Palm Springs Art Museum was founded in 1938 as the Palm Springs Desert Museum, specializing in Native American artifacts, the natural sciences, and the environment of the surrounding Coachella Valley. The museum moved several times within the downtown Palm Springs area before building its first permanent structure in 1958, located on the southwest corner of Tahquitz-McCallum Way and Indian Ave. In 1974, architect E. Stewart Williams was commissioned to design the current building on Museum Drive. Further growth resulted in the construction of the Doris and Walter N. Marks Administration Building, Buddy Rogers Box Office, and the 1996 completion of the Steve Chase Wing and the Education Center. In April 2004, the Board of Trustees of the Palm Springs Desert Museum instructed the director and staff to shift the museum's focus from a multi-disciplinary museum to a world-class art museum with a performing arts program. One year later, in April 2005, the museum officially changed its name to the Palm Springs Art Museum to reflect its emphasis on the visual and performing arts.

Approximately 150 linear feet

No interpretive restriction is placed on material. Separate permissions to be obtained for publishing material. Property rights to the physical object belong to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where Palm Springs Art Museum does not hold the copyright.

The collection is open to qualified researchers by appointment only