IAO Library

IAO Library
Reference Library and Reading Room
Ongoing

 

IAO Library is a collection of aromatic ephemera, a vast constellation of objects and ephemera dedicated to perfume. This collection takes the form of  books, aromatic artifacts, scent wheels, board games, artist publications, and other ephemera that relate to scent.

Our current collection holds:

1,243 perfumes
500+ books
And a rich collection of ephemera

 

While the library objects were collected by the IAO over the course of our more than a decade of operations, in early 2021 the library received a substantial influx of materials donated by Conor McTeague. Conor McTeague was a friend of the Institute for Art and Olfaction, and an irreplaceable advocate for the artistry and value of perfume. It is in his honor that we embarked upon the project of organizing the data from his collection and joining it to our existing collection in a publicly accessible reference library. Over the course of 2021, 2022 and 2023 a team of volunteers led by Daniel Krasofki painstakingly entered every bit of information that was publicly accessible. In 2023, we were joined by Charles Rosenberg, who oversaw the process of aligning the collection with the Library of Congress categories.

The result is a vast constellation of aromatic objects – scent ephemera (raw materials, for instance), books, perfumes and more.

 

 

PHOTOS FROM THE PROCESS

 

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TEAM

Daniel Krasofski
IAO board member, project lead

Charles Rosenberg
Artist, project lead

Saskia Wilson-Brown
IAO Director, project lead

 

With the help of our amazing volunteers

Chloe Gordon
Simon Lee
Elliot Roth
Max Sternbaum
Chelley Maple
Rhiannon McGavin
Shelley Arnold
Devon Courtney Knight
Connie DiPronio
Elizabeth Connors
Rhiannon McGavin
Mud Howard

And special thanks to

Anna Gerber
Minetta Rogers
Shelley Ray
Daniel P Murphy