The Archives serve as the institutional repository for the Center for Curatorial Studies and as a collecting repository which actively acquires, preserves, and provides access to a wide range of primary materials documenting the history of the contemporary visual arts and the institutions and practices of exhibition-making since the 1960s. The Archives are committed to collecting the physical and digital manifestations and documentary traces in their original formats, including archives and manuscripts, artifacts, books and publications, and other analog and digital media.
The Archives complement and enrich a range of research collections including the Hessel Museum of Art’s rich permanent collection and the holdings of the CCS Bard Library. The CCS Bard Library and Archives support research by a wide range of constituencies including students in the MA Program in Curatorial Studies, Bard College undergraduates, faculty, and other researchers and scholars whose work relies on access to primary resource materials.