McGarvey, Elsie Siratz, 1983

The Oral History Collection preserves first-hand accounts of the museum’s activities. This collection is comprised of transcripts, audio and video interviews with artists, museum staff, scholars, curators, and trustees.

The recording of oral histories began at the museum in the 1980s and restarted in 2006, with an informal series of interviews that included Henry Magaziner (a close friend of Julian Abele, a noted architect and co-designer of the museum’s Fairmount Building), Ella Schaap (Curator Emerita of Dutch Tiles), and Beatrice Garvan (Curator Emerita of American Decorative Arts).

In 2008, a formal Oral History Project for the museum was implemented. This project enabled the Library and Archives to record a series of professional interviews documenting the work those who have helped to shape the museum as we know it today.