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Creating a Collection: A Tour Through the Smith College Museum of Art Main Menu How do museums build and unbuild collections? How This Works Instructions on How to Use this Website How to Read a Museum Label This will help you navigate the SCMA and other museums What is "Public Trust"? Why Museums Collect How Museums Collect Why Museums Remove Objects from their Collections How Museums Remove Objects from their Collections

Thomas Eakins's "In Grandmother's Time"

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Building a new collection In 1879, just four years after the opening of Smith College, the school began buying art to support the study of art and art history. Most of the artworks bought in these early years were bought directly from contemporary American artists. These early purchases included paintings by Winslow Homer, Louis C. Tiffany, George Inness, and Thomas Eakins.

In 1920, the museum finally developed its first official collecting policy, which focused on acquiring modern art. This marks a slight change away from American art, which was similar to other interests in the art world at the time.[1]

[1] “History,” Smith College Museum of Art, accessed November 29, 2015, http://www.smith.edu/artmuseum/Collections/History.

How to Read a Museum Label Reading labels in an art museum helps visitors navigate the galleries. Labels usually share what is known as "tombstone information." This is the basic information about an artwork that helps new museum-goers and art experts alike understand what they are looking at.

An important piece of information often included on labels is the acquisition information, or how the artwork got to the museum's collection. This may include an accession number (such as SC 1879:1) and the credit line, which will share a bit about how the museum got the artwork—for example, if the museum bought the artwork or received it as a donation, exchange, or transfer.

Let's look at accession number for Thomas Eakins's In Grandmother's Time, for an example. The "SC" means it belongs to Smith College. The "1879" means it was bought in the year 1879. And the "1" means it was the first painting bought that year.

Maker(s):	Eakins, Thomas
Culture:	American (1844 - 1916)
Title:	In Grandmother's Time
Date Made:	1876
Type:	Painting
Materials:	oil on canvas
Place Made:	United States
Measurements:	stretcher: 16 x 12 in.; 40.64 x 30.48 cm
Narrative Inscription:	signed and dated on spinning wheel: Eakins 76
Accession Number:	SC 1879:1
Credit Line:	Purchased

Not all credit lines look alike, but hopefully this helps you start to decode one the next time you see a museum label.