Ingalls Library and Museum Archives Collection Development Policies

August 13, 2025 

Ingalls Library

Collecting Mission 
Among the largest art research centers in the United States, the Ingalls Library maintains an extensive collection of published materials from all geographic areas and all periods of art history, collected with few exceptions, regardless of language or format. 

The primary mission of the Ingalls Library is to support the research activities of Cleveland Museum of Art staff while providing public access to art historical resources, both locally and internationally. The Ingalls Library shares the mission of the CMA, to create transformative experiences through art, “for the benefit of all the people forever.”   

History, Scope, Description 
An integral part of the museum since its foundation, the library opened in 1916 holding several hundred books and magazines, lantern slides, and postcards. A century later, the collection exceeds 580,000 volumes, including 100,000 auction sales catalogues, 90,000 periodical issues, 15,000 clipping files, and a rare-book collection of more than 5,000 volumes. The library seeks to create an encyclopedic collection, in keeping with the collecting mission of the museum. 

Core Subject Categories 
The museum collection and curatorial appointments help define the core library subject categories as follows: 

African art from 500 BCE onward; American painting and sculpture from the colonial period to 1960; art from Islamic lands, 700s to 1800s, including Spain, North Africa, and Central Asia; Indigenous art of the Americas, 2000 BCE to the 1600s; Chinese art from 5000 BCE onward; contemporary art from 1960 to the present; European and American decorative art and design from the 1600s to 1900s; Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern art from prehistory through the Greco-Roman period; European and American drawing from 1400 to the present; European painting and sculpture from the 1500s to 1800s; Greek and Roman art from prehistory through the late Roman Empire, including Etruscan art; Indian and Southeast Asian art from 3000 BCE onward; Japanese art from 2500 BCE onward; Korean art from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE) onward; medieval and Byzantine art from early Christianity to 1500; modern European painting and sculpture from 1800 to 1960; photography from its origins in 1839 to the present; European and American printmaking from the mid-1400s to the present; and fiber art from 2000 BCE onward. 

Correlated Specialties  
Museum departments and their work help define correlated specialties of the library collection as follows: conservation practice, theory, and science, including technical art history; exhibition design; information science, technology, and practice; museum education and interpretation; and museology. 

Collection Emphasis 
In alignment with the museum’s strategic plan, the library seeks to bolster its collection of research materials related to the following subject areas: colonial Latin American art from 1550 to 1850; fashion and the art of dress, early modern period to the present; and Jewish art and art of Jewish ritual. 

Out of Scope
Material that falls outside the collection scope is acquired selectively. 

Formats, Editions, Copies, Languages
The library collects regardless of format, though emphasis is placed on physical formats. Alternatives to electronic publication formats are actively sought. Microform is collected only when no other format is available. 

Art and artist monographs, catalogues raisonnés and oeuvre catalogues, and exhibition catalogues, as well as periodicals and both auction sales and dealer catalogues, are collected extensively. 

Dissertations, Festschrift, memorial volumes, and conference proceedings are acquired selectively. Books of essays, collected writings, papers, and lectures are acquired selectively. Private collection catalogues and general museum collection catalogues are acquired selectively, while director’s choice publications, guides to a collection, city, or place, and all other overviews are collected only upon exception. Memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, oral histories, and interviews are acquired selectively.   

Reference materials—such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances, indexes, atlases, and guides for artist marks, monograms, and signatures guides, as well as directories of hallmarks and other identifying marks—are acquired and updated selectively. Directories of museums, galleries, libraries, and art professionals are maintained annually or biennially as appropriate. 

Annuals and series are maintained selectively and reviewed regularly for continued relevance. 

Ephemera is collected selectively. 

Facsimiles, artist books, literature, postcards, print portfolios, unpublished manuscripts, and all other works that fall outside this policy are evaluated and collected selectively. 

Publications by the Cleveland Museum of Art are maintained in triplicate with archival copies stored off-site. Publications for exhibitions that the museum hosts but that do not originate at the museum are maintained in duplicate. All other publications are maintained as a single copy unless otherwise noted. 

Updated editions of previously acquired volumes are evaluated individually for relevance. When necessary, both volumes are maintained. 

Because of publication and vendor idiosyncrasies, material is collected often in the first language of publication, typically English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, or the Asian language of subject origin. English-language publications are preferred where editions are published simultaneously in several languages, but both volumes are reviewed for duplication whenever possible; when necessary, both volumes are maintained. Review of Asian-language material is performed through curatorial consultation during acquisition and edition review. Acquisitions are made in additional languages where necessary for treatment of topic or upon request. 

Access to electronic resources, including subscription databases, websites, and tools, are maintained as needed. Existing resources are actively reviewed based on cost, trends in local usage data, and scholarly relevance.

Desiderata and Retrospective Purchasing
The library maintains a desiderata list that is reviewed quarterly. Retrospective purchasing is performed in an ongoing manner to bolster library holdings in underrepresented and poorly developed subject areas of the collection. 

Collectors’ Libraries
The library considers the acquisition of collectors’ libraries selectively. 

Gifts and Exchange
The library considers material offered through gifts or museum exchange with the same scrutiny provided to purchased items.   

Curatorial Transfer
Curatorial offices often receive gratis copies of books, auction and dealer catalogs. Unless otherwise designated as a personal gift to a staff member, this material is considered the property of the museum. The library considers the transfer of material from curatorial offices with the same scrutiny as provided to purchased items. 

Weeding
Gift-shop books, coffee-table books, small ephemeral guides and site pamphlets, beginners’ topic overviews, and other volumes of questionable research use are actively sought for weeding. Subjects no longer maintained within the library’s core or correlated subjects are evaluated for weeding selectively. 

Policy Review
This collection development policy is reviewed and revised biennially.

Museum Archives 

The museum archives serves as the institutional memory for the museum. The primary mission is to collect, preserve, and make available records that document the role of the Cleveland Museum of Art in the social and cultural history of the local community and in the world of art. Although the majority of collections come from museum offices, our collection development goals include the acquisition of historical collections that document the interaction of the museum with significant figures and organizations in the art world including those of: affiliated organizations with a significant historical relationship with the museum; studios and arts businesses and industries with significant contributions to the local and broader artistic communities; manuscript collections of artists, collectors, and scholars that relate to the museum’s history, and papers of museum benefactors

Records in the collection date from the 1880s to the present, and consist of paper documents, photographs, CMA publications, scrapbooks, video- and audiotapes, posters, slides, ephemera, and electronic files. These materials are valuable resources for researching the history of the Museum and its collection, the evolution of CMA exhibitions and other projects, the social background of the major art movements of the twentieth century, and the social and cultural history of the Cleveland area.

Programs supported by the collection

The collection supports research by a variety of constituencies on the history of the museum and Cleveland area. Institutional and archival exhibitions both in house and online are enhanced by archival collections. Outreach includes workshops, lectures to groups, blogs, and other posts to social media, and online presentations. The archives contributes catalog records to the Ingalls Library and WorldCat. 

Clientele served by the collection

The primary constituency is museum staff who use the collection when researching projects such as exhibitions, programming, development, marketing, publications, design, etc.  Students in the CMA-CWRU Joint Program in Art History use both library and archival materials in the course of their studies. Other constituents include scholars who are researching art history topics and the general public, particularly persons owning artworks previously exhibited at the museum.

Priorities and limitations of the collection

The archives houses the institutional records of the museum except for records related to artwork in the primary collection which are housed in the registrar’s office and curatorial offices. To ensure that records of enduring value are properly accessioned the archives is also responsible for the museum’s records management program.  Records management is an important part of the museum’s overall information governance strategy, ensuring the authenticity and availability of records over time, thus allowing the institution to achieve its mission. Museum records are managed according to the institutional records policy that defines the overall responsibilities for creating and maintaining records. This management includes the use of records retention schedules to define and manage both permanent and non-permanent records for each department. Strengths of the collection include records of the director’s office, board of trustees, exhibition files, May Show records, photographs, and architectural drawings. All other museum departments are represented at a comprehensive level dating to the early 20^th century. Significant manuscript collections include the papers of Frederick Miller, John Paul Miller, Frances Prindle Taft, and William Ward. Additional artist collections are also included in the archives.

Cooperative agreements affecting collecting

Although we have no formal agreements with other local archives, we routinely refer research patrons to more appropriate repositories.

Deaccessioning

Records scheduled for permanent retention are processed according to standard archival procedure which may include the disposal of certain types of materials.  However, whole scale deaccessioning of permanent records does not occur.

Policy Review
This collection development policy is reviewed and revised biennially.