Get To Know: SmartHistory Dot Org

SmartHistory is the webpage for the Center for Public Art History. This tiny non-profit calls itself the “most-visited art history resource in the world.” The archive of materials on the site are both deep and wide, so I suspect the claim is accurate. It’s a “radical collaborative” that believes that art history belongs to everyone and that access to art can change lives and help all cultural groups to better understand each other.

There are over two hundred colleges, universities, museums and research centers—around 500 writers—contributing to the site. You’ll find still images, videos, classes, books, essays, newsletters there. Here are a few statistics:

“57 million views in 2020
36 editors
500 academic contributors
3,000 essays and videos
234,000 YouTube subscribers
30 museums have partnered with Smarthistory
500 universities, libraries, and research institutions recommend Smarthistory”

Sure, you may go there for the photographs and the History of Photography classes, but you will lose track of time browsing the other content!

Unattributed illustration (detail) from the SmartHistory website