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Born in 1910 in Mamaroneck, NY, Charles C. Cunningham attended Harvard and became a curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1935. From 1941 to 1966 he was the director of Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum. He went on to become director of the Art Institute of Chicago until he retired from this position in 1972. George Heard Hamilton, then director of the Clark, invited Cunningham to become chief curator. Cunningham was responsible for two major exhibits at the Clark, The Elegant Academics in 1974 and Jongkind and the Pre-Impressionists: The Painters of the Ecole Saint-Simeon in 1976. He also initiated the Conservation Laboratory, which opened in 1977. Cunningham retired from the Clark that year and died in 1979., The Curatorial Office Records of Charles C. Cunningham primarily contain correspondence about potential museum acquisitions and discussions of loans with staff at other museums. Due to his long and respected career, Cunningham had many acquaintances and close friends among curators and directors at other art institutions, as well as among art historians and dealers. The correspondence in these records includes numerous exchanges about intellectual and business concerns in the art world. The high esteem and affection his peers felt for him is evidenced in letters that blur the line between professional and personal. Other materials in this series include: class lists and grades, assignments, and correspondence with students from several courses taught by Cunningham; CAI memoranda; and financial records about costs of exhibits and loans.

These photographic materials were removed from the following series: CAI ARC 2007.01 The Records of the Director's Office 1955-1977; CAI ARC 2007.03 Director's Office Records of Trustees' Meetings; CAI ARC 2007.04 The Director's Office Records of Receptions, Events, Lectures; CAI ARC 2007.06 The Records of David Brooke; and CAI ARC 2007.07 The Director's Office Records of Loan Requests. The subjects of the photographs, negatives and slides is diverse and includes artwork, objects, events, the Clark campus, and much miscellaneous material. See the Archivist for a detailed listing of individual photos.

These photographs include images of the construction of the 1955 and 1973 buildings; installations of the permanent collection and special exhibitions; school group visits; special events; and other subjects related to the Clark. See the Archivist for a detailed listing of individual photos.

This series contains scrapbooks of newspaper clippings that mention the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute between 1955 and 1993 and two boxes of loose newspaper clippings about the Clark spanning 1951-1994. The articles are about events, exhibitions, and changes at the Clark Art Institute. There is one scrapbook for each year. The 1988 scrapbook contains loose newspaper clippings which were never organized or glued to the pages. The 1993 scrapbook is unbound. The first box of loose clippings predate the collection of scrapbooks and are articles about the earliest Clark exhibits and the opening of the museum. The second box of clippings contains folders dated 1951-1993 (though not all years are represented). Some of the articles in these folders are duplicates of articles in the scrapbooks but some are unique. The scrapbooks appear to have been compiled by Sherrill Ingalls in the administrative office.

These eleven albums contain photographs, snapshots, invitations, programs, announcements, and some clippings documenting events and installations at the Clark between 1951 and 1983. There are two identical albums devoted to the 1967 Wildenstein Exhibit, one album with photographs of the construction of the service building, and one album labeled New Addition Photos. The earliest album contains photos of the construction of the 1955 building, clippings relating to the founding and progress of the Institute, and information about early exhibits. The rest of the albums present a chronological picture of musical performances, exhibits, parties, school visits, and other events through 1983.

This series contains a variety of formal and informal photographs of Clark staff and museum patrons. Photographs of staff include formal staff portraits and informal photos of staff members working in their offices, on the museum grounds, and on building construction. Photographs of museum events include both staff and museum patrons depending on the type of event. Events represented in the series include galas, lectures, concerts, and staff parties. See the Archivist for a detailed listing of individual photos.

These records appear to be from the Director's Office and span the tenures of David Brooke and George Heard Hamilton. The files are related to Trustees' meetings. There is one file for each meeting, containing the Director's report, minutes, handwritten notes, annotated reports, agendas, reports from committees, and / or reports from other departments to the Director. The information contained in these records ranges from financial planning and staffing decisions to loan requests and purchases of artwork. There is also a run of files spanning 1979 - 1988 pertaining to planning for meals and accommodations for the Trustees' meetings.

The records in this series relate to the publication of several books and exhibition catalogues from 1973-1998, but predate the formation of a formal publications department. These files primarily contain first drafts of essays published in the catalogues and correspondence, invoices, and purchase orders from writers, editors, printers, and others involved in the creation of these publications. There is also correspondence regarding reproduction rights for the use of images from outside of the Clark Collection. Much of the correspondence is addressed to Mary Jo Carpenter in the Office of Membership and Public Relations and Mary Ann McSweeny in the Curatorial Office. Material relating to the 1998 publication of Farewell to the wet nurse: Etienne Aubry and images of breast-feeding in eighteenth-century France and the 1997 publication of English, Irish, and Scottish silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute account for approximately half of all the material in this series. The remaining files relate to an assortment of Clark publications from the 1970s through 1990s.

The Director's Office records 1955-1977 are comprised almost entirely of business correspondence between the Director of the museum and other people and institutions though other records, such as receipts and publications, are occasionally present. During this nascent phase of the museum the Director's Office handled almost all aspects of business and consequently these files reflect a wide spectrum of museum concerns including publicity, acquisitions, finances, staff hiring, construction, and expansion of the museum. Some files are devoted to individuals and institutions while others are labelled with subjects such as Inquiries, Acquisitions, and Employment. The subject headings and content of the materials remains quite consistent throughout the years, even through the tenures of different Directors.

This record group contains the Director's Office records of receptions, lectures, parties, and other events held at the Clark Art Institute between 1957 and 1989. These files contain copies of invitations to the events; press releases and newspaper clippings about the events; menu planning and order forms from the catering companies; guest lists; responses from invitees; seating charts for the events; and other related material. The events range from small receptions with cookies and coffee to full dinner parties. The reasons for the events include celebration of the opening of new exhibitions, staff parties, guest lectures, Williams College graduations and reunions, and visits to the museum by celebrities and dignitaries. There was a recital by Rudolf Serkin in 1973 in honor of the opening of the museum's auditorium. Events were held for visitors such as King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Prime Minister Pearson of Canada, Frank Capra, and Lady Bird Johnson. There are no records for 1981-1982 or 1958-1960.

This series contains records from the Director's Office created during the tenure of David S. Brooke, the third director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The majority of the records are addressed to or from Brooke, but several files include material created by other members of the staff such as department assistants and members of the curatorial department. Similarly, the majority of the files were created between 1980 and 1994, when Brooke served as director, but there are a few files with records spanning back to the late 60s.

The Director's Office Records of Loan Requests include correspondence about accepted and rejected loan requests from other institutions for CAI artworks. The files primarily contain correspondence between the Director of the Clark and the Directors of the institutions requesting the loans. Several of the folders include reports on the value and condition of the artwork in question, interdepartmental memos between Clark staff members, and facility reports on the institution making the request.

The Director's Office records of exhibitions include files of proposed exhibitions, scheduling, and budgets for each year between 1980-1989. There are also files for each exhibition held at the Clark during this time span. The individual exhibition files primarily contain correspondence from the Director to other staff at other museums requesting loans of items needed for the exhibit. Other items commonly found in these files include draft descriptions and summaries of exhibitions, press releases and lists of art works displayed in the exhibitions.

This series contains records of the Prints and Drawings Collection from 1952-1996. These records were primarily created by William Collins, curator from 1958-1960; William Ittman, curator from 1967-1971; and Rafael Fernandez, curator from 1975-1994. In the periods between the tenures of these curators the museum director and/or curators and staff from other departments handled prints and drawings business. Consequently, the series also contains files from the former directors Peter Guille, George Heard Hamilton, and David Brooke, and from curatorial assistants including Tom Fels and Kristen Collins. There is also a group of files from Egbert Haverkamp Begemann, professor of art history at Yale University, related to his 1964 publication of Drawings from the Clark Art Institute. In general the files consist of correspondence about prints and drawings acquisitions, loans, and reproductions, research for catalogues and exhibits, inventories of the collection, bills, student papers, and departmental reports.

This series relates to the 1990 publication of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The majority of the files contain correspondence and permission forms permitting the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute to reproduce artworks from other museums and collections within this publication. The series also contains research materials such as photocopied articles about artists represented in the collection and bibliographies of artworks found in the publication. Some files in the series contain financial information, such as royalty statements from Hudson Hills Press, Inc. The majority of the material is from 1985-1990.

The records of Stephen Kern primarily contain correspondence, memoranda, and research materials about painters and paintings represented in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute's collection. The majority of the files contain photocopied articles about particular artists and rough drafts of related exhibition catalogues and labels. There are also several files of loan requests from other museums with accompanying conservation appraisals and exhibition histories of the works in question. Some files contain general curatorial correspondence and departmental budgeting.

Lisa A. Jolin was the curatorial secretary from 1989 to 1997. Among her files are copies of other staff members' correspondence, including that of Rafael Fernandez, curator of prints and drawings from 1975 until 1994; and Steven Kern, curator of prints from 1989 through 1995. Also contained in her files are records relating to shows at the Clark, including Empires Restored, Elysium Revisited: The Art of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1992; A Golden Harvest: Paintings by Adam Pynacker in 1994; and Facing the Past: 19th Century Portraits from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, also in 1994.

These are the records kept by Jennifer Gordon Lovett during her career at the Clark Art Institute from 1983-1995. These files cover a large spectrum of curatorial office concerns including meeting notes, budgets, exhibition ideas, photo orders, loan records, acquisitions files, business correspondence, and grant applications. There is material concerning the CAI trustees, grad students, interns in the curatorial office, lenders, donors, and staff at other museums. This series contains a great deal of photocopied correspondence that was forwarded to Lovett but not directly addressed to her. Some of the correspondence is addressed to Lovett's assistant, Heather McIntosh.

These records contain curatorial records of exhibits held at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute between 1951-1978. The materials include exhibition catalogues, invitations to exhibition events, lists of invitees and attendees to exhibition events, press releases, newspaper and magazine articles about the exhibitions and occasionally correspondence about insurance, costs and scheduling with other institutions collaborating on or co-hosting exhibitions.

This series contains two distinct groups of material. The first is the combined files of David Cass, curator of paintings from 1973-1985 and Alexandra (Alixe) Murphy, his successor from 1985-1988. The second is a series of files about the paintings collection from an unidentified source from the 1950s and 1960s., In the first group Cass's material is roughly separated from Murphy's but all of the files were apparently in Murphy's possession during her tenure as curator of paintings and they are intermingled in places. There are also some files from Moira Jones, curatorial/registrarial secretary, and John Hallmark Neff, assistant curator. These files contain correspondence, memoranda, and research materials about the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute's collection, acquisitions, conservation work, loans, and exhibitions. There are also files on departmental matters such as staffing and budgets., The second group of material dates from the 1950s and 1960s and the creator is not identified but the files clearly relate to the paintings collection. The records primarily consist of exhibit label planning including handwritten notes, typed drafts of the labels, and photographs of the artwork being described. The records also include news clippings about the museum and drafts of exhibit catalogues.

This series contains the records of the Education Department from 1993-2004. There records relate to tours and educational programing for the museum, the docent program and docent summer school, and departmental business. The events records primarily concern school tours and contain correspondence with teachers, copies of tour information, and evaluations. Other events represented in the collection include weekend workshops, family days, and teacher training sessions. There are also copies of slide presentations which were sent to schools who could not visit the Clark. The material on the docent program includes lists of docents and their schedules, docent evaluations, a VHS program developed by the Clark titled A Decent Docent Doesn't Do, and course materials for docent training sessions. The departmental files contain records of general departmental business such as reports, financial records, grant applications, general correspondence, monthly planners of the departmental schedule, thank you cards sent by school groups, and resumes from candidates for employment.