Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism,
and the Index of American Design
Virginia Tuttle Clayton et al.

This beautifully illustrated book commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the National Gallery of Art's acquisition of the Index of American Design. Three essays explore the history, operation, and ambitions of the Index of American Design, examine folk-art collecting in America during the early decades of the twentieth century, and consider the Index's role in the search for a national cultural identity in early twentieth-century United States. The book displays eighty-two of the finest watercolor renderings along with a selection of the original artifacts they represent.