Research Center
The Research Center at the Visual Studies Workshop maintains archival and research collections about the media arts of photography, independent film and video, electronic imaging, visual books and the publication arts. It is open to the public by appointment. VSW's focus on the aesthetics, cultural history of media, and social use of images has developed a collections policy that includes both creative work and vernacular images, as well as items that represent the history of media use.

Our Independent Press Archive has 5,000 artist's books—the largest collection of artists' books in Western New York. This Archive is complemented by the Illustrated Book Collection, which contains illustrated books published from 1694 to the present day that display all aspects of engraving and photo-engraving practices and all forms of imaging technologies from wood engraving to xerography. These collections are supported by a Research Library of 25,000 books concentrating on the areas of photography, filmmaking, video, bookmaking, media studies, and the cultural practices of image making.

The Photograph Collections contain 27,000 original photographic or photo-mechanical prints made by 2,200 known photographers and more than 600,000 examples of vernacular or anonymous images in the form of lantern slides, stereo cards, snapshots, postcards and news agency photographs. These collections hold examples of every type of photographic practice, from the family snapshot to the fine art print, and include work of every era, from the daguerreotypes of the 1840s, to digital prints from the present day.

In recent years, several artists have created projects from visual information in the Research Center including photographic series, films, artists’ books and websites and VSW provides courses on Visual Data and making art from archives.

The Research Center Online, with digitized collections of images, books, and lectures is in development.

For more information call Rick Hock, Curator of Collections (585) 442-8676 x109 or email researchcenter@vsw.org

Visual Studies Workshop Snapshot of the Week

Visit the online exhibition: Visual Studies Workshop Press: Process-Based and Experimental Books