What do a signed book by Marcel Duchamp, a set of Soviet bootleg records pressed onto X-ray film, and box of dried beans have in common? They are all found in the University of Toronto Art History Library, and none of them would have an obvious home anywhere else.
Founded in the late 1960s alongside the Art History PhD program, the Library holds more than 40,000 items in its home on the sixth floor of Sidney Smith Hall. It supports the teaching mission of the Department of Art History, where it is a beloved place for students to read and work. It also serves researchers from across North America and beyond.
For over twenty years, the Library’s custodian has been Margaret English, whose instinct for acquiring objects that resist easy classification has made this institution something rare: a place where the boundaries between book, artwork, document, and artifact do not apply.
“It’s serious about art and it’s fun,” English says. “And I like fun!”
“Students’ best resource in the library is me,” English tells us. “Whenever the door’s open, I’m available, no appointment needed! So, for anything from help finding a specific item to just basic ‘how to research a topic’ advice, I’m here in my office.”
English’s office is located in the special collections area, where the most treasured books and documents are kept.
“In here I have the Fluxus Collection, the Sound Art Collection, and other rare things like artists’ books. Plus a few catalogues raisonnés—things that are pricey, rare, or that you just can’t put out in the open stacks.” But Margaret is happy to share these pieces with students when asked.
When asked if she has favourites, Margaret laughs. “Oh, I do. It’s like asking me to choose a favorite child. I have some lovely things to show and tell.”
Marchand du sel: Écrits de Marcel Duchamp (1959)
Some of the Library’s most revealing holdings offer fascinating glimpses at the Department’s own history: the scholars who built the program, the objects they valued, and their evolving understanding of what belongs in an art historical archive.
“One of my favourites comes from Professor Robert Welsh, a former chair of our department, and his widow, Professor Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, who donated his collection to our library,” says English.
This special edition is signed on the acetate by Marcel Duchamp. “I get students to touch his name for good luck… but not too much!” she adds.
Duchamp was among the first artists to elevate common objects, including a toilet, to the status of high art, and a key player in the development of the avant-garde.
“He’s the granddaddy of everything I love,” English says.
J. Walter Graham, The Palaces of Crete (1962)
The second treasure comes from another former professor, James Walter Graham.
“This is Professor Graham’s seminal publication, The Palaces of Crete—and it has all his annotations.”
The copy housed in the Art History collection carries the author’s hand-written notes in the margins. The back page also has a list of every institution that owned the book before it arrived here. It is a physical record of how scholarship moves through the world. “And, of course, it’s a really important book on Crete, too,” English adds.
Bone Records
English has spent years acquiring material that conventional libraries struggle to accommodate: sound art, artists’ books, and other forms that blur the line between art and document.
Her next pick is a case in point: a collection of Russian bone music records.
“In the Soviet Union in the 60s, they forbade Western music. It was hard to get. The authorities didn’t want music like The Rolling Stones. So people used the acetate from x-rays to press vinyls on. The Library has five examples of this.”
Of these rare and extremely quirky examples of 1960s ingenuity, the Art History Library has one album of The Kinks, two Elvis Presleys, and one David Bowie.
“Eventually we’re going to get a turntable with headphones so people can play these, which will be lots of fun. That rocks.”
Alison Knowles and James Tenney, A House of Dust (1967)
Some of the Library’s most prized holdings were donations from community members.
“One of our best and favourite donors gave us a copy of this very important work,” English says, holding up a copy of printed computer paper with the title A House of Dust.
This strange work, by Alison Knowles and James Tenney, is one of the first computer program poems ever written. It started off when its authors input a key phrase: “A house of dust.” A FORTRAN program developed by Tenney combined words from curated lists to produce a long sequence of unique quatrains.
The poem is a landmark in the history of art, language, and technology. Quoting from it, English reads: “It’s a house of dust, a house of leaves underwater using all available lighting inhabited by horses and birds. A house of plastic by a river using candles inhabited by people spearing many.”
“It’s just cool all over,” she beams.
Ben Vautier, Flux Box (1979)
Finally, English shows us a box from the Fluxus movement, whose artists turned ephemera into art as a protest against the commodification of culture. She opens the box carefully. Inside are playing cards, sheet music, coloured acetate, children’s marker drawings, and dried beans.
“I love the chaotic,” she says. “This is like random chance elements. And then there is a listing of the contents. So that’s serious but fun.”
Objects like these arrive at the Art History Library because collectors recognize it as uniquely equipped to care for them: a place where they can sit on the same shelves, looked after by a librarian who is enthusiastic about connecting students and researchers with materials that spark curiosity and sustain rigorous inquiry. The collection continues to grow through donations from faculty, collectors, and community members. Margaret English’s door is open. No appointment needed.