Artist Interviews

Since 2016, the Zimmerli has partnered with the Public History Program at Rutgers. Donna Gustafson, Curator of American Art and Mellon Director of Academic Programs, and Professor Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, History Department, have guided undergraduate and graduate students in researching our American art collection. Inspired by Rutgers Scarlet and Black Project, students selected paintings from the museum's collection, mostly portraits of Rutgers University figures, donors, faculty and students (which had been given to the university and now reside in the museum) and scoured archives in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania to uncover hidden histories of dispossession and enslavement.

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 summer student interns could not do the archival work that has been the hallmark of previous years; instead they researched and interviewed an artist whose work is in the Zimmerli's collection and who have a personal connection to Rutgers.

The Zimmerli plans on incorporating the research of these Public History interns into a future reinstallation of the American gallery.