Inventory

Swope Art Museum Collection
Dates:  1949-2002
Accession Number:  20050511
Description:  Two document cases

History

The Sheldon Swope Art Gallery opened in 1942 in the Swope Block building on the northwest corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets in Terre Haute, Indiana.  The museum is named after a prominent Terre Haute jeweler of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  In his will, written in 1903, Swope specified that, “a public art gallery to be known as and called the Sheldon Swope Art Gallery shall be established in Terre Haute.”  Swope also specified that art work be purchased and, “displayed publicly and free of charge to all residents of Terre Haute and Vigo County, Indiana, forever.”

When it opened in 1942, the core of the Swope Art Gallery collection was American art with works by Grant Wood, Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton and others.  In the ensuing years the Swope collection expanded to include pre-Columbian art and works from Europe, Asia, Africa and the South Pacific.

In the late 1980s, the Swope expanded from its second floor location to encompass the entire Swope Block building and changed its name from the Sheldon Swope Art Gallery to the Sheldon Swope Art Museum.

Content and Scope of Collection

This collection consists of newsletters, press releases, publicity flyers, calendars of events, newsletters, program announcements, exhibit announcements and exhibit catalogs.  These materials were originally part of the Community Affairs Files in the Library's Special Collections Department.

Document Case 1
Folder 1	Capital Funds Campaign booklet   (includes a history of the Museum)	ca. 1974
	Informational brochures	ca. 1960s-1970s
Folder 2	Bulletins and Calendars	1961-1965
Folder 3	Calendar of Events	1972-1977
Folder 4	Calendar of Events	1978-1979
Folder 5	Press Releases	1961-1969, 2000
Folder 6	Program announcement flyers	1998-2001
Folder 7	Newsletter	1980-1981
Folder 8	Newsletter	1982-1984
Folder 9	Newsletter	1992-1995 1998-1999
Folder 10	Newsletter	1999-2002
Folder 11	Women's Division of the Sheldon Swope   Art Gallery: Handbook	1972-1978
Folder12	Alliance of the Sheldon Swope Art   Gallery:  Handbook	1979,
	Alliance of the Sheldon Swope Art   Gallery:  Newsletter	1996, 1997
Folder 13	Exhibit announcements and catalogs	1949, 1951
Folder 14	Exhibit announcements and catalogs	ca. 1961-1968
Folder 15	Exhibit announcements and catalogs	1969-1974
Document Case 2
Folder 1	Exhibit announcements and catalogs	1975-1979
Folder 2	Exhibit announcements and catalogs	1980-1993
Folder 3	Wabash Valley Exhibition:  catalogs	1961-1973
Folder 4	Wabash Valley Exhibition:  catalogs	1976-1978
Folder 5	Wabash Valley Exhibition: catalogs	1979-1984, 1999