Call for Nominations: Eldredge Book Prize
Deadline: January 15, 2026
The Smithsonian American Art Museum invites nominations for the 2026 Charles C. Eldredge Prize. Single-author books devoted to any aspect of the visual arts of the United States and published in the three previous calendar years are eligible. To nominate a book, send a letter explaining the work’s significance to the field of U.S.-American art history and discussing the quality of the author’s scholarship and methodology. Self-nominations and nominations by publishers are not permitted. Please send all nominations to eldredge@si.edu.
Learn more at americanart.si.edu/research/awards/eldredge.
Tag: Smithsonian American Art Museum
To Attend: James A. Porter Colloquium – Register Now
The 35th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium
on African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora
Dates: April 3-5, 2025
Locations:
- April 3, 2025- The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park (In-Person)
- April 4, 2025- The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC(In-Person and Live-streamed on Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Youtube page)
- April 5, 2025- National Gallery of Art, Washington,DC (In-Person Only and Live-streamed on National Gallery of Art’s Youtube page) & Howard University, Washington DC(In-Person Only and Live-streamed on the Porter Colloquium Youtube page)
Colloquium Theme Synopsis:
The Shape of Race
In partnership with the Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Association of Critical Race Art History, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Howard University Gallery of Art and the National Gallery of Art, the Department of Art in Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts invites the public to convene to examine new developments in the area of critical race art history.
Register for Driskell Center events on Thursday, April 3, 2024 by clicking the links below:
4:00PM Deity of the Circle Performance
6:00PM Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Kellie Jones
All additional registration can be completed through this eventbrite page.
Save the Date: 2025 James A. Porter Colloquium
CFP: Thinking Art History and Black Studies Together, American Art Journal
Call for Papers:Thinking Art History and Black Studies Together
SAAM American Art Journal
Deadline: March 1, 2025
Co-organizers Tiffany Barber, Ariel Evans, and Cherise Smith invite short essays that investigate the methodological intersections between art history and Black studies, understood as both theory and practice; document the institutions and individuals who have championed them; and exemplify how thinking art history and Black studies together expands the roots and aims of both disciplines. For details, visit journals.uchicago.edu/journals/amart/cfp-thinking-art-history-and-black-studies-together. The articles will be published in American Art, the peer-reviewed journal co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the University of Chicago Press, in 2026.
2024 Eldredge Prize awarded to Megan A. Smetzer
Congratulations to Megan A. Smetzer! The Smithsonian American Art Museum is excited to announce that the 36th Annual Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art has been awarded to Dr. Smetzer for her book “Painful Beauty: Tlingit Women, Beadwork, and the Art of Resilience” (University of Washington Press, 2021).
The annual Eldredge Prize is presented to the author of a recent book-length publication that enriches our understanding of art history of the United States. The winner is chosen by a jury of three distinguished scholars on the basis of the work’s originality, quality of research and writing, clarity of method, and significance for the field.
This year’s jurors were Karen Mary Davalos of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Amy M. Mooney of Columbia College Chicago, and Laura Kina of the Art School of DePaul University.
In conjunction with the award, Smetzer will present the annual Eldredge Prize Lecture on March 13, 2025. Details and more information will be available online at americanart.si.edu/events.
For more information about the Eldredge Prize, please see the press release: https://americanart.si.edu/press/2024/10/megan-smetzer-awarded-36th-annual-eldredge-prize-painful-beauty-tlingit-women.
Call for Nominations: Eldredge Prize at Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is now accepting nominations for the 2024 Charles C. Eldredge Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the museum for outstanding scholarship in the field of American art. A cash award of $3,000 is made to the author of a recent book-length publication that provides new insight into works of art, the artists who made them, or aspects of history and theory that enrich our understanding of America’s artistic heritage. The Eldredge Prize seeks to recognize originality and thoroughness of research, excellence of writing, clarity of method, and significance for professional or public audiences. It is especially meant to honor those authors who deepen or focus debates in the field, or who broaden the discipline by reaching beyond traditional boundaries.
Single-author books devoted to any aspect of the visual arts of the United States and published in the three previous calendar years (2021, 2022, 2023) are eligible. To nominate a book, send a one-page letter explaining the work’s significance to the field of American art history and discussing the quality of the author’s scholarship and methodology. Nominations by authors or publishers for their own books will not be considered. The deadline for nominations is January 15, 2024. Please send to: Eldredge@si.edu. Further information about the prize may be found at americanart.si.edu/research/awards/eldredge.
FEL: Curatorial Fellow, African American Photography @ SAAM
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) seeks an outstanding emerging scholar of African American Photography for a three-year curatorial fellow position, with a possible one-year extension. The job offers invaluable professional experience for a scholar interested in an art museum career. The selected candidate will be fully integrated into SAAM’s curatorial team, working under the supervision of an experienced curator and in collaboration with staff from various departments. They will be active in acquisitions planning and development; collections assessment and research; project administration; gallery installation and interpretation; and public programming and publication. They will also participate in the intellectual life of the museum’s Research and Scholars Center, home of its research fellowship program and journal, American Art.
The Curatorial Fellow for African American Photography will play a key role in an initiative to expand the representation of African American photography at SAAM. In 2020, SAAM acquired the L.J. West Collection of works by African American daguerreotypists. In 2022, it acquired the R. Drapkin Collection of photography used to represent, self-represent, and misrepresent African American history and culture. A third collection, in late 2023, will bring SAAM’s holdings to over 350 objects, with at least one further acquisition in the pipeline. This initiative seeks to fundamentally rewrite the American Art narrative at SAAM, with installations showing that African Americans immediately recognized the importance of photography, both as entrepreneurial makers and as consumers of images.
With the supervisory curator, the fellow will survey SAAM’s holdings, conduct research to enhance collection records, and recommend appropriate terminology for metadata in order to make these works broadly accessible. They will also research artists and examine artworks being considered for acquisition. Lastly, the fellow will participate in the upcoming reinstallation of SAAM’s permanent collection galleries, working to support the robust representation of African American experience, perspectives, and artistic accomplishment through research and writing that will inform the selection of works, through the production of interpretive material and programming, and by overseeing the first convening of scholars and artists given access to these collections and the publication of their research.
Applicants shall have expertise in photographic history, preferably with a nineteenth century focus, or African American art and history, and shall demonstrate scholarly excellence in addition to a strong interest in a museum career. A PhD in art history within the last five years is preferred, but the position is open to individuals with other academic backgrounds and specialties. Experience in some aspect of museum practice, including but not limited to collection management or exhibition development, is a plus. Strong technological capacity and experience developing digital humanities projects would also be highly valued. The successful candidate will be skilled in verbal and written communication, exhibit digital fluency, and be able to balance diverse tasks within the areas of research, collections management, and administration. Some research travel may be expected of the candidate.
The position is classified as temporary, full-time Trust fund employment (IS-9, step 1), with a starting salary of $64,957 plus benefits that include vacation and sick leave, holidays, and health insurance.
Closing date of this announcement: October 1, 2023
How to Apply: Email enclosed resume, writing sample, and letter of interest to John Jacob, McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at jacobjp@si.edu with a subject line of “Curatorial Fellow for African American Photography” by October 1, 2023.
The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity employer
JOB: Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art @ SAAM
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is seeking a dynamic curator to oversee the museum’s collection of African American art, which includes more than 2500 artworks by 270 African American artists. The collection ranges from the 19th through the 21st centuries, with deep holdings by Edmonia Lewis, Bannister, Duncanson, Tanner, William H. Johnson, and work by self-taught and contemporary artists, as well as James Hampton’s Throne of the Third Heaven and an untitled verse jar by Dave Drake. The newly endowed position of Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art will develop collection strategies, exhibitions and publications, advise fellows and interns, and, notably, collaborate with the curatorial team to reinstall and reinterpret the permanent collection galleries.
The ideal candidate will have an M.A. (PhD. Preferred) in art history or a field related to African American studies, as well as knowledge of African American art, at least three years of museum experience, and a track record of innovative exhibitions and publications. The position is at the IS-13 level, with a salary range of $112,015-145,617.
To apply, go to: https://americanart.si.edu/about/careers/curator-african-american-art-13
JOB: Positions at Smithsonian American Art Museum
Notice of Opportunity: SAAM Seeks 3 contractors for journal and fellowship programs
Journal Editor
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is issuing a formal Request for Quote (RFQ) for a contractor to perform copyediting, developmental editing, and proofreading services for American Art, the peer-reviewed journal co-published by SAAM and the University of Chicago Press. The contractor will serve as copyeditor and proofreader for the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2024 issues of American Art (vol. 38, nos. 1–3), and as a developmental editor for journal contributors and affiliated authors with an option to extend annually for four more years. American Art will contract an experienced and highly skilled editor who is knowledgeable about a range of topics in art, art-related visual culture, and social and cultural history, and have a history of professional contributions to diversity initiatives.
Advisor to Diversity and Equity Initiatives in SAAM’s Research and Scholars Center
SAAM is also issuing a formal RFQ for contractor(s) to provide outreach, evaluation, and mentorship services for the Research and Scholars Center’s (RSC) diversity and equity initiatives. The contractor(s) will serve as advisor(s) to the Terra Foundation Fellowships and the “Toward Equity in Publishing” (TEP) professional development program under the aegis of the peer-reviewed journal American Art. SAAM will award an hourly contract to one or two contractor(s). SAAM may award one individual contractor one contract of approximately 360 hours for one basic year with an additional one-year option to extend; or it may divide the duties between two individual contractors, with each receiving a contract of approximately 180 hours/year with an additional one-year option to extend.
If either sound like an exciting opportunity for you, please contact AmericanArtJournal@si.edu for the Request for Quotes, Statement of Work, and editing sample.
The application deadline is June 12, 2023. Please send all application materials in a single email to AmericanArtJournal@si.edu. We anticipate having contracts for all opportunities in place no later than September 1 with work to commence on or about October 1, 2023.
Prospective contractors are strongly encouraged to enroll in the federal System for Award Management (SAM). The contract cannot be made prior to evidence of the contractor’s active and valid registration in the “all awards” category of SAM.
For further details about the journal copyeditor contract, please contact Robin Veder at AmericanArtJournal@si.edu, with your surname and the header “American Art editor” in the subject line. For further details about the Research and Scholars Center advisor contract, please contact Amelia Goerlitz at GoerlitzA@si.edu.
CFA: Toward Equity in Publishing
Call for Applications: Toward Equity in Publishing
Deadline: September 15, 2022
Toward Equity in Publishing is a professional development program provided by the peer-reviewed journal American Art, which is co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and University of Chicago Press. The program, supported by the Dedalus Foundation, will work toward ameliorating the inequitable conditions that precede and impede publication by providing developmental editing and workshops to demystify academic publishing. Eligibility is limited to, untenured faculty, junior museum staff, independent scholars, and unpublished graduate students.
For more information and application instructions, please visit americanart.si.edu/research/toward-equity-publishing.
Seeking Advisors
American Art seeks senior scholars for the Toward Equity in Publishing advisory committee. Please send letter of interest and CV to AmericanArtJournal@si.edu.
ACRAH 