A key component of the history of the University's art museum is its role in instruction and its function as a teaching museum. Not only does the history of exhibitions reflect periods of art and profiles of artists, but it also includes many exhibits that demonstrate how art is created. In the folder containing materials for the 1977 exhibit, "Intaglio Techniques," images mounted on thick boards that display the intaglio printmaking process were found:

I discovered a stack of Polaroids in the "Loans" file for the 1984 exhibition Southwestern Weaving Traditions: Past and Present. The images feature rugs and blankets being held up by their owners (I can only assume), and views of the items in the homes of the lenders. I'm not sure whether these weavings were loaned for the exhibition, but I find the casualness of the snapshots and the vivid (Polaroid-enhanced) colors of the rugs charming in and of themselves.

Exhibitions come and go quickly, so sometimes it's nice to look back and remember past accomplishments. These are a few of the catalogues we've found from exhibitions developed by the University Gallery in the latter half of the 1970s:

Animals from Legend and Life in Antique and German Porcelain, 1977
The Desert: Indian Art of the Southwest,1976
People of the Plains 1820-1850, 1978
Mimbres Painted Pottery, 1979
Once Upon a Time: Illustrations of Children's Tales from Around the World, 1979
The Mountains of Marsden Hartley, 1979

A few notes on... keeping notes.

Prior to the University's current Museum Studies graduate minor, a museology program was offered through the Department of Art History. The program, as well as a discussion of the field of museum work, is described in a July 3, 1975 article in the MN Daily titled, "Art interns: learning in a crowded field" (pg. 9).

From a folder of records documenting a course in museology at the University Art Museum in Spring 1985, a chart detailing The Planning, Designing, Construction, and Installation of Exhibitions: