Arts and Markets: Economic Histories of the Arts: Historical and Analytical Data

The Archives of American Art collects and makes accessible documents surrounding works of art such as artist's scrapbooks, letters, and dealer files. While some private musuems have also collected dealer records (most notably, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY), the AAA, part of the Smithsonian, will list collection-level records. They also attempt to microfilm and lend via interlibrary loan the records they hold.

Included on the Getty Research Institute site are Digital Collections containing high-resolution images and scans of books and archival papers; Collecting and Provenance Research with databases of archival documents, sales catalogs, and public collections; and Research Guides and Bibliographies, which include overviews of Research Institute collections and specialized areas of research.

Look up the auction firm (especially defunct dealers and houses) to learn where archives are held.