New York State Museum Temporary Exhibit Planning and Design Files

B2647-18, B2647-19: Unarranged.

B2647-20: Mostly arranged by exhibit designer.

The Exhibit Design and Development division of the New York State Museum is responsible for planning, designing, and producing exhibitions on subject matter consistent with the Museum's mandate to document the state's natural and human histories and ensure this history is accessible to a general audience.

Between 1976 and 2011, the State Museum hosted approximately 390 temporary exhibits and each year staff work on approximately six to eight gallery exhibitions in addition to numerous smaller exhibit projects. While some temporary exhibits are completely organized and curated in-house, other exhibits are curated and borrowed from external organizations such as the Smithsonian Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Gallery Association of New York State. In some of these latter cases the exhibits were organized and/or funded by state agencies, including the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Department of Labor, State University of New York (SUNY) colleges, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

This series contains the planning and design files of temporary exhibits of the New York State Museum. Files include records of exhibits that were internally or externally sourced as well as travelling exhibits. Externally sourced exhibits were organized by outside organizations with limited or no curatorial involvement by State Museum staff. Records in this series include brochures, exhibit scripts, planning schedules, exhibit drawings, inventory lists, and publicity and press materials.

B2647-19: This accretion consists largely of posters, photographs, building plans, design sketches, and renderings of the New York State Museum, collected and/or created by former exhibit designer, Michael Gutbezahl. Photographs of State Museum exhibits formerly in the State Education Building are included as well as photographs, designs, and proposals for exhibits and the lobby of the Museum upon completion of the Cultural Education Center in 1976.

B2647-20: This accretion consists largely of design files created by New York State Museum exhibit designers/planners Ruthanne Brod, David Gould, Nancy Kelley, Gene MacKay, and Aaron Noble. Also included is a small collection of State Museum publications, a calendar of events and programs, and copies of the museum's magazine, Legacy. This accretion also contains a small amount of negatives, slides, and photographs of exhibit items and openings.

B2768Series B2768, New York State Museum Photographic Reference Files.

This series was transferred under RDAs 22786, 22787 and 22788.

B2647-19: These records were retained by former New York State Museum exhibit designer Michael Gutbezhal. They were donated to the New York State Archives in 2019.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.