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- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the subfonds.
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1931 - (Creation)
- Creator
- Vancouver Art Gallery Association - Curatorial Department
Physical description area
Physical description
45m of textual material
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
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Administrative history
The Curatorial Department of the Vancouver Art Gallery Association was established in 1970. Its main functions are to present innovative historical and contemporary exhibitions, manage the process of exhibition development, pursue original research, manage interpretation and publications, and to strategically enhance the Gallery’s collection.
The Curatorial Department and its functions as they exist today were administered by the Vancouver Art Gallery Association Exhibition Committee during 1931–1970. The Exhibition Committee, comprised of Association members and headed by a chairman, reported to the Council (now the Board of Trustees) on matters relating to the planning and administration of exhibitions. In 1943, A.S. Grigsby was granted the title of “Curator,” and was considered the first member of the Gallery’s professional staff. This marked the beginning of a professionalization of the Gallery, to keep in line with precedents set by art galleries in Canada and the United States at the time. Ostensibly, Grigsby was the first Curator of the Gallery in name, but had acted in the capacity of Gallery Director since 1931. The Curator worked alongside the Exhibition Committee and later, the Director, in the 1940s through to the 1960s.
In 1962, after a few years of inconsistent Chairmanship, a Temporary Policy Committee was convened in order to clarify the duties and responsibilities of all the committees appointed by the Council. It was decided in a new policy in 1962, that the Director would have more control over exhibition programming with less input from the Committee. For the next two years the Exhibition Committee did not function in the same official capacity as it had in previous years, and during 1964–1966 it was disbanded. In 1965, the inactive Exhibition Committee came under review by Curator Doris Shadbolt, and during the period of 1965–1966, she aided the Director in exhibition programming. In 1966, Director Richard B. Simmins expressed the opinion that the Exhibition Committee should be reactivated. By the next Executive Committee meeting, the Exhibition Committee was reinstated with James Macaulay appointed as Chairman. Notably, the Gallery professional staff, a growing number of assistant curators and curators, was deemed, “ex officio members of this committee.” The professional staff worked alongside the Exhibition Committee throughout the rest of the 1960s.
But it would not last long. At the Executive Committee Meeting held on April 9, 1970, Director Tony Emery, “told the Executive that the functions of the exhibition committee… [has] in fact been taken over by the professional staff and suggested that [they] dispense with these committees in the future.” Therefore, the curatorial staff gained control over the planning and mounting of exhibitions as a full-fledged Curatorial Department.
After Doris Shadbolt’s promotion to Assistant Director in the mid-1970s, the curatorial team found new leadership in Chief Curator, Alvin Balkind. By this time, the Curatorial Department had several trained curators who worked under his leadership. After the departure of Balkind in 1978, the Department functioned without a formal Chief Curator until the brief appointment of Willard Holmes in the mid-1980s.
In 1987, the Gallery began a “thorough review and reorganization of its programmes, policies and organizational structure.” Thus, the Curatorial Department became decentralized into two new agencies: the Exhibitions Division, headed by Nancy Kirkpatrick; and the Curatorial Division, headed by Senior Curators, Ian Thom and Gary Dufour. The divisions worked closely together for several years in the early 1990s. In 1995, the Curatorial Division, the Exhibitions Division (now Museum Services), and Public Programs Division were grouped together administratively and managed by the Chief Curator, Daina Augaitis (active from 1995–2017).
Custodial history
Scope and content
The Curatorial Department sous-fonds consists of records created by curators, assistant curators, curatorial assistants and administrative support staff, all of whom are involved in the planning of exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The sous-fonds is divided into two series: the Exhibition series, and the Administrative records series.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Some exhibition files were originally housed in the corresponding director's sous-fonds as an official curatorial department was not established until approximately 1960. As the files document curatorial activity, they were moved to the Curatorial Department sous-fonds at some point after 1998.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script note
The majority of the material is in English. Some correspondence is in French, German, and Italian.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access to the Curatorial Department sous-fonds is at the discretion of the Librarian/Archivist, in accordance with the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act and the Societies Act.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Complete finding aid can be accessed in person, under the discretion of the Librarian/Archivist.
Associated materials
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
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Access points
Subject access points
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Name access points
- Grigsby, Arthur Savell (Subject)
- Tyler, Gerald H. (Subject)
- Morris, Jerrold A. (Subject)
- Hume, Robert M. (Subject)
- Dale, William S. (Subject)
- Simmins, Richard B. (Subject)