Urgent Museum Notice

Library & Research Center

Two books, Fired Up! Ready to Go and I Was Their American Dream, rest on a tabletop, along with a small vase of pink and lavender flowers.

Information about the Library and Research Center

About the LRC

The Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center (LRC) at the National Museum of Women in the Arts holds a special collection of research material on women artists. The mission of the LRC is to facilitate knowledge creation about the history and achievements of inspirational women artists worldwide. It is the first major repository in the world for information about women artists. The museum’s founders, Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay, understood from the moment of its inception the importance of creating a research center for the study of art by women.

The LRC is open to the public and welcomes visitors of all ages and levels of expertise. Researchers may walk in. Appointments are recommended for those who would like to review the LRC’s archival materials and artists’ books.

Photo credit: Cameron Robinson

Contact Information for the Library and Research Center

Questions?
Contact Us

Library & Research Center

202-266-2835
lrc@nmwa.org

Library Exhibitions

Exhibitions at the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center illustrate the accomplishments and history of women in the arts through the display of primary source materials. Exhibitions showcase artist correspondence, sketches, ephemera, photographs, posters, rare books, museum archival material, and artists’ books.

View Current Exhibitions
Black and white photograph of a primary school classroom in 1948. Light-skinned children sit at dark wood desks attending to books and papers or looking directly into the camera. At the center, the young teacher assists a girl with her lesson.
Photo credit: Emily Shaw, NMWA

LRC Resources

Online Catalog

Search the online catalog for books, periodicals, reference materials, artist books, zines, exhibition catalogues, and more.
Search Online Catalog, opens in new tab 

Artists’ Books

From above, a partial view of a star-shaped carousel book with blue and white pages.
Learn about the LRC’s collection of nearly 800 unique artists’ books in a variety of mediums and formats.
Learn About Artists’ Books

Resources for Research

The LRC offers access to online databases as well as research guides on topics such as Latin American women artists, women sculptors, and women artists of the Dutch Golden Age. For help in accessing these resources, contact LRC@nmwa.org.
View Resources

Archives

The LRC archives serve as a locus of primary source research for curators, scholars, and students performing research on women’s contributions to the arts and the history of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
View Archives

Rights & Reproductions

A partial view of an art gallery with four artworks on display, including a painted portrait of a young, pony-tailed medium-dark skinned girl in a yellow flowered dress against a pink background.
Find out how to order and reproduce images from the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Request Images

Contact Form for the Library and Research Center

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