Name of repository
Harvard Fine Arts Library, Slides and Digital Images
Address
32 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Spruill Harder, Manager of SDI Public Services and Digital Imaging Lab
Telephone
617-495-4982
Fax
617-496-4889
Email
faviscol@fas.harvard.edu
Description of the Fine Arts Library
The Fine Arts Library is the primary resource for the study of the history
of art and related disciplines at Harvard University. Initially conceived
as part of the Fogg Museum, the Fine Arts Library's rich heritage and
unparalleled collections provide a valuable resource for Harvard University
students and faculty, as well as for the greater art history community.
The Library's holdings encompass more than one million items, providing
scholars with access to an exceptional variety of printed materials,
visual images and special collections. http://hcl.harvard.edu/finearts/
Description of Image Holdings: Slides and Digital Images
The Slides and Digital Images Collection forms a remarkable resource
for teaching and research, documenting the entire range of works of
art and architecture from prehistoric times to the present. This study
collection is open to the Harvard community; upon special arrangement
the collection may also be consulted by outside users. The collection
of 35mm slides currently numbers over 750,000. The collection continues
to grow, responding to and anticipating the evolving needs of the users
as well as taking advantage of developing technology. Approximately
160,000-250,000 slides circulate per semester, supporting 25-30 classes.
We acquire, catalog and digitize between 20-25,000 slides per year.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/finearts/sdi.html
What's in VIA?
Work on automating the cataloging of images in the Slides and Digital
Images department began in 1996. The records currently available on
VIA represent a portion of the images available. In 2003 the department
undertook a large retrospective data conversion project of core holdings
in Western art. As a result cataloging data for approximately 200,000
slides representing around 90,000 works of art have been converted
and are available through VIA. In addition cataloging data for all
images acquired since 1996 is in VIA, along with images for a major
portion of these.
How we use VIA
Each Slides and Digital Images work record in VIA represents an original
work of art, architecture, or archaeological site, for example a painting
(“Mona Lisa”), a specific building (“The Flatiron
Building” in New York) or a specific area (“Angkor Wat” in
Cambodia). The work record contains information pertaining to the original
item, including artist or architect, location of the original, date(s)
of the original, etc. In the case of archaeological sites, one area
may be broken down into several records, depending upon the complexity
(for example, Angkor Wat is broken down into specific sites including
Angkor Thom, Baksei Chamkrong, etc.). Associated with each work record
are one or more surrogate records. The surrogate represents the physical
slide which is housed in the Fine Arts Library slide collection. The
surrogate record information includes the classification number which
can be used to locate the physical slide.
Permissions
The digital copy of any Fine Arts Library slide image found in VIA is
for personal use only, and may not be sold, loaned, copied or published
without the express permission of the Fine Arts Library, Harvard College
Library, Harvard University.
Reproduction
For any use of this image in any medium, please contact the Fine Arts
Library.
Copyright
The President and Fellows of Harvard College make no representation that
they are the owner of the copyright; any researcher wishing to make
such use of the image must therefore assume all responsibility for
clearing reproduction rights and for any infringement of Title 17 of
the United States Code
