Series consists of predominantly, incoming and outgoing correspondence of Canadian Art/artscanada staff which focusses on: requests to critics for articles; suggestions for future articles; specific projects such as the Canadian Art Print Club; authors' deadlines; reproduction requests; readers' comments; exhibition notices; requests for reviews by galleries and institutions; press releases covering a broad field of art-related topics; some transcripts of taped interviews with artists; supporting material for articles; memoranda from staff on every facet of the daily functions of the office; and resumés of both potential critics and job applicants. Of particular note is the large amount of unsolicited material, largely unpublished, which includes artists' statements, critics' reviews and essays. Important correspondence from the 1960s documents major alterations in both editorial policy and format, as initiated by changes in personnel.
Correspondence in the 1970s is revelatory of artscanada's increasing difficulty in achieving financial stability.
Staff correspondents include Paul Arthur, Alan Jarvis, Barry Lord, Nadine de Montmollin, Anne Brodzky, Tony Williams, Rose Danesewich and Cathy Arthur.
Artists, whose correspondence span several decades in the series, include: Jack Shadbolt, Ernest Lindner, Pat Martin Bates, Dennis Burton, Vera Frenkel, Ronald Bloore and London, Ontario artists Jack Chambers, Greg Curnoe and John Boyle; critics and scholars include Theodore Allen Heinrich, Michael Greenwood, Joan Lowndes, Joan Vastokas, Moncrieff Williamson and George Woodcock.
Artists included among the correspondents from the late 1950s and 1960s and/or featured in reviews, published and unpublished, are: Harold Town, Michael Snow, Bruno and Molly Bobak, Louis de Niverville, Jack Shadbolt, Otto Rogers, Kazuo Nakamura, Ted Godwin, Aba Bayefsky, Yves Gaucher, Jack Bush, Charles Comfort, Robert Murray, Julius Held, Joe Plaskett, Ian Carr-Harris, Louis Muhlstock, Alfred Pellan, Roy Kiyooka, Karl Beveridge, Michael deCourcy, Maxwell Bates, Alex Colville, Ken Lochhead. Critics and scholars included among the correspondents are: Barry Lord, Robert Ayre, Paul Overy, Paul Russell, Richard Simmins, Dorothy Todd Henaut, May Cutler, Tony Emery and Lawrence Sabbath.
Artists included among the correspondents from the 1970s and early 1980s and/or featured in reviews, published or unpublished, are: Royden and David Rabinowitch, Dennis Burton, Jack Shadbolt, Les Levine, Tom Dean, Nancy Graves, Murray Favro, Kim Ondaatje, Ivan Eyre, Gary Lee-Nova, David Gilhooly, David Blackwood, Eric Cameron, Toni Onley, Bill Vazan, Robert Frank, Robert Bourdeau, Ron Martin, Tom Hodgson, Ray Johnson, Eric Cameron, Bruce Parsons and John McEwen. Well-documented in the correspondence from this period are London, Ontario artists Jack Chambers, Greg Curnoe and John Boyle. Critics and scholars include Jean Sutherland Boggs, Diana Nemiroff, Philip Fry, Gary Michael Dault, Peter Perrin, Ronald Christ, John Noel Chandler, Roald Nasgaard, Ann Thomas, Ann Rosenberg, Doris Shadbolt, Dorothy Cameron and Dore Ashton.
It should be noted that artscanada used an alphabetical filing system, as well, during the period 1977-1981; researchers should consult the series General Correspondence - Alphabetical for material covering the period. See also: General Correspondence - Alphabetical, Reference Material, Subject Files and Issue Files. Arranged chronologically.