Research Tools

The Cranbrook Academy of Art Library houses about 27,000 volumes, the majority within the visual arts fields. The collection is strong in contemporary art and has extensive holdings in each of the ten disciplines studied at the Academy.

The Cranbrook Archives works to document and preserve items critical to Cranbrook’s history. Its core collections pertain to the growth of Cranbrook Educational Community, from its founding in 1904 by George and Ellen Booth to the 319-acre campus it is today. The Archives collects Cranbrook's institutional records, as well as those from auxiliary organizations affiliated with the community. Additional holdings include manuscripts of notable individuals associated with Cranbrook such as the Booth and Saarinen families, faculty, staff and alumni.

Cranbrook Art Museum maintains an image archive of objects in our collection as well as images of exhibitions after 1980 (exhibition images preceding 1980 are maintained by Cranbrook Archives). Copyright for some images is held by artists or their estates, in which case prior reproduction permissions must be obtained before an image can be released. For other archival photographs, please visit the Cranbrook Archives.

For research inquiries about our collection, please contact the museum. To propose a gift of artwork, visit our Gifts page.