The library, founded in 1920 by Helen Clay Frick, offers access to materials on the study of art to students, scholars, and the public.

[4] In 1924, the library was relocated from the bowling alley to a one-story building at 6 East 71st Street next to the Frick residence; the new structure was designed by the architecture firm of Carrère and Hastings.

[5][6] The library’s current building, at 10 East 71st Street, was designed by John Russell Pope and opened to the public January 14, 1935.

It created the online publication The Archives Directory for the History of Collecting, which the library continues to edit, augment, and host today.

The library holds a vast array of physical and digital art historical research materials.

In addition, the library offers access to electronic resources including art and image databases, e-books, e-journals, and a selection of websites.

The library also offers interlibrary loan and document delivery services to registered researchers.

[13] The library formally initiated a collaborative web archiving program in January 2014, as a member of the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC).

The NYARC consortium's web archiving program preserves at-risk websites across 10 public collections, such as those of New York City-based galleries, artists, auction houses, catalogues raisonnés, and art restitution research initiatives.

ARIES was developed with New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering and the Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil.

The Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America is a guide to primary source materials related to dealers, collectors, and galleries active in the United States and where they are located.