Our library’s distinctive collections and installations are accessible to all.

Library

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As one of the major art reference libraries in the United States, we house materials dating from the 1400s to the present.

The approximately 285,000 auction catalogs, books, e-books, ephemera, periodicals, and online database subscriptions in the library reflect the museum’s collections, which focus on European, American, and Asian painting and sculpture; furniture and decorative arts; arms and armor; costume and textiles; prints, drawings, and photographs; and modern and contemporary art. We also provide the public with access to the museum’s images.

Additionally, our Archives provide documents and artifacts that chronicle the museum’s history. Visit Archives >>

LibGuides ● Search the Library and Archives ● Library Catalog ● Archives Catalog ● Databases ● Digitized Collections

Contact Us

For more information, to request image files, or to ask a reference question, please e-mail or call 215-684-7650.

If you need any kind of appraisal, please contact the American Society of Appraisers, P.O. Box 17265, Washington, D. C., 20041 at 1-800-272-8258 for a list of appraisers in a specific geographic area.

National Digital Stewardship Residency

From 2016–19, the museum, in partnership with ARLIS/NA, implemented a National Digital Stewardship Residency program for art information professionals through generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) via a 2016 Laura Bush 21st-Century Librarian Program grant.

The National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) program continues to foster digital information expertise through meaningful hands-on experiences. NDSR Art supports art librarians and visual resource curators in their endeavor to provide long-term, durable access to born-digital works of art and publications, images, institutional repositories, and interactive technologies. NDSR Art enhances skills to ensure quality access, presentation, and preservation of our digital cultural heritage for twenty-first-century users and future generations. Over the course of two years, eight residents were matched with host institutions across the country for twelve-month paid residencies.

Visit the NDSR Art website for more information.