Updated November 2023

Rules for Use of the Research Room 

The National Gallery of Art Archives has established the following rules to ensure the protection and 

preservation of archival materials. All archival materials and containers must be handled with care. 

Improper handling and/or deliberate damage to archival materials may result in the suspension of 

research privileges.

Personal Belongings 

• We encourage you to leave heavy coats, umbrellas, and other large personal items in coat 

checkrooms at museum entrances. Please see the procedures for use of the coat checkrooms 

on the National Gallery of Art website.

• Personal items that are brought to the archives research room must be placed in designated 

lockers and will not be permitted near research tables.

• Please take personal belongings with you when leaving the research room. The National 

Gallery does not assume any responsibility for lost, stolen, or misplaced items.

• Eating, drinking, or chewing gum is prohibited in the research room.

• Archives staff reserve the right to inspect your personal belongings upon your departure from 

the research room.

Review of Archival Materials 

• Placing notebooks or other personal papers on a research table while archival materials are 

present is discouraged. We will provide you with paper if needed.

• The use of pens is not permitted. We will provide pencils for notetaking if needed.

• Cotton gloves are provided for handling photographs and other materials as necessary.

• Only one archival box at a time may be placed on a research table.

• Only one folder at a time may be removed from an archival box. We provide placeholders to 

mark the location from which a folder is removed. A folder must be returned to its proper 

location within a box before another folder is removed.

• Keep folders in an archival box and all contents in a folder in their original order. If anything 

appears to be amiss, you should not attempt to rearrange materials, but should call it to the 

attention of the archivist on duty.
Updated November 2023

• Erasing, tracing, marking, folding, or writing on archival materials or their folders and boxes is 

prohibited.

• Keep all archival materials on a research table surface at all times. 

Use of Computers and Digital Devices 

• We welcome the use of computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones in the research room 

for personal use. Digital devices must remain on table surfaces away from archival materials.

• Mobile phones should be turned off or silenced while in the research room. Portable audio 

devices with the use of sound-proof headphones are permitted.

• We encourage digital photography of archival materials for study purposes. We provide paper 

“targets” identifying the source of the archival materials and these targets must be included in 

every frame. We do not permit flash or supplemental lighting.

• Any digital photography of archival materials may be used for personal research purposes but 

may not be reproduced without further permission.

Requests for Copies of Archival Materials 

• If you are unable to make personal digital copies, reproductions of a limited number of archival 

materials may be made by archives staff at their discretion and delivered to your designated 

address.

• Archives staff may decline to reproduce material where the physical condition, format, size, or 

quantity of records makes copying prohibitive.

• Self-service photocopying is not allowed.

• Obtaining reproductions of archival materials is not authorization to publish. Written permission 

must be obtained separately in advance to reproduce archival materials from the holdings of 

the National Gallery of Art Archives for publication purposes.