Correspondence dates from 1949-2014 and is both personal and professional in nature. Personal correspondence is with wife, novelist Jill Ciment, family, friends, and artists. The bulk of the correspondence falls within two date ranges, 1949-1960s and 1990s-2014. Professional correspondence is with museums, galleries, and magazines, and pertains to exhibitions, acquisitions, sales, and work for hire. There are also a few letters from senators regarding political issues. Notable correspondents include Arthur Danto, Robert Storr, June Wayne, and Howard Zinn. Single items of correspondence are from Kerry James Marshall, Henry Miller, Robert Motherwell, and Ben Shahn. Additional correspondence is found throughout the collection, particularly in the gallery and exhibitions files (series 4), activism files (series 5.2), and teaching files (series 7).
Arrangement:
Files are arranged by correspondent name or topic.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Arnold Mesches papers, 1939-2015. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
