The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries constitute a major art and architecture research collection serving The Art Institute of Chicago and scholars in the fields of art and architectural history. Approximately 10,000 volumes are added annually. All periods and media are covered, but special emphasis is placed on architecture of the 18th through 20th centuries and 19th century painting, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. Special collections include the Percier and Fontaine Collection of 17th-19th century architectural books, the Mary Reynolds Collection on Dada and Surrealism, the George R. Collins Archive of Catalan Art and Architecture, and the Mrs. James Ward Thorne Collection of illustrated books.

The Reading Room collection, also referred to as the Open Shelf collection, contains reference works such as bibliographies, indexes, dictionaries, surveys, as well as copies of Art Institute publications and exhibition catalogs. All other materials are housed within the Libraries' three floors of restricted book stacks and must be paged from the stacks by following the Libraries' paging procedures.

Additional Resources Include

• The Ryerson & Burnham Archives hold extensive archives of artists' and architects' papers, including Chicago and Midwestern architects such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer, Edward Bennett, Bruce Goff, P.B. Wight, and Daniel H. Burnham. The Ryerson & Burnham Archives also maintains the Chicago Architects Oral History Project. No appointment is required to view fully processed collections in the Ryerson & Burnham Archives.
  
  
• The Ryerson & Burnham Digital Collections are comprised of various searchable digital image and text collections. These collections include only limited selections from our archival collections, and represent a relatively small portion of our total holdings; the majority of our collections are not digitized. These digital collections include: electronic surrogates of selected original archival materials, Ryerson & Burnham archival finding aids, as well as digital editions of other architectural image and text resources from the collections of the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries.
  
  
• The Magic of America: Electronic Edition provides online access to the original typescript of over 1,400 pages with approximately 650 accompanying illustrations, was written and compiled by Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961), architect, designer, delineator, and artist. In 1911 she married Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937), architect, landscape designer, and city planner. Their architectural practice spanned almost four decades on three continents, and "The Magic of America" was meant, in part, to be a testament to their life and work together. "The Magic of America: Electronic Edition" collates in a digital format all the texts and illustrations from the three known copies of the work. The electronic edition thus represents the most complete and accessible version currently available of this important architectural document.
  
  
• Institutional Archives of The Art Institute of Chicago contain the official papers and records of the Art Institute since its founding. The Institutional Archives have special access policies. An appointment is required to view materials in the Institutional Archives.
  
  
• The MacLean Visual Resource Center maintains the visual resource collection for the Museum and the School of The Art Institute. Its use is restricted to faculty and staff.