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Summary:
Fourteen letters written to Robb, 1846-1871, from John Gadsby Chapman, Henry Dilworth Gilpin, James H. Hackett, George Peter Alexander Healy, Daniel Huntington, Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, William Kemble, Charles Macalester, Hiram Powers, Robert Walter Weir, and Richard Henry Wilde; a letter written to "My Dear Sir" by Robb, 1848; a handwritten copy of an agreement between Hiram Powers and Robb concerning the exhibiting of Powers' THE GREEK SLAVE, 1848; a page of clippings, undated and 1859, relating to the sale of the Robb collection and to his railroad affiliation.
Citation:
James Robb papers, 1846-1871. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
35mm microfilm reel 3948 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Biography Note:
Railroad and banking tycoon, art collector; active in New Orleans in the mid-nineteenth century. Robb collected European and American art. Much of his collection was sold in 1859; some works from his collection are in the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Herbert Gray, a collector of autographed letters. This group of James Robb papers was included in a scrapbook that Mr. Gray purchased, containing letters to and from various historical figures. The remainder of the James Robb items from the scrapbook (ca. 157 letters and receipts pertaining to the purchase and sale of the Robb art collection) were donated to the Historic New Orleans Collection, a major repository of manuscript material on Robb.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Louisiana -- New Orleans Search this
