History of the Education Art Collection

Emily Gibson, the museum’s first head of Education, was one of founding museum director Frederic A. Whiting’s first hires. She got to work immediately making connections with schools and civic organizations. At least one year before the museum opened in 1916 Gibson installed the EAC’s first exhibition offsite to begin to promote the new museum and establish its role as an educational institution.

The EAC was previously known as the extensions collection or as the division of circulating exhibits. It was a resource designed to further art education in the community by bringing authentic objects, images, and reproductions to them. During its 77-year run as a lending collection, the EAC was used to mount over 32,500 installations in local libraries, schools and community centers across Northeast Ohio. In addition to being exhibited in small scale cases, the EAC was also filling entire galleries with regular rotations at the Karamu House, Cleveland Public Library, and Lakewood Civic Art Gallery.

The collection grew steadily throughout the years to meet increasing demand. At first, gifts and individual funds were used to purchase objects for the EAC. Later, several endowments, including the Educational Purchase Fund and a Rockefeller grant were used for acquisitions. In 1948, the Harold T. Clark Educational Extensions Fund among others were established, which allowed for substantial and reliable funding, fueling significant growth.

In 1992, the museum suspended the lending function, and the collection was revaluated. At its peak the collection numbered around 18,000 objects. From 1992 to the present day, curators and educators assessed the collection and at their recommendation many objects were deaccessioned, and it is estimated that about 1,000 artworks entered the museum’s fine art collection. Approximately 20 objects were added to the collection since 2000. Today, the collection numbers around 10,000 objects.

In the late 1990s, new programming was developed to serve the community’s changing needs. The Art to Go and Art Up Close (formerly Art Cart) programs were developed utilizing about 200 EAC objects, although in recent years many more objects have been used in new and expanded programming.