In the late 1970s, Gleeson interviewed 98 Australian artists in their studios, about their work being acquired by the National Gallery. The informal conversations explore how works were made and then acquired. Gleeson was a visiting curator of Australian art at the time of the interviews, and then chairman of the Gallery's Acquisitions Committee from 1974 to 1975. The interviews were commissioned by the Gallery's director, James Mollison, in order to collect more information for the Gallery's Research Library collection. The original tapes, transcripts, photographs and digitised recordings are held by the Gallery's Library.