Art historians, critics, curators, and humanities scholars rely on the records of artists, galleries, museums, and arts organizations to understand and contextualize contemporary artistic practice. Yet, much of the art-related materials that were once published in print form are now available primarily or solely on the web and are ephemeral by nature. In response to this challenge, more than 40 art libraries, museums, and organizations from across the United States and Canada have partnered with Internet Archive to establish a collective approach to the preservation of web-based art content at scale: The Collaborative ART Archive (CARTA).
Since 2018, members of CARTA have worked together to identify, preserve, and provide access to at-risk online content related to the arts. The program relies on the expertise of those working in art libraries and museums by asking them to nominate sites for inclusion in the archive. Internet Archive web archivists then work to capture the sites and make the preserved content available in the CARTA collections portal.
While CARTA is a member-supported program, mission-aligned organizations experiencing financial constraints may apply to join through the Sponsored Membership Program. One of CARTA’s sponsored members is the American Craft Council, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the history, practice, and unique storytelling of American craftwork. “I was very happy to be invited back to join CARTA as a sponsored member,” said Beth Goodrich, Archivist at the American Craft Council. “It was very important to me to see that the field of craft is recognized and reflected in the archival record of art in America and around the world.”
Each CARTA member brings their own unique expertise to the program, often contributing nominations connected to the regions, styles, and media represented in their institution’s collections. Marie Chant, Digital Archivist at the Museum of Glass, explained, “Museum of Glass has been digitally documenting vibrant and innovative glass artists in our state-of-the-art Hot Shop for over twenty years. Joining CARTA was a natural next step for our work and will help further support our collection of born-digital glass art documentation. We are excited to work with the Internet Archive and other CARTA institutions committed to preserving significant web-based contemporary art resources for generations to come.”
In addition to nonprofit organizations and museums, CARTA’s membership also includes university art libraries. One of these contributors is Kristy Waller, Archivist at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. “Emily Carr University (ECU) was pleased to be selected to participate in CARTA as a sponsored member and we are excited to contribute Canadian art and design content. ECU supports both emerging and established artists by documenting arts education and practice through its websites and resources. We tried to crawl these sites manually using open-source tools, but arts content is often complicated and media heavy, making this work unsustainable on our budget. Through our involvement in CARTA, we are able to preserve content for the ECU community and beyond; as well as collaborate with local arts organizations to nominate artist-run centres and artists’ web sites – always with the goal of increasing meaningful access to arts content for future researchers.”
As the CARTA collections and membership continue to grow, collaborators are pursuing more opportunities to preserve and provide access to art resources from communities and organizations across the world. “I’m very grateful to CARTA members and the Internet Archive staff for their dedication and shared vision for the success and continued growth of this program via coordinated collaboration,” said Duncan. “I’m excited to see how we can further get the word out about the wonderful resources we have within the CARTA collections and to recruit additional members to the CARTA cohort who can bring unique perspectives to subject areas not yet represented by the sites we’ve archived thus far.”
“CARTA is transformative in the realm of preserving web-based art history,” said Heather Slania, who began her involvement with the program while working at the Maryland Institute College of Art and now serves as the Chief Librarian of the National Gallery of Art. “Its collaborative nature is vital for managing the vast and interconnected art world. I strongly encourage large and small institutions to join this essential endeavor. By contributing to CARTA, you are preserving art information and ensuring that future generations have a rich and diverse understanding of today’s art landscape.”
Learn more about the CARTA program, explore the CARTA collections portal, or reach out to the CARTA program team for more information.
