOCFA) publications include exhibition catalogs, newsletters, reports, and announcements published by the MOCFA. There are also 4 videocassettes and some born digital material of exhibition images and events at the museum that were recorded by MOCFA.
Oversized material housed in OV 31.
Printed materials and video recordings includes an oversized scrapbook (disbound) of clippings and photographs about the museum's early exhibitions, several (disbound) binders of exhibition press clippings, clippings on assorted subjects maybe intended for research on exhibition ideas, documentaries on artists published by third parties, and news coverage of exhibitions. There are 17 videocassettes, 1 sound cassette, and 1 born digital video recording.
Oversized material housed in OV 33-35.
Includes born digital records, see ER52.
Photographic materials include slides, negatives, printed and digital photographs, and transparencies. There is a disbound album of exhibition installations and events, slides of crafts from different geographic regions (titles in quotation marks reflect the original labels of materials), slides of artwork from exhibitions, portraits of artists, snapshots of events such as auctions and openings, and photographs of MOCFA offices and staff.
Series of black and white photographs (18 cm x 13 cm) of artwork, maybe used for reference.
Copy print of photograph that was originally taken circa 1927.
Snapshots at parties and events.