Art Preservation and Artist Legacy Resources
This is a resource list compiled by Asian American Arts Alliance (A4). If you have any resources to add or update, please email a4@aaartsalliance.org.
Toolkits
Artist Studio Archives
Provides resources on cataloging, digitizing, and managing studio materials to ensure an artist’s work is preserved and accessible.
Artist Trust
Shares educational articles that guide artists through documentation, archiving, and professional practice sustainability.
Dance/USA
Offers a toolkit focused on archiving and preserving artistic materials for performing artists.
Joan Mitchell Foundation
Provides guides that help artists document, archive, and plan for the long-term stewardship of their work.
Legacy Stewardship
Artists’ Legacy Foundation
Manages artists’ estates and archives, while also supporting research and funding to help keep their work visible over time.
POBA
A digital platform that preserves and exhibits the work of underrecognized or deceased artists through curated online archives.
Legal and Professional Support
American Photography Archives Group (APAG)
Offers advocacy and professional resources that help artists protect their rights and sustain their careers and legacies.
Elder Artists Legal Resource
Provides legal guidance tailored to aging artists to help them plan estates and protect their work for the future.
Funding Support
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Funds major initiatives in arts preservation, including digital archiving and conservation infrastructure.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Provides grants for cultural preservation projects, including archiving and safeguarding artistic and historical materials.
Tree of Life Artists
Offers grants to older artists to help support the preservation of their work.
Legacy Support
Center for the Preservation of Artists’ Legacies (CPAL)
Supports artists in preserving their legacy through research, education, and planning resources.
Community Archiving Workshop
Helps artists and communities document and preserve their work and cultural history on their own terms, without relying on traditional institutions.
Soft Network
Hosts networks and discussion groups focused on practices for managing artist estates and archives.
Collecting Institutions and AAPI Art Collections
Asia Art Archive and Asia Art Archive in America
Collects artist books and catalogues
Asian American Arts Centre
Active between 1983 to 2019
Asian American Art Initiative, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Advances research, education, community engagement, and public access to the work of Asian American/diasporic artists primarily in the Bay Area, California
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Includes prominent AAPI collections and archives such as Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University
Collections include prominent personal archives of Asian Americans in art and organizing
Archival Services and Consulting
Shelley Diamond Archival Solutions
Provides professional archival consulting services to help artists organize, catalog, and preserve their work and records.
Online Preservation Tools
Artwork Archive
A digital inventory and archiving tool that helps artists catalog, manage, and preserve records of their artwork.
Artstor (JSTOR)
Provides a digital image library that preserves and makes artworks accessible for research and education.
Internet Archive / Wayback Machine
a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Rhizome
Keeps digital artworks accessible over time by using tools such as ArtBase and web archiving technology to preserve works created online.