Subject Area: Art & Fashion
The Art & Fashion collection at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library supports the Clark Atlanta University Department of Art, The Morehouse College Department of Visual Arts, and the Spelman College Department of Art & Visual Culture.
The Clark Atlanta University Department of Art offers a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art with General Studio concentration, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art with Advertising Design concentration, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fashion with Fashion Design concentration, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fashion with Merchandising concentration. The department offers a minor in Art, a minor in Fashion Design, and a minor in Merchandising.
The Morehouse College art program offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts with a concentration in either Studio Art or Art History. These programs are offered through a partnership with Spelman College.
The Spelman College Department of Art & Visual Culture offers majors and minors in art, documentary filmmaking, and photography. It also offers a minor in Art History and a Curatorial Studies Program. Students from Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College can also study Art History and Curatorial Studies through the AUC Art Collective.
Languages
Collecting is done predominantly in English.
Chronological Coverage
There are no chronological limitations. Special effort is made to keep the fashion content as current as possible.
Geographical Coverage
There are no geographical limitations. Special effort is made to include material about art and artists in the United States and the African Diaspora.
Scope
The collection encompasses a wide range of visual arts, including traditional art, photography, and video art. It encompasses art history and curatorial studies. It encompasses fashion design and merchandising.
Formats collected include monographs, serials, electronic resources, and audiovisual material. The types of materials collected include reference works, art catalogs, works on private collections and exhibitions, and pattern books. Electronic resources include traditional databases, and specialized databases like Artstor and Kanopy Streaming Video.
There is a strong representation of African, African-American, and female artists in the Art collection. The large size of some of the books poses storage and care issues. The fashion collection benefits from a generous budget. The rapid pace of the subject causes obsolescence in many books quite quickly. Additionally, the lack of diversity in the fashion and modeling world pose a challenge in finding inclusive material.
A definitive focus is placed on collecting scholarly works on African, African American, and women’s contributions to art and fashion. An effort is made to buy fashion material that will have the longest relevance as possible. Materials about trends or defunct styles are avoided, unless they are used in forecasting.