Deep in the depths of the Denver Art Museum (DAM) lies the institution's latest major acquisition, the American Institute of Graphic Arts' (AIGA) Design Archives. The collection, which found its new home in Denver late last year, is now in the process of being formally catalogued and stored...all 8,000 pieces of it. Add to that DAM's existing collection of 1,200 graphic design samples, throw in the new addition of over 850 rock posters, and that's a whole lot of collating and filing to get done.

The completion of this enormous task is the duty of DAM's new Assistant Curator of Graphic Design, Darrin Alfred, who recently came to Denver from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Alfred's job is made no less complicated by the fact that the AIGA archives go well beyond glossy brochures and fancy letterhead; the collection includes everything from promotional materials (think bags, wine bottles and clothing) to motion graphics (hundreds of CDs filled with commercials, music videos and film titles). While pieces from DAM's new collection date back to 1980, the AIGA has an online archive system that goes back even further and includes thousands more samples.