The Allen Memorial Art Museum is committed to achieving the highest standards of visual literacy, integrating the collections more thoroughly into the college curriculum, and fostering interdisciplinary connections. To this end, the museum supplements and supports classroom and one-on-one interactions between faculty and students in a wide range of departments to develop programs that enhance students’ educational experience through the study of original objects.

Curricular Support
Researching the Collection
Faculty Events
Share Your Expertise

CURRICULAR SUPPORT
Faculty are encouraged to teach directly from works in the AMAM's collection whenever possible. The experience of looking at art in terms of its historical, philosophical, and cultural contexts adds an important dimension to students’ specific areas of study and to their successful lives at Oberlin and beyond.

Classes are routinely held in the AMAM galleries and in the Wolfgang Stechow Print Study room. In the Arts and Sciences, the museum has hosted classes from such departments as African-American Studies, Art and Art History, Biology, Cinema Studies, Classics, East Asian Studies, English, French, Gender and Women’s Studies, Geology, Hispanic Studies, History, Religion, Rhetoric and Composition, Russian, and Spanish. In the Conservatory of Music, faculty from Historical Performance, Musicology, and Music Theory have all used the collection as a key component of their teaching.

In addition to class visits, the Curator of Academic Programs welcomes proposals for museum-based courses, teaching exhibitions, First Year Seminars, Winter Term Projects, symposia, or other faculty collaborations that make use of the AMAM’s extensive holdings. Moreover, digital images from the museum's collection can now be placed online in conjunction with Oberlin College classes.

• Class Visits: Click here for detailed information on bringing your class to the galleries, the Wolfgang Stechow Print Study Room, or Frank Lloyd Wright's Weltzheimer/Johnson House.

• Student Assignments: Appointments to select objects for student assignments or examination papers may be made two weeks in advance through Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at ext. 58645.

Space permitting, works of art may be placed on view in the galleries for student assignments when requested by a faculty member one semester in advance. Otherwise, three 3-hour time slots may be set aside in the Print Study Room for student viewing throughout the semester.

Our galleries are not static, and works are frequently rotated off view due to conservation concerns or loan to other institutions. Consequently, if you plan to focus a course around, or assign students to write about, a work currently on view, it is important that you inform the Curator of Academic Programs well before the semester begins. If it becomes necessary to de-install or relocate that object we will make every effort to notify you.

• First Year Seminars: Looking at objects in the AMAM collection can be an excellent enhancement to First Year Seminars, which ask students to think creatively and build connections across disciplines. Professors from Art and Art History, Biology, English, Hispanic Studies, History, and Religion have used original works of art in previous seminars. To discuss ideas for your seminar, please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at ext. 58645.

• Winter Term: In addition to our annual Student Docent Practicum, we welcome proposals for individual or group Winter Term projects that make use of the collection and offer students a concentrated experience in museum-based learning. Please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at ext. 58645 to discuss the possibilities.

• Teaching Exhibitions: Faculty are encouraged to organize teaching exhibitions in the Ripin Print Gallery to accompany Oberlin College courses. These focused installations provide students with ongoing access to visual material throughout the semester. In addition, they provide opportunities to highlight new directions in scholarship and share those ideas with our broader public. Please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at least six months in advance to discuss your proposal. If it can be accommodated, she will work with you to develop your idea, select appropriate objects, and help with the final exhibition installation.

Past exhibitions include:

The Cultured Landscape in China and Japan: Organized by Art Professor Chung-Lan Wang for use in her course, “Landscape and Culture in Early Modern East Asia.”

Expressions of the Literati in Suzhou: Organized by Andrew Feng (OC'07) with Professor Chung-Lan Wang.

Illuminated Manuscripts from the Thirteenth through Sixteenth Centuries: Designed by Art Professor Erik Inglis to complement his course, “Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Oberlin Collections.”

European and American Prints from the Collection: Organized by Stephanie Wiles, AMAM Director, and Margaret Miles (OC'06) in conjunction with the course, "From Dürer to Dine."

• Images for Courses: The AMAM, funded by an IMLS grant, has begun systematically digitizing the collection. Ultimately, these digital images will be included in our collections management database currently under construction. Thanks to this broader initiative, we can now make digital images from the collection available for online viewing in conjunction with Oberlin College courses. In addition, we are able to create thematic groupings of images from the collection as web-based pedagogical resources. The following courses and groupings are now available:

ARTS 334: Art and Politics - Weimar Germany

ARTS 432: German Expressionism and Modernity

If you would like to use digital images of AMAM objects in this way, please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at least two months before the start of your course. Objects already digitized or in use on existing curriculum pages can be made available quickly. Requests requiring new photography or new digitization can take several weeks. Due to size or other restrictions, some objects may not be available digitally. Please limit your initial request to 15 objects.

AMAM images are for viewing on the online course page only. They may be saved for personal reference, but may not be reused without permission from the museum. Captions and other information may be frequently updated, and students will only have the most up-to-date data on the objects if they are working directly from the online course page.

For digital images of artworks outside of the AMAM's collection, the Art Department's Visual Resources page may be of assistance.

RESEARCHING THE COLLECTION
In addition to published collection catalogues, the AMAM maintains a number of archival records useful for academic research. These include curatorial files on every accessioned object and AMAM exhibition, an electronic collections database, and the Eva Hesse Archives.

• Identifying and Viewing Works in the Collection: Please use the published sources below as a starting point. The Curator of Academic Programs (ext. 58645) can assist with further identifying works in the collection relevant to your class or research topic. With at least two weeks' advance notice, you may schedule a one-hour session in the Print Study Room to view works on paper. Please limit your request to 15 objects and include the accession numbers when possible.

  The Wolfgang Stechow Print Study Room hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 - 4:45 p.m. When visiting the Print Study Room, we ask that you observe the following rules:

  1. Bags, backpacks, briefcases, coats, umbrellas, and all other personal belongings must be left on the hooks by the back door of the museum or in the cubby-holes by the security desk. Only pencils and paper or notebooks may be brought into the Print Study Room.
  2. No food or drink is allowed.
  3. Pencils only are permitted; pens and writing instruments using inks are prohibited.
  4. Shoes and shirts are required at all times.

• Collection Database: The museum is currently upgrading its collections management system with the help of a major federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Our new system, once installed, will be fully searchable on-line, providing full information on, and images of, all the objects in our collection. Watch for these exciting new developments in the future.

• Publications: Until our collections database is functional online, much of our collection is searchable through an interactive CD-ROM, Masterworks for Learning: A College Collection Catalogue (1998).This electronic resource is available through the Oberlin College Library. You may also contact the museum for a copy.

The museum has also produced three catalogues of the collection:

• Wolfgang Stechow, Catalogue of Drawings and Watercolors in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1976.
• Wolfgang Stechow, Catalogue of European and American Paintings and Sculpture in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1967. Introduction by John R. Spencer.
• Prints in the Allen Memorial Art Museum: Catalog, compiled by J. Chvostal, 1988. (Unpublished and available for consultation in the Art Library only)

In addition, since 1944 the AMAM has published a scholarly journal, the Bulletin, which contains articles related to exhibitions and works in the collection.

To locate these publications in the library, please click here. In some cases, the Curator of Academic Programs can provide complimentary copies of past Bulletins and selected other publications upon request. Otherwise, AMAM publications may be purchased at the museum.

• Use of Curatorial Files: Students and faculty may request access to the curatorial object files for research purposes by contacting the Curator of Academic Programs at ext. 58645. Appointments must be made at least 1 business day in advance and are limited to one hour, maximum of 10 files per visit. Please know that many of the files contain historical letters and documents and must be handled carefully and only when necessary.

• Eva Hesse Archives: The museum houses the archives of American artist Eva Hesse (1936-70), which include artist’s notebooks, diaries, photographs and letters. To consult material in the Hesse Archives, please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, at ext. 58645. Appointments must be made at least two weeks in advance. Two of the datebooks in the AMAM collection have been published in a facsimile edition, which is available for purchase from the museum.

FACULTY EVENTS

• New Faculty Orientation: Join us Friday, August 23 at 3:30 p.m. for an introduction to the AMAM's renowned collection. Learn about the academic resources available to enhance your teaching and research. The event will conclude with a wine reception in the East Gallery.

• Homecoming: Sunday, September 14 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. the Allen Memorial Art Museum will host the President's annual Opening Celebration for Oberlin College faculty and staff. Guided tours of the new fall exhibitions and the permanent collection will be offered at 5:00 p.m.

SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE
Working on a current project or publication that relates to the AMAM's holdings? Have a favorite artwork in the collection? Your specialized knowledge and individual interpretations of art objects can open up new meanings for our viewers. We are continually seeking faculty from diverse disciplines to bring fresh perspectives to our monthly Tuesday Teas, gallery talks, and other community events. Please contact Colette Crossman, Curator of Academic Programs, if you would like to participate in or have an idea for our public programs.