Located in Room 420, the Art Reading Room incorporates two quiet study areas, non-circulating collections and the offices of the Center for the Art of East Asia.
The East Asian Art Collection in room 420 contains over 4000 titles for the study of East Asian Art, including reference works, facsimile editions, and unusually formatted materials.
The Archive is named after Max Epstein (1875-1954), a business executive and philanthropist who in 1937 founded the collection by donating a large number of photographs acquired from Art Library of Sir Robert Witt, a photographic archive now at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. The Archive has since increased its holdings through purchases and additional gifts.
Over the years, several thousand original prints were transferred from the Archive to the Smart Gallery (now Smart Museum). A small selection of images from the Epstein Archive are digitized and may be viewed in the Art History Department Image Collection.
Read about the collection in more detail, it's organization and using the photographs.
The Archive is locked and accessible by appointment only. Please contact nspiegel@uchicago.edu for access.
The following collections, also located in Room 420E, and can be accessed by appointment.