The MFAH has been awarded a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to plan the implementation of an electronic records archive. Over the next two years, grant funding in the amount of $47,820 will allow MFAH Archives and Information Technology to collaboratively explore emerging technologies for the preservation of electronic records. Supported by this grant, the MFAH plans to establish and document methods for electronic records preservation, in pursuit of a system that will be sustainable for museums and other smaller archival institutions.
As the first fine art museum to receive an Electronic Records grant from the NHPRC, the MFAH counts Mount Holyoke College, Hawaii State Archives, and Michigan State University among its current counterparts as recipient of funds in this category. Past recipients include Tufts University; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Emory University; Michigan State University; and the state archives of California, Georgia, Wyoming, Maine and Missouri. The MFAH is among 32 awardees in 7 categories and across 20 states and the District of Columbia, totaling $2.9 million in archives project recommendations awarded by the NHPRC this year for digitizing historical records, electronic records preservation, and historical documentary editions. Project categories recognized this year include Publishing Historical Records: Colonial and Early National Period, Publishing: Editing Fellowships, and Professional Development, and recipients of various awards include the Massachusetts Historical Society, New York State Education Department, and George Washington University.
Archivist David Ferriero is the Chairman of the Commission (celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2009), which includes representatives from all three branches of the Federal government as well as the leading archival and historical professional associations. The NHPRC is the grantmaking arm of the National Archives. It is the sole federal funding agency whose only focus is the documentary heritage of the United States. Established in 1934, the NHPRC awards grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to vital historical documents.
For a full list of NHPRC 2009 Recommended Grants, visit The National Archives website: http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2010/nr10-28-attachment.html
More information about the Archives department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is available at www.mfah.org.
MFAH Archives
Established in 1984 with a grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the MFAH Archives consists of more than 100 years of institutional records and 60 manuscript collections from individuals or organizations closely associated with the MFAH. Primary source material in the MFAH Archives chronicles not only the history of the MFAH, but also the artistic and cultural development of Houston and the larger art community. The MFAH Archives is an important resource for the establishment of provenance and in the preparation of catalogues raisonné, as well as for art historical literature, regional histories, and architectural surveys. The archival collection is also a valuable source of information about museum education and administration.
MFAH Collections
Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers nearly 60,000 works and embraces the art of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van Rijn´s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W. Turner, Albert Bierstadt´s Indians Spear Fishing (1862), distinguished work by the leading 20th- and 21st-century Latin American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.
MFAH Hours and Admissions
Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.—5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.—9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.—7 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:15—7 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday, except for holidays. Admission to this exhibition is included with general admission to the museum. General admission is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 6-18, students, and senior adults (65+); admission is free for children 5 and under. Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation. Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday for children 18 and under with a Houston Public Library Power Card or any other library card.
General Information
For information, the public may call 713-639-7300, or visit www.mfah.org. For information in Spanish, call 713-639-7379. TDD/TYY for the hearing impaired, call 713-639-7390. For membership information, call 713-639-7550 or email [email protected].
