Scope and Contents
Department and offices represented in the collection include Admissions; Communications; Student Affairs; the Dean’s Office; Development; Exhibitions and Public Programs; the Master of Fine Arts program; the Office of the Provost; the Board of Governors; and the SMFA School Council. Admissions materials mainly consist of records created by the office such as booklets and pamphlets about admissions. Communications Office records comprise office files as well as publications produced for other departments. The Dean’s Office records consist of correspondence, materials relating to the Board of Governors, meeting materials, proposals, reports, school budgets, and self-study materials for the SMFA. The Development records include Alumni Relations materials such as slides of artwork, as well as correspondence, reports, publicity material, meeting minutes, and donor information. The Master of Fine Arts program records contain admissions material, student records, and records documenting student life. The Office of the Provost records contain syllabi, faculty curricula vitae, and reports. Audiovisual materials consist of VHS, U-matic, and U-maticS tapes of lectures and exhibition pieces. Scrapbooks contain clippings, invitations, itineraries, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, tickets, and narrative descriptions of artwork, museums, and travel across Europe. 2021 and 2023 accessions contain various SMFA publications.
Dates
- 1875 -- 2023
- Majority of material found within 1960 -- 2010
Creator
Access
Conditions Governing Use
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Arrangement
Extent
681.5 Linear Feet (542 record cartons; 54 bound items; 6 card catalog boxes/12 drawers; 8 document boxes; 1 half document box; 6 oversize boxes; 5 card boxes; 1 oversize flat file; 1 artifact box; 1 index-card box; and 47 scrapbooks.)
1 Web sites
Language of Materials
English
Overview
Biographical / Historical
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) was established in 1876 when the Trustees of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) set aside rooms for an art school in the newly opened Copley Square building. Originally called the School of Painting and Drawing, in 1901 it was fully incorporated into the museum and renamed the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, sometimes called the Boston Museum School or simply the Museum School. In 1945, the SMFA and Tufts College began their partnership with a teacher training program. Additional programs and partnerships soon followed and in July 2016, the SMFA officially became part of Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences.
In 1876 the School of Painting and Drawing was established at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the new Copley Square building. Eight students were enrolled in 1877 and by 1879 the school had a total of 160 students, the majority of them women. Also in 1879, the Art Student Association was founded by students from the school; the Association later changed its name to The Copley Society which still operates today as the oldest non-profit art association in the nation. The Museum of Fine Arts moved in 1909 to a new location on Huntington Avenue and the school moved with it. In 1927, the school moved out of its buildings on the Museum of Fine Arts lot into the building designed by Guy Lowell at 230 The Fenway.
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts offered courses in drawing, graphic arts, painting, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, silversmithing, and commercial art. The curriculum was traditional, with foundation courses required in the first two years of the program. In 1968, however, faculty hierarchies were eliminated, all students had access to all courses, and the review board system (student artwork is judged at the end of the term by a board of staff and students, in place of grades) was put in place. More recently, the curriculum has expanded to include photography, video arts, and performance art. The school trained many well-known artists, including Cy Twombley (1928-2011), Jim Dine (1935-), and Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015).
The relationship between Tufts College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, or the “Museum School,” began in the 1943-1944 academic year when School of the Museum of Fine Arts Professor Russell T. Smith began to teach part-time at Tufts. In 1945, Tufts College of Special Studies and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts began a partnership which allowed students at Tufts to take electives in creative arts at the Museum School, and Museum School students to take education courses to be certified to teach art. The partnership was part of a larger effort to provide opportunities to students outside of the Tufts College campuses. The School of the Museum of Fine Arts was not accredited to give out degrees and instead granted diplomas and certificates while the Bachelor of Science in Education was conferred by Tufts College. The partnership expanded over the years and students from the Museum School were granted master’s as well as bachelor’s degrees from Tufts University.
In July 2016, the SMFA officially became part of Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences. The SMFA now offers both undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a 5-year dual-degree program (BA/BS and BFA).
Custodial History
Processing Information
The September 2016 accession was processed by Archives and Research Assistant Rose Koven under the supervision of Collections Management Archivist Adrienne Pruitt in Fall 2018. Loose materials and those materials in damaged original folders were placed in archival folders. Original folder titles were maintained where applicable, and materials were kept in the groupings and order in which they were received when possible. Materials were placed into series at the box level, and boxes were consolidated when appropriate. Loose admissions catalogs, course catalogs, exhibition catalogs, and publications were placed in the appropriate series. Duplicate and out of scope publications, non-permanent administration records, software training manuals, and promotional items such as stickers and luggage tags were deaccessioned. Folders of slides of artwork from series 7: Development were temporarily separated and treated for active mold.
During the Fall 2018 processing of the collection, materials were consolidated, resulting in boxes 55, 57, 62, and 66 being removed from the collection. Box numbering is therefore discontinuous.
Processing of the 2019 accession was completed by Archives and Research Assistant Allison Maier in Fall 2019, and was continued by Archives and Research Assistant Vanessa Formato in Spring 2020. A box-level inventory as well as series-level description were created by Records and Accessioning Archivist Jane Kelly and the finding aid was updated at the time of processing. During the Fall 2019 processing of the collection, materials were consolidated, resulting in boxes 490, 503, 528, 536, and 542 being removed from the collection. Box numbering is discontinuous.
The 2021 accessions were processed by Records and Accessioning Archivist, Jane Kelly, in September 2021 and February 2022. Loose material was placed in archival folders and original order was maintained.
2023 accessions were processed by Kate McNally, Records and Accessioning Archivist, in Spring 2023. Materials were housed in archival folders and boxes, and received order was maintained. Item-level description was created at the time of processing.
- Admissions and Recruitment Subject Source: Local sources
- Advancement Subject Source: Local sources
- Art--Study and teaching Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Curriculum and Instruction Subject Source: Local sources
- Curriculum and Instruction -- Student Work Subject Source: Local sources
- Greater Boston arts Subject Source: Local sources
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. School
- Teaching and learning Subject Source: Local sources
Repository Details
Part of the Tufts Archival Research Center Repository
35 Professors Row
Tisch Library Building
Tufts University
Medford Massachusetts 02155 United States
617-627-3737
archives@tufts.edu