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American art and history. The work of building the Inventory, thus focusing attention on identifying and recording paintings long ignored, will bring recognition and, in many cases, salvation to works which now go unregarded.

The Inventory will be a massive, ordered compilation of comparatively limited inventories, catalogues, and listings which exist or will be made for the first time.  Included will be paintings an individual hangs in his own home or stores in his barn; works held in a community's town hall, library, and schools; and collections in museums and historical societies across the country.

All the information gathered is compiled in three indexes -- by artist's name, by subject matter, and by owner/location -- and stored by computer. It will be available to scholars, and a guide to the Inventory -- an annotated directory of its sources -- will be published in 1976.

In addition, the National Collection's major Bicentennial Exhibition will result from the research conducted through the Inventory. This exhibition, The Artist and the American Scene, will include approximately 150 paintings, some of which will not have been shown publicly before.

II. [[underline]]Bibliography of American Art[[/underline]]

The Archives of American Art, which is the national archival resource for the history of art in America, is compiling for the Bicentennial a critical [[underline]]Bibliography of American Art[[/underline]].  A comprehensive reference directory of this type is long overdue in the field of American studies, and it is directly related to the work of the Archives -- to make available to scholars the primary documentation required for serious research in American art history.  For the first time, the [[underline]]Bibliography of American Art[[/underline]] will make available a complete and scholarly listing not only of major works on American art, but also of important periodicals, dissertations, brochures, catalogues, articles, variant editions, recordings, and tapes, etc.

The Bibliography will be chronological, ranging from American Indians to modern times.  Among sections already completed by the editor, a noted American bibliographer, along with a team of twelve associated bibliographers, are American Art and Culture, American Architecture, American Painters, Photography and Photographers in America, Arts of the American Indian - Past and Present, and American Sculpture.