Featured Art Library: Museum of Russian Icons

The Museum of Russian Icons Research Library in Clinton, MA is a growing research destination for the study of icons from around the world as well as Russian history, art, and culture. This unique collection is embedded within the Museum of Russian Icons, the home of the largest collection of Russian icons outside of Russia. The library is overseen by Museum Registrar Laura Garrity-Arquitt and staffed by a volunteer librarian and volunteer library assistants.

Having celebrated its tenth birthday in 2016, the Museum of Russian Icons Research Library is rapidly acquiring new resources such as books, exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, and reference materials, while also preserving and providing access to a number of rare and antiquarian books. 

Laura Garrity-Arquitt has worked with Museum staff to grow and manage this collection, which now totals over 3,000 volumes. Because this library was established in the midst of an age of rapid digitization for libraries, priority was devoted to making it accessible online. Ongoing projects assure that the library's catalog is available through the Museum of Russian Icons' online collections portal. The library continually strives to improve metadata and discovery capabilities within this online catalog system and is in the midst of an ambitious project to bolster keyword search capabilities and access points to better serve off-site researchers.

The Museum of Russian Icons Research Library holds a collection of value to anyone studying icons or Russian art. Within their holdings is a notable selection of foreign language materials, including books in Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, German, and French and many rare titles imported from Russia. The Museum is also very proud of the Research Library's selection of oversize books and folios, many of which feature exceptional full-color reproductions of icons from around the world. As a growing research destination, The Museum of Russian Icons Research Library supports the scholarship of the Center for Icon Studies as well as the local community of central Massachusetts and welcomes visitors and researchers from around the world.

Please visit the Museum of Russian Icons and the Center for Icon Studies at http://www.museumofrussianicons.org.