Artists in Canada
Participating Institutions
Alberta Community Development, Arts Development Branch
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Calgary Public Library - Arts Department
Canadian Centre for Architecture - Library
Edmonton Art Gallery - Library
Hamilton Public Library - Fine Arts Department
London Public Library
McMichael Canadian Art Collection - Library and Archives
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Library
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal - Media Centre
National Archives of Canada - Documentary Art Library
National Gallery of Canada - Library and Archives
Thunder Bay Art Gallery - Resource Centre
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
Toronto Reference Library
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
University of Calgary Library
University of Manitoba - Architecture and Fine Arts Library
University of Prince Edward Island - Robertson Library
Vancouver Art Gallery - Library
Vancouver Public Library - Fine Arts and Music Division
Winnipeg Art Gallery - Clara Lander Library
Alberta Community Development, Arts Development Branch
Collection Management Unit
4th Floor, Beaver House
10158 103 ST
EDMONTON AB T5J 0X6
tel: (780) 427-6315
fax: (780) 415-0250
e-mail: barbara.johnston@gov.ab.ca
Started in 1978, the collection consists of approximately 650 vertical files that document the local art scene. An in-house card catalogue is available.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
1741 Hollis at Cheapside
P.O. Box 2262
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3C8
tel: (902) 424-7542
fax: (902) 424-7359
e-mail: dietzj@gov.ns.ca
Since 1973 the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has assembled a collection of over 1,500 vertical files. The material focuses on Canadian art, with a special emphasis on Nova Scotia, the Atlantic region, and folk art. The collection is accessible on the institution's database.
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
317 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G4
tel: (416) 979-6642
fax: (416) 979-6602
e-mail: library_archives@ago.net
In 1912 the Art Gallery of Ontario began sending questionnaires to Canadian artists and to artists active in Canada. These questionnaires formed the nucleus of the Canadian Artists Documentation Files, which today consist of over 12,000 files. They contain information on early-twentieth-century Canadian artists and contemporary artists, with a special focus on Toronto and Ontario. The files also contain resumés, exhibition announcements and invitations, newspaper clippings, exhibition catalogues, and other documentation provided by artists. The files are collected and managed as a permanent information resource, with older files microfilmed for preservation. An in-house card catalogue is available.
Calgary Public Library - Arts Department
616 Macleod Trail S.E.
Calgary, Alberta T2G 2M2
tel: (403) 260-2780
fax: (403) 262-5929
e-mail: arts&rec;@calgarypubliclibrary.com
The Calgary Public Library has vertical files that focus exclusively on Alberta,
with a special emphasis on artists from the Calgary area. As well as biography
files, there are historical files on Arts organizations in Calgary and Alberta.
Search the online catalogue to access the
collection at: http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/
Canadian Centre for Architecture - Library
1920 Baile Street
Montréal, Quebec H3H 2S6
tel: (514) 939-7000
fax: (514) 939-7020
e-mail: judy@cca.qc.ca
Started in 1985, the collection consists of approximately 750 files on Canadian architects and architectural firms, with a strong emphasis on Montréal. The files are catalogued in the RLIN database AMC file, and a list of the files is available at http://cca.qc.ca/New_Site/library/architects.html
Edmonton Art Gallery - Library
#2 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 2C1
tel: (403) 422-6223
fax: (403) 426-3105
The Edmonton Art Gallery Library has a collection of over 10,000 vertical files on regional contemporary painting and sculpture, contemporary photography, and early painting, sculpture, and printmaking.
Hamilton Public Library - Fine Arts Department
55 York Blvd,
P.O. Box 2700
Hamilton, Ontario
L8N 4E4
tel: (905) 546-3402
fax: (905) 546-3202
Initiated in the late 1890s, the Hamilton Public Library's collection consists of almost 1,300 vertical files on Canadian artists, with a special focus on local painters, sculptors, photographers, and artisans. An in-house index and an alphabetically arranged list of artists represented in the collection are available.
London Public Library
305 Queens Avenue
London, Ontario N6B 3L7
tel: (519) 661-4600
fax: (519) 663-5396
e-mail: pearl.santopinto@treasure.lpl.london.on.ca
The London Public Library's Canadian artists files include exhibition announcements, small exhibition catalogues, some mounted reproductions, and other ephemeral material. The collection, started in the 1960s, has a wide scope, encompassing early Canadian artists as well as contemporary local and regional artists. The files are indexed in an in-house database.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection - Library and Archives
10365 Islington Avenue
Kleinburg, Ontario L0J 1C0
tel: (905) 893-0344 ext.255
fax: (905) 893-2588
e-mail: linda_morita@mcmichael.on.ca
This collection of almost 3,000 vertical files documents twentieth-century Canadian artists, Inuit artists, and First Nations artists.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Library
P.O. Box 3000, Station H
Montréal, Quebec H3G 2T9
tel: (514) 285-1600
fax: (514) 285-5655
e-mail: biblio@mbamtl.org
The Library's collection began in the 1940s and currently includes over 16,000 documentation files, consisting of ephemeral material, posters, and small exhibition catalogues, as well as newspaper clippings up to 1994.
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal - Media Centre
185 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Montréal, Quebec H2X 3X5
tel: (514) 847-6906
fax: (514) 847-6916
e-mail: michelle_gauthier@infopuq.uquebec.ca
The Media Centre has a collection of over 10,500 vertical files, consisting of newspaper clippings, invitations, posters, letters, and small exhibition catalogues. Contemporary art is represented in a wide variety of media, including applied arts, drawing, graphic arts, painting, performance art, photography, printing, sculpture, and video art. A list of the vertical files is available at media.macm.qc.ca/dosdoca.htm.
National Archives of Canada - Documentary Art Library
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N3
tel: (613) 996-7768
fax: (613) 992-3744
e-mail: emajor-marothy@archives.ca
The collection of the Documentary Art Library includes over 3,000 files. Started in the mid-1960s, it consists of biographical information, research material, newspaper clippings, and auction records. Its particular strength is historical Canadian art to 1970, specifically caricaturists and early photographers.
National Gallery of Canada - Library and Archives
380 Sussex Drive
P.O. Box 427, Station A
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 9N4
tel: (613) 990-0585
fax: (613) 990-9818
e-mail: art@gallery.ca
Since the 1920s, the staff of the National Gallery of Canada has been collecting documentation in a number of areas. Today the collection contains over 34,000 files on artists working in all media in the visual arts, encompassing artists born in Canada as well as those born elsewhere who have worked in Canada. The files include material such as newspaper clippings, exhibition notices, press releases, posters, articles from non-art periodicals, unindexed periodicals, documentation received from artists (including curricula vitae), and other printed ephemera. Information forms, usually completed by the artists themselves, may also be found in the files. These forms contain basic biographical information and a brief summary of the artist's education and professional activities. All Canadian artist files are listed in the on-line version of Artists in Canada at bibcat.gallery.ca/screens/opacmenu.html.
Thunder Bay Art Gallery - Resource Centre
P.O. Box 10193
Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6T7
tel: (807) 577-6427
fax: (807) 577-3781
e-mail: tbagchin@tbaytel.net
This collection of over 1,000 documentation files was begun in 1981 and is devoted exclusively to First Nations artists in Canada. An in-house guide is available.
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
840 First Avenue West
Owen Sound, Ontario N4K 4K4
tel: (519) 376-1932
fax: (519) 376-3885
e-mail: ttm-chin@bmts.com
The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery's collection of vertical files focuses on Tom Thomson and his contemporaries, including the Group of Seven, as well as some regional artists. The Gallery has been collecting material since 1967.
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario M4W 2G8
tel: (416) 393-7131
fax: (416) 393-7147
e-mail: from the website: www.tpl.toronto.on.ca
The Toronto Reference Library started collecting material on Canadian artists in the 1960s. Today, researchers have access to nearly 10,000 files that document historical and contemporary Canadian art. The collection has a wide scope, encompassing artists working in the fine arts, crafts, design, and new media arts.
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
1961 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1
tel: (604) 822-3943
fax: (604) 822-3335
e-mail: d.vanessa.kam@ubc.ca
The Fine Arts Library has been collecting files of newspaper clippings, press releases, pamphlets, bibliographies, and small exhibition catalogues on Canadian artists since 1958. Its collection of vertical files contains information on contemporary artists, especially local painters, sculptors, and architects.
University of Calgary Library
VLT 918
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
tel: (403) 220-3795
fax: (403) 282-6837
e-mail: nasserde@ucalgary.ca
The collection of the University of Calgary Library includes over 4,500 vertical files on local and other Canadian artists, as well as on contemporary and lesser-known twentieth-century artists. The collection, started in 1974, has a wide scope, encompassing artists working in all visual arts media. An in-house card catalogue is available.
University of Manitoba - Architecture and Fine Arts Library
Room 206, Russell Bldg.
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
tel: (204) 474-8447
fax: (204) 474-7539
e-mail: liv_valmestad@umanitoba.ca
The collection of the Architecture and Fine Arts Library includes over 200 vertical files on Manitoba artists, architects, and designers. The collection also documents anyone associated with the Manitoba art scene. A list of the vertical files is available at: www.umanitoba.ca/academic_support/libraries/units/archfa/vf.html.
University of Prince Edward Island - Robertson Library
550 University Avenue
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island C1A 4P3
tel: (902) 566-0536
fax: (902) 628-4305
e-mail: slloyd@upei.ca
The Robertson Library's collection of files on Canadian artists is part of the larger Prince Edward Island Collection established in 1971. An in-house card catalogue through 1997 is available.
Vancouver Art Gallery - Library
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 2H7
tel: (604) 662-4709
fax: (604) 682-1086
e-mail: library@vanartgallery.bc.ca
The Vancouver Art Gallery Library has been documenting the local art scene since 1963. The over 5,000 files in the collection contain ephemeral material as well as small exhibition catalogues, resumés, unpublished papers, letters, and photographs.
Vancouver Public Library - Fine Arts and Music Division
350 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 6B1
tel: (604) 331-3700
fax: (604) 331-3701
e-mail: e-mail form available on Web page at: www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca
The Vancouver Public Library has a collection of approximately 4,000 vertical files on artists living or working in British Columbia. A selective in-house card catalogue is available. A list of the vertical files is available at www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/art/cabcrev.html.
Winnipeg Art Gallery - Clara Lander Library
300 Memorial Boulevard
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 1V1
tel: (204) 786-6641 ext 237
fax: (204) 788-4998
e-mail: librarian@wag.mb.ca
Over the years the Clara Lander Library has gathered approximately 8,000 files on Canadian artists. The collection focuses primarily on Prairie artists. An in-house index is available.