Author: admin

New Acquisition! The Giuseppe Donato collection

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Contributed by: Hoang Tran, Director of Archives

The Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives is excited to announce the recent acquisition of the Giuseppe Donato collection. Donato (1881-1965) studied at PAFA from 1897 to 1903. After completing his training at PAFA, he traveled to Paris to study under the great sculptor Auguste Rodin. Returning to America, he had many public art commissions including the west pediment of the1940 Philadelphia Municipal Court and a statue completed in 1946 of Thomas Fitzsimmons, one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution, which stands today in Philadelphia’s Logan Square.

The collection provides comprehensive documentation of Giuseppe Donato’s career as a sculptor from 1897-1965. Black and white photographs make up the bulk of the collection but correspondence and clippings also provide contextual information to Donato’s sculpture projects throughout his career.

Researchers can view the finding aid here.

We’re Moving! Relocating the library, archives, and works on paper collection!

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Contributed by: Hoang Tran, Director of Archives

External access to PAFA’s archives, library, and works of art on paper collection has been temporarily suspended so staff can plan the relocation project–cleaning, inventorying, and rehousing were all needed to be done before anything could be moved.

The Arcadia Fine Arts Library has the easiest move. Already situated on the third floor of the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, they only have to move upstairs to the newly renovated fifth floor which was previously PAFA’s “attic” where the institution stored unused suplies, furniture, and other random objects.

Moving the archive and works on paper art collections requires more planning and a bit of luck! Since both collections are located in the lower levels of the Historic Landmark Building, we will be moving the collection across the street in the middle of winter!

It was decided that the archives should move first for a number of reasons. First, all archival collections are boxed and in stable condition. Second, it will give staff more time to inventory and rehouse the art collection. Third, moving the archives serves as a trial run so we can establish a better workflow when we move the art. Also, compared to the 1,000+ framed art and 10,000 unframed works on paper, the archives is a much smaller collection to move (300 books, 800 linear feet of boxes).

We expect the physical relocation process to take one month. Another month or two to have the collections acclimate and situated in their new home. We are aiming to resume operations on June 5, 2016. Please stay tuned for new updates!