Research Institute

The BGC's digital image collection, which is comprised of approximately 20,000 images and which is in a state of continual growth, represents a broad survey of the decorative arts, design, and material culture, with deeper coverage in certain periods, regions, or materials, as dictated by faculty interests. This collection is available to both faculty and students, and can be accessed through MDID.

In addition to the BGC’s institutional digital collection, with its particular focus on the decorative arts, design, and material culture, Bard College’s art historically oriented collection, with more than 27,000 images, is also available to students and faculty within MDID.

The BGC’s slide collection, housed within the VMR's public space, currently numbers 50,000 slides. It reflects the teaching interests of the BGC's faculty from its earliest days to the recent past, and as such has become a near-comprehensive overview of the decorative arts, spanning time, geography and medium. This collection is made available to faculty to facilitate their teaching, and the VMR continues to support it.