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National Museum of Women in the Arts

Library And Research Center

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.
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Resistance and Self-Discovery through Zines: Jen White-Johnson
Posted: July 18, 2025
Category: Library And Research Center
July is National Zine Month. Explore five works by artist Jen White-Johnson, all available in NMWA's Library and Research Center.
A woman with medium-dark skin tone stands next to a young boy with medium-dark skin tone. Their bodies have been edited atop a colorful, playful background of pinky, blue, and yellow shapes. The boy holds a digital bad and wears headphones.

Archive Transcribe-a-thon: Frida Kahlo Papers
Posted: July 3, 2024
Category: Library And Research Center
Dominique Manuel, NMWA’s digital asset manager, discusses the museum’s first-ever archive transcribe-a-thon dedicated to the letters of Frida Kahlo.
A handwritten letter by Frida Kahlo in Spanish on a piece of tan colored paper that is torn in half.

Shop Talk: Asmaa Walton
Posted: February 14, 2024
Category: Library And Research Center
We spoke with Asmaa Walton, founder of Black Art Library, a mobile collection of Black visual art books and other art history ephemera.

Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for NMWA
Posted: October 16, 2023
Category: Library And Research Center
Nine new works by book artists inaugurate the museum's new Learning Commons and celebrate spaces where women's creativity blooms.
An artist's book in the form of a rectangular box. The exterior of the box is painted to resemble the exterior of a building.

Moving Mountains: Renovation Updates from the LRC
Posted: October 20, 2021
Category: Library And Research Center
What does it take to move a library like NMWA’s Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center? Hear from Lynora Williams, director of the LRC, about the process, plans for...
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Tatter, Bristle, and Mend Reading List
Posted: April 27, 2021
Category: Library And Research Center
Curious about the context that informs Sonya Clark’s art? NMWA’s Library and Research Center selected works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for further reading, drawing on Clark’s own book collection.
A paperback copy of Ralph Ellison's novel 'Invisible Man' sits on a white surface. The book features black text and short, green, vertical lines on a white background. Atop the book is a book-like shape comprising black beads.

Director’s Desk: Editing for Equity
Posted: March 4, 2021
Category: Library And Research Center
Join us for our next Wikipedia Edit-a-thon this Saturday, March 6, when we will improve or create entries for women artists of African descent whose work is in NMWA’s collection.
A woman with ombré dreadlocks sits at a table working on her laptop. Two other women are doing the same thing at different tables directly behind and in front of the woman.

Hit the Books with NMWA: Women, Arts, and Social Change
Posted: December 7, 2020
Category: Library And Research Center
In advance of NMWA's inaugural book club discussion this month, check out this series of genre-based reading lists inspired by the museum's mission to champion women artists. This week: books...
A dark-skinned woman with short cropped hair speaks into a microphone at a podium. Behind her a banner reads "National Museum of Women in the Arts." She wears a colorful abstract print blouse.

Hit the Books with NMWA: Fiction
Posted: November 16, 2020
Category: Library And Research Center
In advance of NMWA's inaugural book club discussion in December, check out this series of genre-based reading lists inspired by the museum's mission to champion women artists. This week: fiction.
Eerie figures walk, float, swim and stand in a pastoral landscape. A grey house sits next to a small body of water, the lawn decorated with small shrubs and trees. A pair, one dressed and one nude, pet a stripped animal as ghostly figures move through the foreground.

Hit the Books with NMWA: Young Adult Fiction
Posted: October 26, 2020
Category: Library And Research Center
In advance of NMWA's inaugural book club discussion in December, check out this series of genre-based reading lists inspired by the museum's mission to champion women artists. This week: young...
A black-and-white double-page spread of comics that depicts what various people are doing throughout the span of an evening. The people are all light-skinned and performing different activities such as smoking, yoga, reading, writing, barbecuing, and eating.