When Data Meet the Archive: Earl Shinn and Sample Bias

Abstract

This essay uses archival and quantitative evidence to examine art critic Earl Shinn’s three-volume inventory The Art Treasures of America (1879–1882). Proving that Shinn’s survey presents a disproportionally Eurocentric sample of nineteenth-century US art collections, this article demonstrates how art historians can engage with digital tools to better understand primary sources’ biases.