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Government Information Sources: United States

National Galleries

Galleries

Archives of American Art (Smithsonian)
http://www.aaa.si.edu/

The Archives of American Art provides researchers with access to the largest collection of documents on the history of the visual arts in the United States. The collection totals more than thirteen million items, consisting of the papers of artists, dealers, critics, art historians, curators, administrators and the records of art dealers, museums, and other art-related businesses, institutions, and organizations.

U.S. Senate Catalogue of Fine Art
http://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/art_catalogue.htm 

Each work is illustrated with a color photograph and accompanied by essays and secondary images that place the work in historical and aesthetic context.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
http://ndm.si.edu/

The only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to the study of historical and contemporary design. The NDM investigates the uses, structures,effects and meanings of the products of design and their roles as forces for communication and change in our daily lives.

Freer Gallery of Art

http://www.asia.si.edu/

The Freer Gallery houses a world-renowned collection of art from China, Japan, Korea, South andSoutheast Asia and the Near East. Visitor favorites include Chinese paintings, Japanese folding screens, Korean ceramics, Indian and Persian manuscripts, and Buddhist sculpture.

Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (SI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art)
http://hirshhorn.si.edu/

A museum of modern and contemporary art whose original nucleus of more than 6,000 works was a gift from Joseph H. Hirshhorn, a self-made millionaire, financier and mining magnate (1899-1981).

National Museum of African Art Collections
http://www.nmafa.si.edu/

A leading center for the visual arts of Africa. The National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) fosters and sustains an interest in and an understanding of the diverse cultures in Africa as they are embodied in aesthetic achievements in the visual arts.

National Museum of American Art
http://www.nmaa.si.edu/

The largest resource in the world for the study of American art. The collection of works in all media reflects 200 years of American artistic achievement. Colonial portraiture, 19th-century landscape, American impressionism, 20th-century realism, New Deal projects, American crafts, contemporary photography, graphic arts, and the creativity of self-taught artists are featured in the museum's galleries.

National Portrait Gallery
http://www.npg.si.edu/index.htm

A free public museum for the exhibition and study of portraiture and statuary depicting men and women who have made significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of the people of the United States, and the artists who created such portraiture and statuary.