Congratulations on the publication of the article “Digital Developments in the 2010s for an Art History Student and David Wojnarowicz” by John B. Henry. He was a dual-degree graduate student at Pratt Institute studying Library & Information Science as well as the History of Art & Design. Interested in a career in Archives; JB has worked at various institutions during his time in the programs including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum where he was a Pratt Fellow during the 2015-2016 academic year. Both experiences allowed JB the opportunity to process large collections of material into the archives. JB is passionate about access to archives for research and frequently uses them in his own projects. In conjunction with his thesis in Art History, JB is collaborating with the team at The Fales Library & Special Collections (NYU) on their Artist Archives Initiative, the first project being the David Wojnarowicz Knowledge Base.
Abstract
“This article is both a personal response to and review of the digital resources created by Fales Library and Special Collection, New York University (NYU), for the David Wojnarowicz Papers, MSS.092 during the 2010s. It discusses the digitization of Wojnarowicz’s journals and the David Wojnarowicz Knowledge Base, which is the first digital resource to come out of the Artist Archives Initiative at New York University. The author details his experience learning to use new technologies to undertake art-historical research as an undergraduate and graduate student as well as his relationship to the artist’s work. He concludes that although the David Wojnarowicz Knowledge Base is an excellent resource for research and a model for digital art history, nothing can replace primary research in an artist’s archive.”John B. Henry
Figure 1. David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (One Day This Kid…), 1990. Photostat, 30 ¾ x 41 inches. Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P·P·O·W, New York. ©Estate of David Wojnarowicz