Susan Harnly Peterson Ceramic Research Archives
In 2002, the Susan Harnly Peterson Ceramic Research Archives at the ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center was established. The archive was founded with a major gift from Susan Harnly Peterson (1925-2009). Peterson dedicated her career to researching, writing, lecturing and teaching about ceramics. The archive includes much of her expansive personal collection of books, photographs, notes and pottery available to study. Of special interest is the extensive photographic collection of Shoji Hamada and Maria Martinez.
The CRC also holds the significant ceramic archives from The Studio Potter magazine, which document 30 years of creative activity in the field. Founded in 1972, the Studio Potter magazine, under Gerry Williams’ editorial vision, was at the forefront of offering insightful writings on technology, criticism, aesthetics, and history within the ceramics community. An intrepid traveler, Williams, along with his wife Julie, amassed a trove of oral histories, transcribed interviews, photographs and journals. Many artists in the archive are represented in the ASU Art Museum’s collection.
Our library collection houses over 2,000 titles of rare exhibition catalogues, books, periodicals and media. The collection includes personal library collections of Susan Peterson, Ralph Bacerra and Harry Dennis. You can search our collection titles online at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ASUCRC.
We are currently in the process of digitizing archival materials and works from the collection to be available online, providing global access to technical, critical and historical information.
Students, collectors, museum curators and scholars can schedule appointments to examine specific works in the collection and related archival material. To make an appointment, please contact Mary-Beth Buesgen, CRC program specialist, at 480.965.7092, or mary-beth.buesgen@asu.edu. The ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center is located on 10th Street and Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz. Free parking is available in ASU Art Museum marked spaces.
Susan Harnly Peterson
Memorial contributions to support the Susan Harnly Peterson Archives at Arizona State University can be made to the ASU Foundation, ASU Art Museum, P.O. Box 872911, Tempe, AZ, 85287, attention Peter Held, Curator of Ceramics. Please include with all gifts "For Susan Harnly Peterson Archive." For further information or questions, please contact 480.965.7092.
Images from our Ceramic Research Archives