Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace/Artist Book Collection

Franklin Furnace's collection of artists' books published internationally after 1960, the largest in this country, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art Library's collection, in 1993 forming the world's premier repository.

This also includes: DADABASE: The MOMA Library Catalog.
Records for all of MOMA's artists' books are included in DADABASE, searchable by Author, Title, Publisher, Form/Genre, etc. Searching by the phrase "Franklin Furnace Collection" produces a list of more than 7,700 titles.

Franklin Furnace's collection of artists' books published internationally after 1960, the largest in this country, has been merged with the Museum of Modern Art Library's collection, forming the world's premier repository. Clive Phillpot, former Director of the Library, estimates that the breadth of Franklin Furnace's collection complements the Museum of Modern Art's in-depth holdings, and that together, the Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace/Artist Book Collection sets in motion a resource of unparalleled value. I am especially proud that MoMA will assume Franklin Furnace's open acquisition policy of accepting any multiple published by an artist as a work of art.

Please mail your submission to:

Museum of Modern Art / Franklin Furnace
Artist Book Collection
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019

We request that you send one copy of your work and a resume. Also, if you can include other documentation of your art scholars and other users of the collection will have the opportunity to use the documentation for research purposes, be advised that all information and materials you send will become the property of the Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace/Artist Book Collection and may be used in exhibitions and publications.

Franklin Furnace came to the decision to reposition itself after seventeen years of leadership, from initiating an international conference at the University of Iowa among institutions great and small concerned with the documenting and the cataloging of artists' books, to contributing 144 terms to the Art and Architecture Thesaurus that serves to define its field. The Board of Directors reached the decision to place collecting responsibilities in the hands of the Museum of Modern Art after analysis of Franklin Furnace's strengths and weaknesses in relation to the political and financial conditions of the 90's; and the value of Franklin Furnace's collection in relation to the wood-and-brick structure in which it was housed.