MCN 2024

This talk will give an overview of the creation of the Judy Chicago Research Portal, a cross-institutional collaboration to provide access to the archives of a prominent feminist artist on one website. Judy Chicago is a ground-breaking feminist artist who has been active as an artist and an arts educator since the 1960s. Her archives are held at four different institutions: two large university libraries and two museums in different parts of the country. These organizations formed a collaborative to create an online portal, hosted by one of the large university libraries, where selections from each of their distinct collections are accessible to researchers, scholars, curators, educators, and students through an easy-to-use interface. A fifth institution, a private foundation, which holds a complete collection of Chicago’s prints, also contributed records. The project represents a model for collaboration, iterative development, and improving access and discoverability for both feminist art archives and for collections at smaller institutions.

The partner organizations were united in ensuring that the unique history of feminist art and the artist’s significant contributions to this unique field were not lost in the archives. Through the portal’s inviting and welcoming interface, primary documents—artworks, photographs, manuscripts, and correspondence—from the artist’s 60-year career are accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Rather than being sequestered in multiple archives, The artists’ papers and artworks are easily available to inspire and educate new generations of students, artists, curators, and researchers. This includes collaborative curricula from her Feminist Art Program. By providing free and widely available access to educational materials on feminist art, our poster supports The Global Campaign for Education’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (inclusive & equitable education) and Goal 5 (gender equity, empowering women and girls).

We have developed infrastructure to support a network, that includes implementing a Drupal portal, setting up static and dynamic data exchange, and designing search and discovery tools that can effectively navigate aggregated content. This work was challenging, and we are ready to discuss how we scaled the infrastructure to accommodate the growing volume of digital assets and the evolving needs of the user community.

In addition, the presentation will cover the various aspects of building a comprehensive network in collaboration with others. This includes negotiating shared objectives, coordinating digitization efforts, and establishing process flows to manage and expand the network over time. The Judy Chicago Research Portal will serve as a practical example of this process, highlighting the importance of clear communication, mutual respect for each partner's unique contributions, and a shared commitment to the project's overarching goals.