Russell Ferguson served as the New Museum’s Librarian and Special Projects Editor from 1986 – 1991. Ferguson was key to the development of the collections of the Soho Center Library at the New Museum, the Museum’s non-lending library of rare contemporary art publications which served as a free resource to the community. In 1988, Ferguson co-organized the exhibition and performance series “Nitelife” with curators William Olander and Laura Trippi. He was the editor of the third and fourth volumes of the Museum’s anthology series “Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art,” published in 1990.

Ferguson would later serve as guest curator on exhibitions “Patty Chang: Shangri-La,” 2005, and “New Commissions Mathias Poledna: Crystal Palace,” 2009, as part of the New Museum’s Three M Project with the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.