Many thanks for your interest in organizing a public exhibition at the Grolier Club. My colleagues and I on the Club’s Committee on Public Exhibitions (COPE) look forward to learning more about your proposal and working with you to prepare a formal application. The application process can take a few months to complete, which gives us all time to explore and agree upon the aspects of your proposed exhibition in advance. I’m happy to provide you with the information you’ll need, and that the Grolier Club will need, during this period.

For that purpose, you will find documents at the bottom of this page to download:

• Application Instructions

• Summary of Exhibition Costs. Please see Budget and Billing for further details regarding coverage of exhibition costs between the Grolier Club and the curator or sponsor. 

In evaluating proposals, the committee pays special attention to these attributes:

• Comprehensive treatment of the theme

• Meaningful to experts but accessible to generalists

• Visual interest (physical variety if possible)

• A narrative beyond the materials themselves

Please note that Public Exhibitions may exhibit a maximum of 150 objects. Keep this in mind as you determine your sources of materials.

Feel free to contact me (mtryan47@gmail.com) at any time as you prepare your exhibition application. Once I have received it and we agree it is ready for submission to COPE, I’ll keep you informed of your application’s progress.

Again, we appreciate your interest in creating a public exhibition at the Grolier Club.

Best regards,

Michael Ryan, Chair
Committee on Public Exhibitions