Resources

One of Judy Chicago’s primary goals was to overcome the erasure of women’s achievements that is symbolically expressed in The Dinner Party, her monumental history of women in Western Civilization, now permanently housed at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

This page is intended to help students, scholars and museums locate aspects of Chicago’s oeuvre and her archives, which are split between her paper archives at the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Judy Chicago Art Education Collection and The Dinner Party K-12 Curriculum Project at Penn State University, her visual archives at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and a significant archive of Judy Chicago’s prints and works on paper at the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Together, these institutions will make possible a comprehensive view of Chicago’s artmaking, writings and educational theories.

Judy Chicago Research Portal

As part of her efforts to overcome the erasure that has eclipsed the achievements of too many women, Judy Chicago has placed her archives with four institutions. Her paper archives are at the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America at Harvard; her art education archive and The Dinner Party K-12 Curriculum Project reside at the Penn State University Libraries; her visual archives will be housed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; her comprehensive fireworks archive, including materials related to Chicago’s extensive bodies of work with colored smoke, dry ice, and fireworks, are part of the Center for Art + Environment Archive Collections at the Nevada Museum of Art; and, a significant archive of Judy Chicago’s prints and works on paper are held by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. These institutions have collaborated to create the Judy Chicago Portal which will make these archives available world wide.

https://judychicagoportal.org/

Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University

Among the Schlesinger Library’s extensive collection documenting second-wave feminism are the correspondence, journals, questionnaires, photographs, and textiles documenting Chicago’s personal and professional lives. The archive includes material pertaining to Chicago’s artworks, including the Birth Project, the Holocaust Project, and The Dinner Party. Most of the collection is open to researchers, and the searchable finding aid to the collection is available on-line.

https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library

Penn State University Libraries

Penn State University has acquired one of the most important private collections of feminist art education, The Judy Chicago Art Education Collection, housed in the University Archives in the Special Collections Library. The collection, open to the public, includes videos, photographs and notes on Chicago’s teaching projects and is complemented by The Dinner Party Online Curriculum Project, gifted to Penn State by Through the Flower. Penn State has developed an extensive website devoted to this collection, including the Curriculum, and Chicago’s Art Pedagogy.

http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/

The Dinner Party Curriculum Project

Launched by Through the Flower in 2009, The Dinner Party Curriculum was created by a team of curriculum writers spearheaded by Dr. Marilyn Stewart (with Dr. Peg Spiers and Dr. Carrie Nordland) in collaboration with Judy Chicago. Through a series of free, downloadable pdf files, teachers can learn how to integrate The Dinner Party into their classrooms. In 2011, Through the Flower gifted and endowed the curriculum to Penn State where it will be integrated into their art education program and made available on-line in perpetuity.

http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/dpcp/

National Museum of Women in the Arts

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women. The museum is currently working to assemble a representative collection of Chicago’s art. After her death, the museum will be the repository of her visual art archive, including slide files, card files and computerized data base, which will provide documentation of her long career.

http://nmwa.org/

Nevada Museum of Art

The Nevada Museum of Art holds Judy Chicago’s Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks Archive in their Center for Art + Environment. This archive contains materials from Judy Chicago’s work with dry ice, smoke flares, and fireworks to create distinct bodies of work spanning from 1967 to present. Materials include limited edition prints, photographs, digital images, slides, 16 mm films, correspondence, technical drawings, maps, notes, maquettes, garments, presentations, and press materials.

https://www.nevadaart.org/

The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation holds a significant archive of Judy Chicago’s prints and works on paper. The collection includes over 300 limited-edition prints, preparatory drawings and sketches, and copper plates.

https://www.jordanschnitzer.org/

Through the Flower

Through the Flower is a non-profit feminist art organization founded by Judy Chicago in 1978. Through the Flower’s mission is to highlight women’s achievements and empowers, educate, and inspire social change through art. It provides resource and research materials through its institutional partners to students and scholars worldwide.

http://www.throughtheflower.org/

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art

The Dinner Party is the centerpiece of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which is an exhibition and education center dedicated to feminist art—its past, present, and future. The Center’s mission is to raise awareness of feminism’s cultural contributions to educate new generations about the meaning of feminist art. The Sackler Center has detailed online information about The Dinner Party.

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa

Museum of Arts and Design

Through the generous gift of tapestry weaver Audrey Cowan and her husband Bob, the Museum of Arts and Design acquired the cycle of tapestries designed by Chicago and woven by Audrey Cowan, her longtime collaborator. The gift includes two major tapestries, The Creation and The Fall, from the Birth Project and the Holocaust Project, five other tapestries, and many of Chicago’s most important cartoons and studies. The Museum of Arts and Design also houses the archive documenting Audrey’s collaboration with Judy Chicago, providing a behind-the-scenes view of their creative process.

http://www.madmuseum.org/

New Mexico Museum of Art

A collection of Judy Chicago’s art that focuses on work created in New Mexico is being assembled at the New Mexico Museum of Art.

http://www.nmartmuseum.org/

ARTstor

This digital library with a database of images in the arts and sciences for research and teaching purposes, has approximately 400 images of Judy Chicago’s work.

http://www.artstor.org/