The Visual Resources Collections (VRC) unit of the Department of the History of Art supports faculty, students, and staff of the department and units within the College of LS&A and beyond. VRC staff acquire images of visual culture, provide descriptive information specific to the study of art history, and assist in instruction for digitizing, describing, finding, and using images to aid in the study of visual culture. Digital images created by the VRC can be found online in our Image Bank at the University of Michigan Digital MLibrary Image Collections.
The Visual Resources Collections contain nearly two million images of art. The collection’s roots are more than 100 years old and developed as a teaching collection to support faculty and students. As the University of Michigan’s History of Art evolved and became a center for scholarship, so did the VRC collection become an international resource. The VRC group can be contacted at vrum@umich.edu.
We can provide audio and video recording space in Tappan Hall or on location for interviews and discussion.
Video post-production can include story editing, subtitles, animation, and voiceover as needed. For larger projects we can coordinate with LSA Media to provide studio space and additional camera coverage.
Graphic design services include posters, flyers, booklets, and illustrations for courses or publication. We can provide some short run print services in house, and we can coordinate work with outside vendors.
We specialize in cultural heritage photography, producing high-quality studio and tabletop images of objects, including museum collections and artifacts through controlled lighting and composition that faithfully represent their material qualities. We also carry out on-location photography of architecture, sculpture, murals, public art, and other works requiring special arrangements.
In addition to studio and field photography, we photograph and scan historic and fragile materials such as ephemera, delicate books, and illuminated manuscripts. We also apply advanced digital imaging techniques to enhance photographs from field research—adjusting tonality, lighting, color, and clarity, as well as performing background replacement, removing reflections and image merging when necessary. Finally, upon request, we document student projects and classroom activities to support teaching, research, and presentation.
