The Joel Snyder Materials Collection makes art historical objects, materials, and tools available for instructor and student handling and practice. The materials are stored in the VRC and can be viewed at any time during our regular hours, Monday–Friday 8:30am–5pm. To reserve specific materials for a class session, or to borrow materials outside of regular hours, please write to visualresources@uchicago.edu.
The Materials Collection is being developed in consultation with instructors’ teaching needs. To request the purchase of materials or to suggest ideas, please write to bridgetm@uchicago.edu. Consult the Collections Development Policy for further details on adding materials to the collection.
Currently, the VRC and the Joel Snyder Materials Collection cannot fund class activities such as material demonstrations with professional artists. To support these types of events, we encourage you to apply to the Course Arts Resources Fund.
Digital images of objects in the Joel Snyder Materials Collection are available to view and download through LUNA. Please login with your CNetID and password to access the Joel Snyder Materials Collection.
Classroom Pedagogy
We welcome collaboration at any time. Please email visualresources@uchicago.edu to discuss ideas for your course. The VRC can support your use of the Materials Collection in the classroom in several ways, including:
- Reserve classroom sets of Conservation Equipment
- Request a list of curated resources for a specific course or project. Depending on your learning objectives, VRC staff may include supplemental research materials, bibliographies, curating videos of materials being created or used, etc. VRC staff can embed these resources into your Canvas course site.
Research
Resources on Materials Available through the Library
Online Resources for Artists’ Materials and Techniques
The VRC has prepared the following Guides to Objects in the Materials Collection, which consists of Google Docs listing relevant JSMC items, additional information, and research resources:
More Materials for Use
Other departments on campus provide access to materials for classroom or research purposes, including the Logan Center Shop, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, and the Smart Museum. Browse the full list via our guide to Materials Available through Other Campus Departments or reach out to the respective department for more information.