The most significant source is the research conducted for the National Gallery's systematic catalogue publications. Records of objects that have been published in the systematic catalogue have complete provenance, exhibition history, literature, artist biography, and artist bibliography available on the Web site. For new acquisitions or objects not yet published, records are augmented in conjunction with ongoing research. Another source of significant historical information about objects given to the National Gallery of Art includes original documents provided by Gallery donors and now in the curatorial files. These documents include records kept by Andrew Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Chester Dale, and the estate of Peter A. B. Widener, among others.
Bibliographies are complete for all objects in published systematic catalogues.
Partial bibliographies, including references from National Gallery collection publications dating from 1941 to the present, are available for works not included in systematic catalogues. These records are regularly updated, with the goal of providing complete bibliographies for all objects. Biographical Information includes complete biographies for all artists published in the systematic catalogues. Biographies of Gallery donors and former owners of Gallery objects have been assembled from information in the curatorial files. Biographies of American graphic artists, which do not appear in published systematic catalogues, have been excerpted from the interactive companion program to the videodisc American Art from the National Gallery of Art produced by the department of education resources.