Research at the Walters is led by object-based investigations carried out through the multiple lenses of art history, technical analysis, and pedagogy. There is renewed investment to make this research relevant and accessible online and in our galleries.
We work together to ensure that the presentation of our collections is informed by the diverse interests of our visitors and readers, and is continuously assessed through evaluative studies.
The nexus of art, scholarship, and access has defined the Walters experience since the days of our founder Henry Walters (1848–1931). Henry opened his collections to scholars and the general public to study and publish the artworks he acquired. Now, as a public museum, the institution is committed to researching and disseminating information about its collections on multiple platforms, including the Walters’ online journal, art collections and manuscripts websites, and educational resources.
While the Walters is a civic museum with a mission to serve a broad audience, it maintains a strong academic commitment. In addition to mentoring fellows and interns at the museum, Walters staff teach at such institutions as Johns Hopkins University, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County,
Conservation
The Walters’ Conservation and Technical Research department, founded in 1934, is the third oldest museum laboratory in the country. The Conservation Window provides visitors with an opportunity to see our conservators at work. Conservators engage with visitors while working on conservation-related projects in a small studio space adjacent to our labs, equipped with a window opening.
Journal
The Journal of the Walters Art Museum, the oldest continuously published scholarly art museum journal in the United States, seeks to disseminate knowledge about the museum’s history and its collections. The Journal is now available to all readers as an open-access digital publication.
Provenance Research
As we look at proposed new acquisitions and our existing collections, we are mindful of how colonialism, confiscation, forced sale, looting, and theft may have impacted an object. It is the work of museum curators and other staff to research and try to fill in those gaps in an object’s provenance. We aim to share each artwork’s history based on available documentation to better understand possible legal and ethical issues.