Sponsored Research
The Kress Foundation has commissioned timely studies of topical issues related to the disciplines of art history, art conservation, and art museums. We present the results of these studies here, as well as other relevant studies the Foundation has supported.
Sponsored Research
August 2024
Technical Art History: An Interdisciplinary Journey into the Making of Art
Written by Erma Hermens and supported by the Kress Foundation and the Rijksmuseum, this report evaluates the field of Technical Art History through interviews and an assessment of past and present developments.
Sponsored Research
October 2023
AAMG 2022 Operational Data Collection
In 2022, the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG), with Wilkening Consulting, conducted a comprehensive survey of academic museums and galleries in the United States. This is the first survey of its kind to specifically assess the academic museum sector.
Sponsored Research
February 2023
OCLC Sustaining Art Research Collections
Sustaining Art Research Collections is an outcome from the Operationalizing the Art Research Collective Collection project. The concept for this report originated in a 2019 discussion of challenges facing art research libraries between members of the OCLC Research Library Partnership (RLP).
Sponsored Research
April 2022
Art Museum Director Survey 2022: Documenting Change in Museum Strategy and Operations
In April 2022, in partnership with the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums, Ithaka S+R launched the second iteration of the Art Museum Director Survey. This survey focuses on issues of governance, leadership, strategy, collections, public engagement, staffing, and budgets and revenue.
Sponsored Research
April 2021
The Task Force for the Protection of University Collections: A Ready Reference Guide
The AAMC has published The Task Force for the Protection of University Collections: A Ready Reference Guide for Academic Museum Professionals. This Guide outlines the purpose of the Task Force and seeks to provide museum personnel with a basic roadmap as they begin to navigate the challenges related to voluntary deaccessions.
Sponsored Research
November 2020
Ithaka S+R Art Museum Director Survey 2020
Ithaka S+R’s inaugural Art Museum Director Survey was developed in partnership with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). This data reveals the state of the field as it entered into a crisis, and the 2020 survey constitutes a benchmark and provides evidence of the perspectives of art museum directors immediately preceding COVID-19.
Sponsored Research
March 2016
Charting the Digital Landscape of the Conservation Profession
This study presents the results of a year-long series of activities (research, a community survey, discussion forums, interviews, and an analysis of online resources) to map the digital landscape as it exists today, and to identify strategic investments in the environment that will serve the community and help it flourish as a profession.
Sponsored Research
July 2014
NAEA-AAMD Research Study: Impact of Art Museum Programs on K-12 Students
This study by the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Museum Education Division and its partner, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), investigates the question, What are the benefits to students of engaging with original works of art within the context of object-based art museum programs that take place during the formal school day?
Sponsored Research
April 2014
Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Art Historians
This study, funded by the Getty Foundation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, looks at how art historians' research practices are evolving in the digital age.
Sponsored Research
October 2012
The Campus Art Museum: A Qualitative Study
This study, focused on seven campus art museums that received Kress Collections decades ago, examines the manifold contributions of academic art museums to the academic and personal lives of college and university communities.
Sponsored Research
June 2012
Transitioning to a Digital World: Art History, Its Research Centers, and Digital Scholarship
This study presents the results of a survey of the art history profession’s attitudes toward digital art history and its relationship to key art history research centers.
Sponsored Research
June 2010
Copyright, Museums and Licensing of Art Images
This study analyzes the policies and terminology United States art museums employ in licensing images of objects in their collections.
Sponsored Research
June 2010
Analysis of Trends in Art History Publishing from University Presses
This study seeks to understand trends in the monographic output of university presses in a specific discipline: visual arts and architecture; and to do so at a level of detail that is meaningful for the discipline’s specialties.