MoMA | Author: Thomas Grischkowsky

Posts by Thomas Grischkowsky

February 12, 2016 | Behind the Scenes, Library and Archives

Don, the MoMA Guard Dog

Posted by Thomas Grischkowsky, Archives Specialist, Museum Archives

June 3, 1933. New York Herald Tribune. Public Information Records, I.Z. [mf 43;257]. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

New York Herald Tribune. June 3, 1933. Public Information Records, I.Z. [mf 43;257]. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

In June 1933, Don, a German Shepherd, was given to The Museum of Modern Art by Vanity Fair magazine’s kennel department. Frank Crowninshield, editor of the magazine, was a trustee of the Museum.

FOUND! Photographs from MoMA’s 1944 Norman Bel Geddes’ War Maneuver Models Exhibition

Posted by Thomas Grischkowsky, Archives Specialist, Museum Archives

"Sterling silver models of tanks, jeeps, trucks, etc." being installed during exhibition. Exhibition Dates: January 26, 1944 through March 5, 1944. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Photographer, Herbert Gehr

“Sterling silver models of tanks, jeeps, trucks, etc.” being installed for the exhibition Norman Bel Geddes’ War Maneuver Models, January 26–March 5, 1944. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Photographer: Herbert Gehr

As Archives Specialist in the MoMA Archives, I am always on the prowl for images depicting how our exhibitions were installed. Sadly, up until the 1960s only about 75% of MoMA’s exhibitions were documented with official installation photographs, usually due to budget constraints. So imagine my excitement on one dark, drab winter day earlier this year when, while working in the Photographic Archive, I came across a folder labeled, “Visitors in Galleries,” and discovered that these visitors were in galleries for an exhibition for which we had no visual record