This series consists of files kept by American Artists Group on individual member artists. (A few files are also present for museums, galleries, art societies, public relations firms, and artist agents; where possible, such relationships are described in the scope and contents notes on the file level). Artist files seem to have been kept in three sets of files: those from Samuel Golden’s tenure, with materials dating from 1929 to 1967; those from Martin Dash’s tenure, with materials dating from 1935 to 2010; and those from Deena Dash Kushner’s tenure, with materials dating from 2000 to 2004. These three sets of files have been merged into a single series for continuity and ease of researcher use; the series is therefore arranged alphabetically by artist last name. There is some overlap between the dates of materials contained in the three sets of files, which reflects how the files were used by the business. A short biographical note is given for prominent artists and those with longstanding AAG careers.

Artist files contain annual royalty statements, contracts, receipts and delivery slips, sample cards, artwork, sketches, photographs of art and artists, press releases and clippings, exhibition notices and programs, invitations to exhibition openings, promotional brochures, catalogs, biographical forms filled out by artists, typed artist biographies written by AAG, and correspondence. Much of the correspondence is personal between Samuel Golden and the artists; it details longstanding friendships and offers a picture of the New York City art world from the 1930s to the 1960s. Later correspondence is principally between Allen Golden, who handled artist relations, and the artists. Artists were assigned numbers beginning in the 1960s; these numbers, when present in a file, are noted in the scope and contents notes at the file level. Some files were kept for an artist’s work for a specific card line, such as the Irene Dash Greeting Card Co., Inc.; this is also noted, where applicable, in the scope and contents notes at the file level. Born-digital files mainly contain scans of original artwork.