This series contains Tam's correspondence with his wife Geraldine, family, friends, colleagues, art associations, schools, museums, and galleries. Also found are copies of Tam's outgoing correspondence and letters sent to Geraldine Tam after Reuben's death. Researchers should note that additional letters of significance are located within the scrapbooks in Series 8.
Of note is correspondence with friends and fellow artists Alan Gussow, William Kienbusch, Frances Kornbluth, Carl Nesjar, Ben Norris, and Hyde Solomon, as well as art organizations, schools, and museums, such as Artists Equity Association, Brooklyn Museum of Art School, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Maine Coast Artists group, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Also found is correspondence with the three galleries which represented his work: Downtown Gallery, Alan Gallery, and Coe Kerr Gallery.
Arrangement note:
Family and outgoing correspondence is arranged chronologically followed by general correspondence which is arranged alphabetically.
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:
Reuben Tam papers, 1931-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing and digitization of the Reuben Tam papers received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
