Slides are grouped into sets based on the repository or exhibition of the artworks documented. The objects represented by this collection came from public and private collections as well as traveling exhibitions. Subjects cover a wide range of artistic media including painting, sculpture, calligraphy, etc. Geographic regions include China, Japan, and central Asia. Time periods covered range from ancient to twentieth century.
Supplementing the slides are two file folder cabinet drawers, approximately three linear feet in total, of documentation relating to the creation and sales of AAPD slide sets.
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Asian Art Photographic Distribution (AAPD) was established in 1970 as an outgrowth of the Palace Museum Photographic Archive from the National Palace Museum(NPM) in Taiwan. The purpose of the NPM photographic project was to make available to educational institutions and museums sets of photographs of Chinese paintings on an at-cost basis. At the time the project was undertaken, it was considered a breakthrough in the field of Chinese art studies. Following the successful completion of the distribution of Palace Museum photographs and slides, AAPD was established in order to distribute visual materials of Chinese art from other sources, including public and private collections as well as temporary exhibitions. By 1975, objects were photographed in color, and in 1978 AAPD broadened its scope to include artwork from Japan, Korea, and other parts of Asia.
In 1997, AAPD received funding from the Henry Luce Foundation of New York to document US collections of Asian art. As a result of this funding, eleven new sets were created and distributed, illustrating various media from all areas of East Asia.
