Records of the University of Florida Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
Scope and Content
The records of the Harn Museum of Art document the planning, building, development and expansion of the Museum. The records span 1985 to 2010 with the bulk of the materials dating from 1985 to 1990, the period covering the planning, construction and opening of the Museum. The records include photographs, brochures, newspaper articles, press releases, site plans, floor plans and a small amount of correspondence. Also included are oral histories and interviews with founders, staff and other people who played a prominent role in the creation and early development of the Museum. There is one VHS tape recording of an interview and tour with Budd Bishop that made for the opening celebration in 1990.
Also included are exhibition files and correspondence from the 1950s concerning traveling exhibits loaned to the University of Florida's College of Architecture and Allied Arts from major institutions such as New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and others.
Dates
- Creation: 1932 - 2019
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1948-1960, 1983-2019
Creator
- Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. (Organization)
Access
University Archives collections are available for research. Portions of the collections may be restricted due to the requirements of applicable state and federal laws, including but not limited to FERPA and HIPAA, and in accordance with best practices as defined by the Society of American Archivists.
Biographical/Historical Note
The Harn Museum of Art is named in honor of Samuel Peebles Harn (1893-1957), whose family pledged the founding gift to the University of Florida for the museum's construction in 1983. The Museum opened to the public on September 20, 1990 with Budd Bishop as founding Director. The Harn Museum builds and maintains art collections and produces exhibitions and educational programs. Beginning in 2000, the family of David A. Cofrin and Mary Ann Harn Cofrin (daughter of the late Samuel P. Harn) significantly expanded the Museum through a series of major gifts to the University.
Extent
4.6 Linear feet (9 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Records and photographs related to the planning, building and early development of the Harn Museum at the University of Florida. Also includes older exhibition files belonging to the College of Architecture and Allied Arts dating from the 1950s.
Physical Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Acquisition Information
Transferred from the Harn Museum in 2010.
Subject
- Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. (Organization)
- Title
- A Guide to the Records of the University of Florida Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Lauren Barnett
- Date
- July 2011 (Updated June 2019; April 2026)
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Revision Statements
- June 2019: Exhibition material added from the College of Fine Arts accession.
- April 2026: Olivia Holland; added materials to Subseries 3 and 4
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu