Lisa Darms
lisa@thedarmsoffice.com
Archivist and appraiser Lisa Darms, based in New York City and Litchfield County, has spent the last two decades working closely with artists and their collections. From 2020 to 2025 she was the executive director of Hauser & Wirth Institute, an organization devoted to increasing access to artists’ archives and supporting communities that use, create, and care for artistic legacies. As the senior archivist at NYU’s Fales Library & Special Collections from 2009 to 2016, she managed the renowned Downtown Collection of artists’ archives and was the founding curator of the Fales Riot Grrrl Collection.
Lisa holds an MFA in Photography, an MA in History and Archival Management, and a Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts. Lisa’s expertise with artists’ archives is reflected in panels, symposia and podcasts with institutions like MoMA PS1, Independent Art Fair, Frieze Art Fair, the New Museum, Center for Art Law, and Haverford College.
ARCHIVES SERVICES
As an archivist, Lisa works with individuals and organizations to evaluate, catalog, and digitize archives of any size, and advises on the placement of archival collections. With a focus on artists and their estates, galleries, and arts nonprofits, Lisa’s services range from creating inventories to assessing current archival programs and making recommendations for improved workflows, preservation, and access.
APPRAISALS
Lisa received her certificate in appraisal studies from NYU in 2015 and is a USPAP compliant appraiser. Lisa’s appraisal specialties include postwar and contemporary art, with special expertise in experimental art, artistic avant-gardes, and New York artists from the Abstract Expressionists to the Pictures Generation; photography of all eras, including fine art, documentary, and vernacular photographs; print ephemera, especially late-twentieth-century artists books and zines; and archives and collections, including the personal papers of artists, writers, and performers, and assembled collections of manuscripts and memorabilia.
WRITING
Lisa writes regularly about contemporary art and artists’ archives. Her essays and interviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Artnet, Hyperallergic, The Believer, and Archivaria, and she has edited two books: The Riot Grrrl Collection (Feminist Press, 2013) and Weight of the Earth: The Tape Journals of David Wojnarowicz (Semiotext(e), 2018, co-edited with David O’Neill). Her book HAGiographies, which considers the relationships and responsibilities of the archivist-biographer-fan to her subjects, is forthcoming.
