News Release

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded $20,000 to Maryland ArtSource to expand the Web site's resources on Maryland artists and broaden its reach to include the state's photographic heritage.

One of the federal agency's Heritage/Preservation grants for 2004, the award illustrates the NEA's commitment to encouraging and supporting artistic creativity and preserving the nation's diverse cultural heritage through scholarly projects such as Maryland ArtSource.

This is the first NEA grant to the Johns Hopkins University's Sheridan Libraries, where Maryland ArtSource, a multi-institutional collaboration, is based.

"The enhancements made possible by this award will enable us to expand the riches of what has become a national model for Web-based art resources," said Winston Tabb, dean of university libraries at Johns Hopkins.

Currently, Maryland ArtSource features comprehensive descriptions of art resources in the region and nation, links to art library catalogs, hundreds of artist profiles, and more than 2,000 images from the painting collection of the Maryland Historical Society. The NEA funds will broaden Maryland ArtSource content by supporting research for new artist biographies and the addition of photography as a medium in the Art Collections Online feature of the site.

Photographs by Maryland artists and of Maryland subjects held in the photography collections at the Albin O. Kuhn Library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will be added to the Maryland ArtSource site.

African-American artists Roland Freeman and Irving Phillips Sr. as well as renowned documentary photographer Lewis Hine will be featured. Among other photographers included will be A. Aubrey Bodine, Edward L. Bafford, Jaromir Stephany, Jack Teemer, Ralph Bonwitt, Jan Faul, Richard Jaquish, and the photographers of the East Baltimore Photographic Documentary Project and the Equitable Trust Co. Photographic Survey of Maryland.

"Maryland ArtSource is becoming a magnificent means by which to access photography related to Maryland. This NEA grant adds significantly to the holdings of the Maryland ArtSource databases," UMBC chief curator Tom Beck said.

Launched in September 2002, Maryland ArtSource is a collaboration among library professionals from leading cultural institutions in the region, including The Johns Hopkins University; The Baltimore Museum of Art; Maryland Institute, College of Art; the Maryland Historical Society; the Division of Library Development and Services of the Maryland State Department of Education; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and The Walters Art Museum.

Other support for Maryland ArtSource has come from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the ALH Foundation, Inc., The William G. Baker, Jr., Memorial Fund, the France-Merrick Foundation and the Hecht-Levi Foundation.