NEW YORK—The Museum of Modern Art’s archives have reopened to the public in its new location, the museum’s recently opened Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building. Established in 1989, the archive conserves many primary-source historical documents related to the museum and modern art, including personal papers of former staff; 3,000 sound and video recordings of museum-related events; oral histories of trustees, artists and others associated with the museum (including architect and former MoMA trustee Philip Johnson, David Rockefeller and former MoMA curator Kirk Varnedoe). Also available are complete administrative and program records of the museum, and archival collections from non-MoMA individuals and institutions, such as painter Gerhard Richter’s source materials for his “Bader-Meinhof” series, which belongs to the museum.

Other items of interest include the Matisse retrospective catalog, in which the artist dedicated a drawing to MoMA’s founding director Alfred H. Barr Jr. (1936 hand-drawn chart illustrating the development of modern art). Thousands of photographs document the MoMA’s construction, exhibition installations, personnel and visitors. Museum archivist Michelle Elligott says much of the material is accessible on the museum’s Web site, along with some 23,000 digitized photographs. An appointment is required to see the originals. For more information, visit www.MoMA.org.