American Institutions with Stained-Glass Panels Dating before 1700
To aid in researching stained-glass panels dating to before 1700 now in the United States of America, we have gathered links to museums with important examples in their holdings. The listed museums all provide digital access to objects in their collections. Most have search engines, including some that allow searches by provenance and iconography. However, the list is limited to museums whose websites include searchable databases. In certain cases, stained glass published in the US Checklists does not appear currently in museum databases. We are continuing to research these situations and will augment this listing accordingly.
Stained-glass from before 1700 now installed in churches or schools is not included in this list.
It is our hope that this resource will be of use to researchers and will facilitate access to many of the important works of medieval and Early Modern stained glass now in the United States. The databases were not all created with stained glass in mind. Therefore, several different search terms (e.g. stained glass, “stained glass”, glass window, panel) might be necessary to find a given piece. The level of information provided also varies considerably from one site to another.
The list below is organized by state, including the District of Columbia, and then by city. Museums are listed alphabetically with each city’s designation.
California
Los Angeles
J. Paul Getty Museum: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/
Los Angeles County Museum of Art: https://collections.lacma.org/
San Diego
San Diego Museum of Art: http://collection.sdmart.org/POR1
San Francisco
San Francisco Museums of Art, the Legion of Honor Museum: https://art.famsf.org/
Stanford
Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center: http://cantorcollection.stanford.edu/
Colorado
Denver Art Museum: https://denverartmuseum.org/collection/
District of Columbia
National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/collection-search.html
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art: https://collections.si.edu/search/index.htm
NB: Search using “stained glass” and refine your search (under “Search options”) to “Limit to Museum Objects”
Illinois
The Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/collection
Kansas
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas: https://www.spencerart.ku.edu/
Maryland
Baltimore
The Baltimore Museum of Art: https://www.artbma.org/collections/index.html
NB.This database does not search by medium. Search panels by titles.
The Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/
Massachusetts
Amherst
Amherst College, Mead Art Museum: http://museums.fivecolleges.edu/
Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: https://collections.mfa.org/collections
NB. Search for both “stained glass” and “windows”; the latter leads to the Hereford window, the former to everything else.
Cambridge
Harvard University Art Museums: https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections
Wellesley
Wellesley College, Davis Museum: https://www.wellesley.edu/davismuseum/explore-the-collections
Williamstown
Williams College Museum of Art: https://artmuseum.williams.edu/collection/
Worcester
Worcester Art Museum: https://worcester.emuseum.com/collections
Michigan
Ann Arbor
University of Michigan Museum of Art: https://www.umma.umich.edu/search-the-collection
Detroit
Detroit Institute of Arts: https://www.dia.org/art/collection/dia-collection
Minnesota
Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://new.artsmia.org/
Missouri
Kansas City
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: https://art.nelson-atkins.org/collections
NB. Search under “glass.”
Saint Louis
Saint Louis Art Museum: https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/
New Jersey
Princeton University Art Museum: https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections
New York
Buffalo
Albright-Knox Art Gallery: King emerging from a Jesse Tree (no image): https://www.albrightknox.org/artworks/1973501-king-emerging-tree-jesse
Corning
Corning Museum of Glass: https://www.cmog.org/collection/search
New York City
Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/search
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum: https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/search
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection
Rochester
University of Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery,: https://magart.rochester.edu/IT_-1
North Carolina
Durham
Duke University, Nasher Museum of Art: https://emuseum.nasher.duke.edu/collections
Raleigh
North Carolina Museum of Art (no images): https://ncartmuseum.org/art/search/
Ohio
Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art: https://www.clevelandart.org/
Oberlin
Oberlin College, Allen Memorial Art Museum: http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/collection.html
Toledo
Toledo Museum of Art: http://emuseum.toledomuseum.org/collections
Pennsylvania
Bryn Athyn
The Glencairn Museum (which houses the Raymond Pitcairn Collection)
NB. While the museum Web site does not host a search engine, selected panels in the collection can be searched using the Radiance and Reflection catalogue: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/radiance_and_reflection_medieval_art_from_the_raymond_pitcairn_collection
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art: https://philamuseum.org/collections/search.html
NB. Search for “stained glass” under “Classification”
Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museum of Art: https://collection.cmoa.org/
NB. Search “stained glass” and refine by date.
University of Pittsburgh, University Art Gallery (no images): https://uag.pitt.edu/index.php/Search/advanced/objects
Rhode Island
Rhode Island School of Design Museum: https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection
South Carolina
Bob Jones University, Museum & Gallery. NB: No general searchable database is available. However the French, 16th-century window depicting the Fountain of Life is published: https://www.bjumg.org/?s=stained+glass
Tennessee
Vanderbilt University, Fine Arts Gallery: https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/gallery/collections/europe.php
Texas
McNay Art Museum: https://www.mcnayart.org/
Vermont
University of Vermont, Fleming Museum of Art: https://www.uvm.edu/fleming/collections
NB. As of March 2020, development of the collection search function was in progress, soon to be implemented.
Virginia
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: https://www.vmfa.museum/collections/european-art/
Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin, Chazen Museum of Art: http://embarkkiosk.chazen.wisc.edu/QS_5