Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1962

Department of Fine Arts consists of internal art and artist lists, correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports. These files were begun under John Beatty's tenure and streamlined under Homer Saint-Gaudens' directorship to track activities directly related to the museum's interoffice affairs. Some of the discontinued files include research on the programming and business activities of other museums, remodeling and furnishing plans for the museum's galleries, and office supplier contact information. File headings retained under Saint-Gaudens focus on art considered and purchased for the permanent collection, employee records, exhibition proposals and loans, Fine Arts Committee minutes, museum programming and publications, press releases, requests for images, and requests for general information.

This series also includes information regarding the various educational programs for children and adults, including lectures, gallery talks, Saturday morning classes, fine art extension classes, guided tours, and outreach to local schools. Additionally, budget estimates, reports on employee tasks and assignments, resume submissions, Museum of Art general planning memoranda, and requests to the Carnegie Institute buildings and grounds department can also be found.

From 1907 to 1940, these files were originally boxed in two year periods, and within that, arranged numerically according to the star (*) filing number assigned by the Museum of Art. Records dating from 1895-1906 were boxed separately. All records have been rearranged into an alphabetical folder heading order with all the years merged and organized into chronological order.