Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives

The E.P. Taylor Library & Archives is a leading Canadian centre for research in art.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Library & Archives has suspended its public hours until further notice, but it is providing reference service via email: library.archives@ago.ca. Decisions about when and how the AGO might accommodate more visitors into the building will be led by public health and government officials. The library catalogue remains online at http://library.ago.net.

Our collections include over 300,000 volumes (including rare books and artist books), artist files, and art-related archives and special collections including the historical records of the AGO. In addition to supporting research related to the AGO’s art collections and exhibitions, we assist visiting researchers from the museum and academic communities as well as the general public.

 

Search our online catalogue

Please use the online catalogue to search for book titles in advance of your visit.

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What's in our Collection?

Learn about the Library & Archives collection areas and view collection highlights.

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Library Hours

Using Archives and Special Collections

Detailed finding aids are available at the Library & Archives for most of the AGO’s institutional archives.

Special Collections holdings may be searched using our AGO AtoM database. This search tool is a work in progress and includes links to detailed online finding aids (in PDF format) where available. Please be aware that many finding aids remain in hard copy only. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

 

Upcoming Programs & Events

Library & Archives programs provide opportunities for members of the public to have meaningful encounters with the library and its collections. Past programs have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons, reading groups, displays and tours of archival materials, lectures, and hands-on workshops. All library programs are free of charge, and participants do not require a general admission ticket.

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Past Programs & Events

New!
Agnes Fitzgibbon (1833-1913), “Nymphaea Odorata and Nuphar Advena” from Canadian Wild Flowers, John Lovell, 1868. Gift of Larry Pfaff in memory of Janet E. Hutchison, 2017
Talks
Close Looking: Canadian Wild Flowers
Monday, February 8, 11 am

Join Amy Furness, Rosamond Ivey Special Collections Archivist and Head, Library & Archives, as she discusses the AGO’s early editions of Catharine Parr Traill’s Canadian Wild Flowers (1868 and following) illustrated by Agnes Fitzgibbon. We will take a close look at some of the book’s remarkable illustrations and their history of production, and explore what it means to include illustrated books in an art museum collection.

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Postponed
painting of the Art Gallery of Toronto from 1914
Special Events
Library & Archives Unshelved: Highlights from the AGO Archives
Wednesday April 1, 6 - 8 pm (drop-in)

This drop-in series, hosted by AGO librarians and archivists, gives visitors a first-hand glimpse of highlights from the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives collection. For this installment, AGO Archivist Marilyn Nazar looks back at the first 100 years of AGO’s history through photographs, scrapbooks, architectural plans, catalogues, and other documents from the archives. Please visit the Marvin Gelber Print…

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Postponed
Library resources on Indigenous artists
Special Events
Indigenous Arts Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon
Saturday March 28, 12 - 5 pm (talk and tutorial at 12:30)

Please join the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives and friends for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Indigenous arts and artists. Our aim is to put the AGO’s thousands of artist files, books, and magazines to use as reference material to build Wikipedia content on topics related to Indigenous arts from across Turtle Island. Collaborators include Wanda Nanibush, AGO; Jamie Lee Morin and Desmond Wong, University of Toronto; artist Zeesy Powers; and Stacy Allison-Cassin, York University.…

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Postponed
text of title
Special Events
Copyright & Fair Dealing for Creative Women* Entrepreneurs
Wednesday March 25, 6 - 8 pm

Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers, OCADU, 3rd Floor, Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, 115 McCaul

Join Lindsay Dykstra and Christie Bates, lawyers at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, for a discussion of how copyright law and fair dealing provisions affect your creative practice. Lindsay and Christie will cover key copyright provisions that will help you harness and manage your copyright. They will also provide practical legal tips…

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Two people embracing under a cherry tree.
Special Events
Library & Archives Unshelved: Love-In
Wednesday February 26, 6 - 8 pm (drop-in)

This drop-in event hosted by AGO librarians and archivists gives visitors a first-hand glimpse of highlights from the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives collection. For February’s event, Head of Library & Archives Amy Furness will share texts and images on the theme of love from the archives of artists including Barbara Astman, Florence Wyle and Sorel Etrog. Please visit any …

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people gathered around a table reading
Special Events
Artist File Fair with EMILIA-AMALIA, no. 2
Saturday November 30, 2019, 1 - 3 pm

EMILIA-AMALIA and the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives at the Art Gallery of Ontario invite BIPOC, womxn, and trans artists to contribute to the AGO’s collection of more than 20,000 artist files that document the practices of artists in Canada since 1915.

This year, EMILIA-AMALIA is working within the framework of HOLES AND HOW TO FILL THEM as an organizing principle and guiding metaphor. Designed as a test-site…

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Cover of Der Blaue Reiter
Special Events
Library & Archives Unshelved: Highlights from the Rare Book Collection
Wednesday November 27, 6 - 8 pm (drop-in)

This  drop-in series, hosted by AGO librarians and archivists, gives visitors a first-hand glimpse of highlights from the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives collection. For this installment, Librarian Larry Pfaff looks back over his forty-four year tenure at the AGO and selects some of his favourite rare books and prints from the vaults. Please visit the…

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video still of writer Lakshmi Gill
Special Events
Artist in the Archives: Pamila Matharu in Conversation with Gabrielle Moser
Wednesday November 20, 2019 | 6:00 pm

Join artist Pamila Matharu for a screening of stuck between an archive and an aesthetic, a new experimental documentary recently featured at A Space Gallery as part of the 32nd Images Festival of Independent Film + Video. Mining lost and forgotten voices reverberating inside the institution, Matharu uses event documentation from found videotapes to explore what is…

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Legal Intersections setting up professional practice
Talks
Legal Intersections #4: Setting up a Professional Practice
Monday November 4, 6 - 8 pm

Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers, OCADU, 3rd Floor, Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, 115 McCaul

Legal Intersections is a four-part series addressing legal issues of importance to artists, designers, and cultural workers. The series is presented in collaboration with the Artists’ Legal Advice Services, the Centre for Emerging Artists and Designers at OCAD University, and the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

This last installment in the…

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copyright 1969 by Marshall McLuhan, Distant Early Warning
Special Events
Library & Archives Unshelved: Artists at Play
October 26, 6–8 pm (drop-in)

Librarian Donald Rance presents a selection of artist books and multiples, featuring pieces by Yoko Ono and more. This collection will explore the ways that artists have experimented with games and play in their work.

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Painting by Kathleen Munn, underdrawings shown though various lights
Special Events
Library & Archives Unshelved: Kathleen Munn
Wednesday September 25, 6-8 pm (drop in), talk at 7 pm

The Unshelved series gives visitors a first-hand glimpse of highlights from the AGO Library & Archives collection. This month’s event celebrates the Canadian modernist painter Kathleen Munn. Join co-hosts Stephanie Barnes, Koerner Fellow in Painting Conservation, and Amy Furness, Rosamond Ivey Special Collections Archivist and Head, Library & Archives, for a…

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Legal intersections intro to artist contracts
Talks
Legal Intersections #3: Intro to Artist Contracts
Wednesday September 25, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers, OCADU, 3rd Floor, Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, 115 McCaul.

In this third installment of the Legal Intersections series, join Naomi Johnson, Associate Director at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and Paul Sanderson, Barrister and Solicitor, Owner…

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Contacting the Library & Archives

Location

We’re located on the concourse level of the AGO, accessible through the Weston Family Learning Centre or the new south entrance in Grange Park.

View a map of the gallery.

View the AGO location and directions.

Contact us

Phone: 416 979 6642
Fax: 416 979 6602

Email: Library.Archives@ago.ca

Art Gallery of Ontario
E.P. Taylor Library & Archives
317 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 1G4

 

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