Judith Stein Collection, 1974-2001

2.5 linear feet; 4 containers
Since the beginning of her career in the 1970s, Judith Stein had written extensively and curated many exhibitions highlighting art and artists not typically part of the popular dialog, focusing on 20th century American artists. As a curator and writer, Stein has championed types of twentieth-century art as varied as self-taught artists, figural artists, and contemporary women artists. She received both her MA (67) and PhD (81) in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1994, Stein received the Pew Fellowship for Literary Nonfiction.

As evident from the articles in the Writings series of this collection, Stein has written for many popular journals and newspapers, including: Art in America, Art News, Arts, Connoisseur, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and the Village Voice. Much of her writings are connected to exhibitions she curated.

The collection is divided into eight series: Correspondence, Writings, Ephemera, Clippings, Slide, Artists’ Books, Print, and Cassette Tape. The most extensive part of the collection is a collection of copies of Stein’s published writings. The articles, which were published in both popular and scholarly journals, appear in the series as clippings, off-prints, and as part of the original periodical. Copies of around twenty articles, which Stein wrote for various journals, magazines, and newspapers, are from 1974 until 2000.

The ephemera were primarily pulled by Stein to send to the National Museum of Women in the Arts because of the materials’ relationship to women artists. The ephemera all relates to women artists, their art, and exhibitions of their art. Most of the ephemera in this series is from 2000. Also included is a single slide of an Oriole Farb lithograph called “4 generations” from 1980; two Artists’ Books -- square skyscapes by Jody Williams from 1990 and from 2000 a Jacob ’s ladder construction called Contact, numbered 19/100, by Kathryn Clark; and a single framed print of Ouzo by Maurie Kerrigan from 1989.

The collection is housed in four acid-free boxes at the Library and Research Center of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. With the exception of a few clippings on newsprint, which have become brittle, the collection is in good condition. The collection was donated by Dr. Stein periodically between 1996 and 2001.

Finding Aid for the Judith Stein Collection as PDF