10 Facts About RISD Museum

RISD Museum was an integral part of the college from the inception of both in 1877.

RISD Museum collection began modestly, with etchings and plaster casts of sculptures and architectural elements.

RISD Museum collections expanded greatly during the prosperous 1920s, when gifts and the growing endowment could fund the purchase of major artworks, as well as physical expansion.

RISD Museum sought to emphasize unity and multiple cross-connections among the different nationally focused collections, along with a unified presentation of art and design across different media as well.

The retail shop was later converted into a staff lounge; the RISD Store is located on the first floor of the Design Center at 30 North Main Street, just north of the museum entrance.

The RISD Museum has a comprehensive online catalog of almost all of its collection, and offers free access to digital images of its public domain materials.

RISD Museum has one of the finest collections of historical textiles and items of dress in the US, with a range that spans centuries from at least 1500 BCE to the present, and which includes representative cloth and clothing from many geographic areas.

Many antique examples of wallpaper are now known to contain the poisonous and carcinogenic element arsenic, and the RISD Museum has published an article on its hazards and how to handle them.

RISD Museum's collection is particularly strong in the area of 19th-century decorative arts.

The RISD Museum is a leading collector of American contemporary craft and studio furniture, and many of the artists represented in the collection have ties to the school as alumni, faculty, or both.