Collections Access

The Archives collection contains about 6,000 items and includes photographs, letters, documents and ephemera relating to the history of the museum, its collection and its four founders.

The 5,000-item photo collection is home to historic postcards of Rodin’s works (some signed by the artist), postcards of European royalty and royal families, photographs of Loïe Fuller, and a large collection of road and highway photographs. It also includes numerous images of American Indian peoples. The largest portion of the collection is the 3,000+ photos taken by J.W. Thompson. Thompson was a semi-professional Seattle photographer who took thousands of photographs of the Indians of Washington State between 1953 and 1957, including many in the Celilo and Rock Creek areas and on the Yakama and Umatilla Indian Reservations. More than 1,000 photographs—800 of them glass slides or negatives—were amassed by Sam Hill. These contain views of Europe, the Pacific Northwest, and the Columbia River Highway. More than 150 of these are credited to Albert H. Barnes.

The manuscript collection contains more than 400 items. It is primarily comprised of letters and correspondence to and from Sam Hill, Loïe Fuller, Queen Marie and Alma Spreckels, ephemera related to the lives of these individuals, and documents related to the history of Maryhill Museum of Art.

The Library collection contains over 3,000 items. This includes a small rare manuscript collection (about 40 objects) and a resource library.  The resource library is built on a foundation provided by the library of Sam Hill’s daughter, Elizabeth Wade. The bulk of the resource library is comprised of art reference books. In recent years, more than 200 volumes related to royalty have been added to the collection, as well as texts about American Indians and the Pacific Northwest. The library is available to the general public by appointment. Books may be checked out by museum members.

Requesting access

Those requesting access to the collections or archives must schedule an appointment. Appointments are scheduled by the Collections Manager upon receipt of a written statement of loan or research objective. Research or loan requests may be sent by email or regular mail.

Publishing photographs

Requests to publish photographs from the museum’s collection or for original photography require separate consideration and are subject to submission of the application form under Image Rights and Reproductions.

Loans of collection items

The museum also grants loans of collection items to bona fide academic and cultural institutions. Requests for loans must meet the criteria laid out in the museum’s loan policy.

Request for access to the collections or questions about reproductions should be directed to:

Collections Manager
509.773.3733, x28
collections@maryhillmuseum.org