Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-c654p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T22:02:37.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘A woman of university standing…’: the early history of the Tate Library

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Erica Foden-Lenahan
Erica Foden-Lenahan*
Affiliation:
Tate Library, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, UK
*
erica.foden-lenahan@tate.org.uk
Get access

Abstract

The title is taken from the Tate Board Minutes in 1929, where it was suggested that such a woman might offer to make a subject catalogue and new card index ‘without pecuniary remuneration’. It sums up the approach taken to the early development of the library within the gallery setting. The library’s position has always been determined by the Tate’s fortunes and reliant on the support of directors whose agendas were broader than the provision of a research library. This article, which is condensed from an MA dissertation, demonstrates how these varying agendas have affected the resources that have been available to the library and the corresponding effects on its collection and culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , 2002 , pp. 12 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 3, 25 January 1929, p.74.Google Scholar
2. Cundall, H. M. ‘The new Turner wing at the Tate Gallery.’ The Graphic 23 July 1910, p.132.Google Scholar
3. Cust, Lionel, ed. Catalogue of the National Gallery of British Art (Tate Gallery). London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, [c. 1898/9], p. 10.Google Scholar
4. National Gallery, Millbank. A record of ten years, 1917-1927. Glasgow: Robert Maclehose at the University Press, Glasgow, 1927, p.3.Google Scholar
5. Tate Board Minutes, 11 June 1907, p.153.Google Scholar
6. MacColl, D. S. ‘The future of the National and Tate Galleries.’ Nineteenth century and after, June 1915, p.1403.Google Scholar
7. Roberts, H. D. ‘The relations of library, museum and art gallery.’ Library Association record, vol. 1 series 4, March 1934, p.70.Google Scholar
8. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 1, 18 March 1919, p.373.Google Scholar
9. Tate Gallery Archive (TGA) Public Record Files, Advisory Bodies - Royal Commission on Museums & Galleries, box 073.Google Scholar
10. Borland, Maureen. D. S. MacColl: painter, poet, art critic. Harpenden, Herts.: Lennard Publishing, 1995, p.283.Google Scholar
11. National Gallery, Trafalgar Square & Millbank. Directors’reports 1928. London: HMSO, 1929, p.14.Google Scholar
12. Spalding, Frances. The Tate: a history. London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 1998, p.55.Google Scholar
13. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 2, 11 January 1928, p.232.Google Scholar
14. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 2, 7 March 1928, p.238.Google Scholar
15. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 2, 23 November 1928, p.270.Google Scholar
16. TGA Public Records Files - Thames flood damage & action, 1928-201.3, part 3.Google Scholar
17. TGA Public Records Files - Miscellaneous correspondence, series 1 - A5.62-158.Google Scholar
18. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 3, 25 January 1929, p.74.Google Scholar
19. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 3, 21 October 1929, p.299.Google Scholar
20. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 3, 25 November 1929, p.303.Google Scholar
21. London staff writers. ‘Activities of the Tate: collection increased by 900 works in 16 years’. Manchester Guardian, 8 October 1954, p.7.Google Scholar
22. Personal interview with Lady Elisabeth Waldegrave, 17 August 2000.Google Scholar
23. Spalding, 1998, op.cit., p.112–113.Google Scholar
24. Spalding, W8, op.cit., p.120.Google Scholar
25. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report: report of the Trustees for the year 1 April 1953 to 31 March 1954, with a brief survey of the period 1 January 1938 to 31 March 1953. London: HMSO, 1954, p.18.Google Scholar
26. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report of the Trustees 1964/5. London: HMSO, 1966, p:19.Google Scholar
27. Farr, Dennis. Personal interview with Corinne Bellow, 24 April 1991. Tate Gallery Archive audiovisual (TAV) 881 A.Google Scholar
28. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 11, 17 May 1956, p.28.Google Scholar
29. Personal interview with Maria White, 24 August 2000.Google Scholar
30. Personal interview with Waldegrave, op.cit., 17 August 2000.Google Scholar
31. Personal interview with Waldegrave, op.cit., 17 August 2000.Google Scholar
32. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report 1964/5. London: HMSO, 1966, p. 1.Google Scholar
33. Farr, , op.cit., 1991.Google Scholar
34. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report of the Trustees 1961/2. London: HMSO, 1962, p.10.Google Scholar
35. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report of the Trustees 1965/6. London: HMSO, 1967, p.9.Google Scholar
36. Tate Board Minutes, vol. 15, 20 September 1962, p.8.Google Scholar
37. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery Report of the Trustees 1957/8. London: HMSO, 1958, p.8.Google Scholar
38. Bell, Elizabeth. Personal interview with Corinne Bellow. 7 January 1991. TAV 903A.Google Scholar
39. Personal interview with Meg Duff, 12 July 2000.Google Scholar
40. Personal interview with Elizabeth Bell and Krzysztof Cieszkowski, 3 July 2000.Google Scholar
41. Ibid.Google Scholar
42. Personal interview with Krzysztof Cieszkowski, 3 August 2000.Google Scholar
43. Tate Gallery. Tate Gallery 1976/8: biennial report & catalogue of acquisitions. London: Tate Gallery Publications Department, 1978, p.75.Google Scholar
44. Symons, Antony. Personal interview with Corinne Bellow. 11 August 1993. Tate Gallery Archive audio-visual (TAV) 12 66A.Google Scholar
45. Ibid.Google Scholar
46. Ibid.Google Scholar
47. Bell, , op.cit., 1991. Tate Gallery Archive audiovisual (TAV) 90 3 A.Google Scholar
48. Cieszkowski, , op.cit., 3 August 2000.Google Scholar