WAM Files Phase II began this summer, an archival and interpretive project that will make archival records accessible. These curatorial, educational, and administrative records, office files and museum staff correspondence, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera will give the public a secret window into WAM’s past and present.

On loan from the University of Minnesota Archives in Elmer L. Andersen Library, The WAM Files: Art of the Archives presents the first forty years of the museum’s history as told through its scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, and other printed historical documents. Showcasing the real items first featured on The WAM Files blog, the exhibition seeks to consider how the past is articulated through different and changing technologies.

The WAM Files exhibit features a series of exhibition posters from the 1960s that can all be attributed to the same artist/designer. The name "Robert Clark Nelson" is found in small type on the edges and corners of several posters created to promote University Gallery exhibitions throughout the decade.

For the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the University Gallery, the retired former director, Ruth Lawrence, was asked to compile a history of the University of Minnesota's Gallery of Art. In 24 typewritten pages, Ruth outlined the origin -- and resulting ebbs and flows -- of the gallery as she had experienced it. At the end of "Mrs. Lawrence's 25 Yr. Report," in a final paragraph titled, "Flowers to the Living," Ruth expressed her gratitude to those who had contributed to the growth and development of the gallery over the years:

Upon reading the news of the recent passing of Jerome Liebling, photographer and former U of M art faculty member, I looked back through the WAM Files to see if his work had been featured in an exhibit at the University Gallery.

Thanks to the keen eyes and wits of the University Archives staff, we found a trove of posters for University Gallery exhibitions throughout its history. They are beautiful remembrances of the shows, particularly many of the colorful posters from the 1960s. We'll be featuring some of these posters throughout the next few months, along with images from the gallery and openings.

Packing artwork or other delicate artifacts is something of an art itself, and museums need to have it down pat. The objects must fit snugly and be protected from jostling and the elements. This is particularly tricky with traveling exhibits, such as this 1984 show Making America Strong: World War II Posters, created by the University Art Museum. These polaroids document the behind-the-scenes packing process (or perhaps unpacking, it's hard to tell!) of the framed posters at the Museum.

Clip. Snap. Pull. Snip.

The little staple remover separated papers that contained private or confidential information. The WAM Files project staple remover was a happy little staple remover for she had such a "jolly load" of confidential materials to separate!

Another early look into the composition and content of the exhibit spaces of the University Gallery in Northrop Auditorium is captured in these photos of the Institute of Design Exhibition, held January 26-February 25, 1948.

According to a UM News Release from January 20, 1948 (Digital Conservancy), the exhibit was "a comprehensive exhibition of almost 300 examples of work done by faculty members and students of the Institute of Design in Chicago."

Minnesota is home to a large number of descendants of Scandinavian and Finnish immigrants. Folks here love their pickled herring and carved Swedish horses. I'm sure this popular interest in the heritage and history served as an impetus behind the University Gallery's 1979 exhibition Scandinavian Wood. The exhibition, which also toured to other locations in the Midwest, showcased the ornate woodworking crafts of the Scandinavian and Finnish tradition. The catalogue states:

Ever walked by a mural and wondered about the history behind it—who painted it and why? In a folder titled simply "WPA", I found materials meticulously documenting the locations and conditions of WPA murals made in Minnesota. Artists painted these historic murals during the Great Depression as part of the economic relief provided by the Work Progress Administration.

"Too nice a day. Everybody at beach." This was one of the comments recorded in 1966 by a University Gallery guard on a lazy Sunday in June. I found a stack of these comment cards in the files, giving a little window into the thoughts of those silent sentries. The guards were asked to fill out cards evaluating the events of their shift, on Sundays and during Friday night concerts in Northrup Auditorium, downstairs from the gallery. (These were presumably times when other gallery workers were not present).

Remember those oversized floppy disks from the 1970s and 1980s? I do (barely), but they still looked strange and almost comical when I came upon a trove of them in the WAM files. It's been decades since I've seen one, or a machine that could read one, so I wondered if there is a way to retrieve the information they hold.

A polaroid from July of 1993 features a small scale model of the Weisman Art Museum interior, which opened in November of that year. This represented a huge step for the University Art Museum—after 59 years of being housed in Northrop Auditorium's upper floors, and many false starts at finding funds for another building, the museum was about to move into a world-class architectural wonder.

To celebrate the invention of the balloon in 1783, the University Art Museum held a bicentennial exhibition in 1983... and collaborated with other arts organizations to provide events that featured the art, technology, and history of - the balloon.