The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
The earliest documentation from 1895 to 1909 concerns the organization's history and founding and is located in Series 1: Board of Trustees. Also found in this series are meeting minutes, 1909-1963 and 1968. Interfiled with the board meeting minutes are minutes of the executive committee and other special and ad hoc committees, reports to the board, financial statements and reports, and lists of committee appointments and board membership. This series also contains the scattered correspondence and subject files of various officers. Although not a complete set of officers' files, Presidents' Frederick Allen. Whiting (1931-1936), Lawrence M.C. Smith (1948-1952), Thomas Brown Rudd (1952-1954), Daniel Longwell (1954-1956), James S. Schramm (1956-1958), and Roy R. Neuberger (1958-1961) are represented. Leila Mechlin served on AFA's board as secretary from its founding to 1929, and her files are a particularly rich resource for AFA's activities during its early years. Lawrence M.C. Smith's files documenting his years as board treasurer are also arranged in this series. Additional officers' correspondence is interspersed throughout the Alphabetical Files and other series.
General information about the scope of AFA's programs, affiliations, founding, functions, and proceedings are arranged in Series 2: Administrative Records. The first subseries, Alphabetical Files, houses a wide variety of subject files that contain memoranda, correspondence, printed materials, lists, reports, and other papers. These files document the AFA's general history and founding, organizational affiliations, buildings and moves, grants, federal and state government art programs, auctions and other fund-raising efforts, publicity and public relations, publications, and fiftieth anniversary celebration. The subject headings by which these files are arranged are, for the most part, the ones designated by the AFA. The second subseries, Staff Records, houses the scattered files of AFA's director, assistant director, registrar, and special state representative, Robert Luck.
During its most active period, the AFA sponsored or participated in several special programs and Series 3: Special Programs houses the files that document many of them. The first subseries consists of the files for the Artists in Residence program that was funded by the Ford Foundation. Awarded in 1963, the grant sponsored short-term teaching residencies for artists in museums throughout the United States. The host museums were encouraged to hold exhibitions of the artists' works. This subseries contains both the general files of the program, as well as individual files on the participating artists. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the AFA and the Ford Foundation also sponsored additional programs for artists, including Grants in Aid, Purchase Awards, and the Retrospective Exhibitions Program. The files documenting these three programs are also arranged in Series 3, under the subseries Ford Foundation Program for Visual Artists. In the late 1950s, the AFA implemented the Museum Donor Program with benefactors and philanthropists Audrey Bruce Currier and Stephen Richard Currier. Through the administration of the AFA, the Curriers donated funds to selected institutions specifically for the purchase of contemporary American art. The Curriers preferred to remain anonymous throughout the program. Files documenting this program include correspondence, applications from the accepted institutions, rejections, a summary report, and clippings about the untimely deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Currier in 1967.
Also found in Series 3 are the files documenting AFAs working relationship with the first state arts council, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 1961, AFA and NYSCA implemented a traveling exhibition program in New York State. Found here are files for possible itineraries, proposals, publicity, loans, budgets, and the actual exhibition files. Additional AFA special programs documented in Series 3 include the Picture of the Month program of the mid-1950s and the Jean Tennyson Foundation Color Slide Lecture Program.
AFA Annual Convention files constitute Series 4. Beginning with the Third Annual Convention in 1912 and continuing through the 1963 Annual Convention, the files contain official proceedings, speeches, programs, clippings, correspondence, and press releases. Files are missing for 1913, 1915, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1936-1949, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962. There are also audio recordings in the form of reel-to-reel tapes for the 1951 Annual Convention.
Series 5: Exhibition Files forms the bulk of the collection at circa 62 linear feet and is arranged into twenty subseries. The first subseries, Exhibitions, General, houses primarily the records of the Board of Trustees Exhibition Committee and documents the AFA's earliest involvement with traveling exhibitions. These files contain reports, budgets, correspondence, memoranda, scattered exhibition catalogs, and photographs. They are primarily the files of the chair of the Exhibition Committee and include the files of Juliana R. Force, Eloise Spaeth, and Mrs. John Pope. Also found in this series is a subseries of Mrs. John Pope's records documenting circulating exhibitions from 1934 to 1955, arranged by state.
The remaining nineteen subseries of the Exhibition Files reflect either specific exhibition programs, many of which have unique numbers assigned by AFA to individual exhibitions, or other exhibition-related files, such rejected, canceled, and suggested exhibitions and miscellaneous installation photographs. The Annual Exhibitions files constitute the largest of the subseries and are numbered according to the system assigned by AFA, following a typical chronological order. Although the documentation for each exhibition varies widely by both type and amount, most of the files contain contracts and legal agreements, correspondence, memoranda, itinerary information, condition reports, publicity materials, catalogs, announcements, price lists, and other such information arranged into one or more files. The files were labeled "documentation files," "dispersal files," "report form files," "loan agreement files," and "publicity files" according to the filing system devised by AFA. Many of the files also house a significant amount of correspondence with museum officials, lenders, and artists.
Additional subseries document AFA's exhibition venues and partnerships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the New York State Council on the [UNK] Life magazine, and Addison Gallery. A complete list of all of the subseries, including specific exhibition programs, follows in the Series Outline.
The final three series of the collection are small: Printed Material, Miscellaneous Files, and Oversized Material. The printed material was donated much later to the Archives and dates from 1990 to 1993. Found here are scattered press releases, annual reports, and an exhibition program. Miscellaneous Files contain scattered records, 1926-1962, of the Architectural League of New York relating to national award programs. It is not clear why this small group of Architectural League records was found mixed with the AFA records but perhaps the collaboration between the two organizations on several special projects provides an explanation. Also found in Miscellaneous Files is a group of black and white lantern slides from a lecture series, "New Horizons in America." Oversized Material includes a portfolio, a work of art, and posters.
See Appendix for a list of artists exhibiting with the American Federation of Arts
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight primary series based primarily on administrative units or program areas. Several of the series are further subdivided into subseries. While processing, it became clear that the two filing systems were redundant and overlapped in both subject area and type of material. Most of these files were subsequently merged into the now broader Alphabetical Files or into separate series. Oversized material may be found at the end of the collection arranged in a separate series.
In most cases, files related to one another by subseries or subject areas (in the case of the Alphabetical Files) or by individual name (in the case of officers and staff files) are arranged in chronological order. The entire subseries of Alphabetical Files in Series 2 is arranged by subject heading, as assigned by the AFA, or individual name. The Alphabetical Files originally formed two broad filing systems as established by the AFA: one for general correspondence arranged by subject; and one for director's and other staff correspondence, also arranged by subject.
Series 1: Board of Trustees, circa 1895-1968 (Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Administrative Records, 1910-1966 (Boxes 4-8)
Series 3: Special Programs, 1950-1967 (Boxes 9-13)
Series 4: Annual Conventions, 1912-1963 (Boxes 14-16)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1934-1969 (Boxes 17-78)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1990-1993 (Box 78)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1926-1962, undated (Box 79)
Series 8: Oversized Materials, 1890, undated (Boxes 80-85)
Historical Note:
Founded in 1909 by Elihu Root, the American Federation of Arts (AFA) exists today as a national nonprofit museum service organization striving to unite American art institutions, collectors, artists, and museums. Elihu Root, then secretary of state in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, spoke of his idea at the first meeting of the AFA held in New York at the National Academy of Arts. He envisioned an organization that would promote American art most often seen only by the elite in the major cities of the East and upper Midwest by sending "exhibitions of original works of art on tour through the hinterlands across the United States."
The American Academy in Rome, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Metropolitan Museum of Art were influential organizing member institutions. Individual members included such notables as William Merritt Chase, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Charles L. Hutchinson, Henry Cabot Lodge, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Walters. The founding of the AFA provided the American art world with a forum for communication and participation among artists, cultural institutions, patrons of the arts, and the public.
To accomplish its mission, the AFA established volunteer committees for membership, exhibitions, and publications. During its first year, the AFA began publishing Art and Progress (later changed to Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual (now the American Art Directory). In 1909, the AFA also organized its first traveling exhibition, Paintings by Prominent American Artists, which was shown at museums in Fort Worth, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and New Ulm, Minnesota.
By the end of the first year, the headquarters of the organization moved to Washington, D.C., to facilitate lobbying the federal government for favorable art legislation. In 1913, the AFA lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on foreign art entering the United States. In 1916, the Federation met with the Interstate Commerce Commission to protest prohibitively high interstate taxes on traveling art exhibitions.
Throughout the next fifteen years, the AFA continued to grow in membership and influence. By 1919, membership included 438 institutions and 2,900 individuals. The AFA's annual conventions were held in major national art centers and were attended by members, chapter delegates, and the public. At the conventions, scholars, patrons, and curators lectured on and discussed subjects of national interest, thereby fostering an exchange of ideas. The AFA also sponsored periodic regional conferences to promote institutional cooperation and to discuss mutual problems and needs. To facilitate exhibition venues west of the Mississippi River, in 1921 the AFA opened regional offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University. The AFA produced and circulated slide programs and lecture series to museums and educational institutions that fostered art education. By 1929, the Federation had developed forty-six slide-lecture programs that covered American mural painting, European and American contemporary art, and textiles.
During the 1930s, the Federation expanded its services by providing schools with teaching guides, student workbooks, slides, and films about art. In 1935, the AFA began publishing Who's Who in American Art, later publishing The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists and Films on Art reference guides. To reach an even larger audience, the AFA began collaborating with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to organize national circulating exhibitions to "bring the museum to the people."
One of AFA's priorities was to make American art more visible abroad. The Federation focused on encouraging the representation of American artists in foreign exhibitions, and in 1924 it lobbied successfully for additional American participation in the Venice Biennale. The AFA's focus on exhibiting American art abroad continued to expand, particularly following World War II. In 1950, recognizing that the AFA could assist in promoting American culture, the State Department awarded the AFA a grant for a German "re-orientation program" consisting of educational exhibitions shown in German museums. Additional government funding further enabled the AFA to organize American participation in exhibitions in India, Japan, Paris, Switzerland, and Rotterdam between 1950 and 1970. Later, the AFA collaborated with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program which permitted donations of American art to foreign institutions on a restriction-free, tax-deductible basis. During the 1950s, the AFA was a very active member of the Committee on Government and Art, a national committee with members from across the art and museum world concerned with government sponsorship of and legislation affecting art sales, commissions, and trade.
In 1952, the headquarters of the AFA returned to New York, sparking a period of innovation and expanded of programs. Throughout the 1950s, the AFA distributed films about art and co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York. The AFA also introduced its Picture of the Month Program in 1954, renting original works of art to small American art and educational institutions. In 1956, the AFA organized the Art Collectors Club of America to provide fellowship for art collectors through meetings and activities. The club disbanded in the 1970s.
The Federation's exhibition programs continued to flourish during the 1950s and 1960s. Private and public financial support allowed the AFA to achieve many of its goals. In 1958, the Ford Foundation awarded an important grant to organize a series of traveling one-person shows and a series of monographs devoted to contemporary American artists. Milton Avery, Andrew Dasburg, José DeCreeft, Lee Gatch, Walter Quirt, Abraham Rattner, and others were among the artists who participated. Private foundation support for the AFA's Museum Donor Program provided an annual allowance that was distributed to regional museums for the pourchase of contemporary American art. Cooperative programs and joint venues also became popular during this period. For example, public support from the New York State Council on the Arts allowed the AFA to circulate exhibitions to small New York State communities, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts provided the AFA with five exhibitions for national tours.
Throughout its history, the American Federation of Arts has concentrated on its founding principle of broadening the audience for contemporary American art. Through its numerous exhibition and film programs, the AFA has succeeded in "breaking down barriers of distance and language to broaden the knowledge and appreciation of art." Annual exhibitions such as New Talent in the USA and Art Schools USA, organized by the AFA, brought before the public the most contemporary American artists and craftspeople, genres, and artistic forms of experimentation, exposing viewers to new ways of thinking and expression. In 1965, AFA produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films created to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
A vital part of American art history, the AFA was one of the first organizations to develop successfully the concept of traveling art exhibitions on a national and international level. The AFA was instrumental in assisting museums with circulating important juried exhibitions of contemporary art, such as the Whitney Annual and Corcoran Biennial. The AFA also recognized the importance of the exchange of cultural ideas, and it brought exhibitions of the European masters to the American public as well as exhibitions focusing on foreign contempoorary art, photography, and architecture. Many organizations and museums have followed the AFA's precedent, and traveling national and international venues are now commonplace.
Since 1909, women have served as officers and members of the Board of Trustees. Leila Mechlin was a founding participant and served as secretary from 1909 to 1933. Juliana R. Force and Eloise Spaeth both chaired the Exhibition Committee in the late 1940s. Women and artists of diverse backgrounds and nationalities were widely represented in the AFA's exhibition programs, most notably during the 1960s. In 1960, the AFA organized, with financial support from the Ford Foundation, a major Jacob Lawrence retrospective. Additional culturally diverse exhibitions included Contemporary Jewish Ceremonial Art (1961), The Heart of India (1962), 1,000 Years of American Indian Art (1963), and Ten Negro Artists from the United States (1966).
The AFA also had an impact on patronage in the arts. AFA exhibitions of contemporary art provided collectors with knowledge of new artists and avant-garde art forms, creating a broader demand and market for this type of work. Museums and collectors began purchasing work by new or obscure American artists whom they learned about through AFA exhibitions and programs.
The historical records of the American Federation of Arts offer the researcher a unique opportunity to study the development of American art and artists in the twentieth century as well as providing insight into trends in American culture.
Missing Title
1909 -- Founded in New York City. Began publishing Art and Progress (later retitled Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual.
1910 -- Moved headquarters to Washington, D.C.
1913 -- Lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on art entering the United States.
1915-1916 -- Lobbied successfully against the Cummins Amendment and the Interstate Commerce Commission's prohibitively high interstate tax on traveling art.
1920 -- Organized a lobbying campaign for the development of a national gallery of art at its national convention.
1921 -- Opened two new offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University.
1924 -- Arranged American participation in the Venice Biennale exhibition.
1927 -- Closed office at Stanford University.
1929 -- Organized American participation in exhibitions in France and Germany.
1933 -- Closed office at the University of Nebraska.
1935 -- Began publishing Who's Who in American Art.
1948 -- Published The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists.
1949 -- Collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to circulate exhibitions from its collections.
1950 -- Participated in the U.S. government's German re-orientation program.
1951 -- Joined forces with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program. Published the reference guide Films on Art. Co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York, through 1957.
1952 -- Moved headquarters to New York City.
1953 -- Magazine of Art liquidated.
1954 -- Introduced the Picture of the Month Program.
1956 -- Founded the Art Collectors Club of America.
1958 -- Received a Ford Foundation grant to finance a series of one-person shows of contemporary American artists.
1960 -- Created the Museum Donor Program.
1961 -- Received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to circulate exhibitions to small New York state communities.
1963 -- Received a grant from the Ford Foundation for the Artists in Residence program.
1964 -- Introduced the List Art Poster Program.
1965 -- Produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films that attempted to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
Appendix: List of Artists Exhibiting with American Federation of Arts:
The following is an alphabetical list of artists who exhibited with the American Federation of Arts; many are obscure. The alpha-numeric codes and numbers appearing with the artist's name represent specific AFA exhibition programs and, most often, AFA's exhibition numbering system. In cases where the AFA did not assign an exhibition number, Archives' staff have done so.
The primary reference source for the names and name variants is the American Federation of Arts Records. The names are documented in handwritten notes and lists, typed lists, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. The Archives of American Art name authority file was also consulted in questionable cases. The majority of names, however, were not found in either the AAA name authority file or standard bibliographic resources, and only in the AFA records.
Examples:
55-1: AFA annual exhibitions program
AD-1: Addison Gallery exhibitions
L-1: Life Magazine Exhibitions
ME-1: Misceallaneous exhibitions (numbers assigned by AAA staff)
NMA-1: Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions
NE-96: Contemporary Color Lithography
NY-1: New York State Council on the Arts exhibitions
VA-1: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions
Missing Title
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons & Assoc: 62-34
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) were donated to the Archives of American Art (AAA) over a thirteen-year period, with the bulk of the material arriving between 1964 and 1966. In 1979, Preston Bolton donated his letters and those from John de Menil, Ann Drevet, Lee Malone, and others regarding planning for the 1957 AFA annual convention held in Houston, Texas; convention committee minutes from 1956; and AFA newsletters. This material, as well as a 1979 gift from Louise Ferrari of transcripts from a panel discussion from the 1957 AFA convention in Houston, was microfilmed on AAA Reel 1780. All material previously microfilmed on Reel 1780 has been fully integrated into the collection and arranged within proper series and subseries. The provenance of the 1990-1993 printed material is unknown.
Restrictions:
Use requires an appointment.
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.
This series consists of the business and personal correspondence of Edith Gregor Halpert and the Downtown Gallery. For the most part, this series is general business correspondence concerning routine activities of the Downtown Gallery, including the American Folk Art Gallery and the Daylight Gallery, both operated by the Downtown Gallery on the same premises. Included are correspondence with clients, employees, other galleries, and colleagues concerning sales, loans, purchases, appraisals, and so forth; arrangements for shipping, framing, photography, reproduction permissions, and insurance; and gallery housekeeping and improvements, ordering of supplies, and other administrative concerns.
Also included is personal correspondence of Edith Gregor Halpert. There are letters and greeting cards from nieces, nephews, and other relatives; correspondence with longtime friends, including some who were art collectors, museum curators, or museum directors; and correspondence concerning upkeep and improvement of her Newtown, Connecticut, country home and entertaining there.
See Appendix A for a list of selected correspondents from Series 1
Arrangement note:
Letters (with enclosures) are arranged chronologically, with those of the same date alphabetized by name of correspondent; undated material is arranged alphabetically, followed by unidentified correspondents and letters bearing illegible signatures.
Box numbers provided in the Container Listing are approximate.
Appendix A: List of Selected Correspondents in Series 1:
Names and titles indicated in this list are those that appear on the letters. Where appropriate, terms have been standardized and cross-referencing provided. Because filing is not always consistent, researchers are advised to check both the name of an individual and the institution that he or she represented.
Abate Associates, Inc., 1956
Abbot and Land, 1965
Abbot, B. Vincent, 1944
Abbot, Bernice, 1957
Abbot, John E., 1945, 1948
Abbot Laboratories, 1950, 1952
ABC Employment Agency, 1951
Richard Abel and Co., Inc., 1968
Abendroth, Robert W., 1966-1967
Abercrombie and Fitch Co., 1962
Abilene Museum of Fine Arts, undated, 1949, 1954
Abingdon Square Painters, 1965
Abraham and Straus, 1930, 1960, 1965-1966, 1968
Abraham, Mae C., 1965
Abrahamsen, Mrs. David, 1962
Abramowitz, M., 1958
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1958-1960, 1965-1966, 1968-1969
"HemisFair '68," 1968 (see also: "International Exposition, HemisFair '68")
Hemmenway, Catherine C., 1961
Hemmingsen, R. V., 1963
Hemmingson, Victoria, 1965
Henderson, Hanford, 1960
Henderson, Priscilla A. B. (Mrs. A. I.), 1934-1955
Henderson, Ray, 1956
Hendrick, Mrs. James Pomeroy, 1961
Heninger, Helen, undated, 1963, 1969
Henquet, Roger, 1948, 1965
Henri, Robert, 1926-1927
Henry, David T., 1964
Henry, Helen (Mrs. Charles), undated, 1949
Henry, James F., 1958
Henry Street Settlement, 1958, 1962-1963
Hentschel, R. A. A., 1951-1954
Hepburn, Katharine, 1952
Herbert, Elmer, 1962
Herbert, James D., 1962
Herider, Ed. L., 1961
Heritage Gallery, 1960, 1964
Herman, Stanley, 1964
Herman, Vic, 1968
Herring, Audrey L., 1964
Herrington, Nell Ray (Mrs. A. W. S.), 1962, 1965
John Herron Art Institute, undated, 1934, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1957-1958, 1962-1964, 1967 (see also: Art Association of Indianapolis; Art School of the John Herron Art Institute)
Hertslet, G. Gordon, 1962, 1966
Hertz, Richard C., 1965
Hertzberg, Stuart E., 1967-1968
Heschel, Mrs. Abraham, 1961
Hess, Elaine Marie, 1965
Hess, Mrs. Thomas B., 1954
Hetzel, Margaret deL. (Mrs. Joseph L.), 1948
Hewitt, Ada M., 1953
Edwin Hewitt Gallery, 1953
Heydenryk, Henry, 1954, 1960, 1964
Heynick, Carla Marian, 1965
Hickok, M., 1958
Hiddens, Mrs. Earl, 1952
Hiersoux, Arne, 1966
Hi Fi/Stereo Review, 1960
High Museum of Art, 1950, 1955, 1961-1962, 1965-1968 (see also: Atlanta Art Association; Atlanta Art Association and High Museum of Art)
Highway Antique Shop, 1954
R. Hill and Son, Ltd., 1960
Hill, Ralph Nading, 1952, 1962
Hille, Elise B., undated
Hille and Curran, 1954
Hilleman, Alex L., 1956
Hiller, Paula, 1962
Hilles, Mrs. Frederick W., 1956
Hillman, Mrs. Joel, II., 1960
Hillside Hospital Clinic, 1949, 1953
Hillstrom, Richard L., 1958, 1962, 1964-1965
Hilltop Theatre, Incorporated, 1952
Hilsenrath, Yakov R., 1965
Hilson, Catherine [Katy] and/or John S., undated, 1958-1959, 1961-1966
Himel, Irving, 1963
Himmelsfarb, Samuel, 1955
Hines, Felrath, 1961
Hinkhouse, Inc., 1960, 1964
Hirsch, B., 1961
Hirsch, E. W., 1954
Hirschberg, J. Cotter, 1956
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., 1958, 1960, 1963-1965, 1968
Hirschland, Dr. and/or Mrs. F. H., undated, 1959
Hirschland, Paul Michael, 1945
Hirschburg, Mrs. Roy, undated
S. A. Hirsh Manufacturing Co., 1966
Hirshberg, Henrietta, 1961
Hirshhorn, Mrs. Arthur, 1960
Hirshhorn, Joseph H., 1946, 1948, 1951-1954, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1965
Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection, 1959-1960, 1962-1963, 1965-1966
[incomplete; without signature], undated, 1953, 1961, 1967, 1968
Collection Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art website.
Collection Rights:
The Downtown Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Prior to publishing information regarding sales transactions, researchers are responsible for obtaining written permission from both artist and purchaser involved. If it cannot be established after a reasonable search whether an artist or purchaser is living, it can be assumed that the information may be published sixty years after the date of sale.
Collection Citation:
Downtown Gallery records, 1824-1974, bulk 1926-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing, microfilming and digitization of the microfilm of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
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:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-1994 Search this
Extent:
2.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1937-1983
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbooks, correspondence, exhibition files, photographs, and printed materials.
REEL D181: Scrapbooks containing correspondence, clippings, reviews, and photographs relating to the Dayton Art Institute and to the Religious Art Exhibition held there in 1944.
REEL 63: Correspondence concerning a Spaeth Foundation commission to Jacques Lipchitz for a bronze bust of John F. Kennedy. Correspondents include Lipchitz, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
REEL 1201: Correspondence concerning the Spaeth Foundation Religious Art Information Center; a Foundation prospectus; letters from Thomas Merton concerning his book on sacred art; correspondence dealing with the Annual Liturgical Congress Architectural Competition, an exhibition of architectural students' work, the Woodstock Center for Religion and Worship, and other aspects of art and religion.
REEL 1817 and scanned: Photograph of Alexander Brook taken by Peter A. Juley and Son.
UNMICROFILMED: Letters from Alexander Brook, Alexander Calder, William Congdon, Andre Girard, Edward Hopper, Walt Kuhn, Grant Wood, and others; correspondence concerning the American Federation of Arts, the Archives of American Art, Guild Hall, the Spaeth Foundation, UNESCO, and other art organizations; exhibition files of the AFA containing correspondence, printed material, and photographs; files on the "Films on Art" project developed by Otto Spaeth; correspondence and a scrapbook of Otto Spaeth concerning the Liturgical Arts Society; a scrapbook on the Spaeth's art collection; printed material and photographs used in AMERICAN ART MUSEUMS; photographs of paintings by John Singleton Copley, and other works of art and exhibition installations; Correspondence with Daniel Longwell, Harris K. Prior, and Thomas Brown Rudd regarding activities of the American Federation of Arts; Correspondence and clippings, 1963-1966, regarding the Lipchitz bust of JFK; letters, 1981-1983, from critic John Russell, and art collectors, Gertrude Schweitzer, Robert Osborn and Jean de Menil; and an exhibition catalog on Rico Lebrun, 1950; a letter to Otto Spaeth from Gala Dali regarding a loan of the painting "La Naissance du Noveau Monde," 1943; writings about Walt Kuhn, and an illustrated letter to Spaeth from Walt Kuhn.
Biographical / Historical:
Eloise O. Spaeth (1902-1998) was an art collector, writer and art patron from New York, N.Y. She and husband Otto Spaeth founded the Spaeth Foundation.
Provenance:
Material on reels 63 and 1201 lent for microfilming 1971 and 1977 by Eloise Spaeth. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1966-1988 by Spaeth. Material on reel D181 lent for filming 1965 and subsequently donated in 1977.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence in this series is primarily between Walt Kuhn and his professional and personal contacts and spans his entire career. Correspondents include family members, fellow artists, students, dealers, museum and gallery staff, collectors, friends, fans, critics and colleagues. Copies of outgoing correspondence are often present and are interfiled chronologically. Also included is scattered correspondence of Vera and Brenda Kuhn, and correspondence written after Kuhn died that documents his family's efforts to exhibit, sell, and donate his work.
The content of the correspondence ranges from personal and candid to purely transactional. Artists, collectors, dealers, and critics involved in the creation of significant works of art and collections in the early 20th century are represented. An alphabetical index of selected correspondents in this series is provided in the appendix. Another resource for accessing correspondence are the card files in Series 4.8: Notes and Writings, where correspondence with various contacts was indexed by the Kuhns and filed alphabetically by name.
In 1938, Walt and Vera Kuhn wrote and self-published the pamphlet, "The Story of the Armory Show" and sent it gratis to hundreds of interested parties. Among the correspondence from that year are many heartfelt reponses from fellow artists and other witnesses to the 1913 event, including Charles Sheeler, William Glackens, Stuart Davis, André Derain, Henri Roché, Walter Pach, and J.H. du Bois to name just a few.
Kuhn regularly instructed students through the mail with lengthy letters about painting techniques and methods. San Francisco painter Otis Oldfield is represented by over 100 lengthy letters in this subseries. Kuhn's letters to Oldfield, returned at Kuhn's request in 1945 for a publication project that was never realized, are interfiled. Other correspondence students include Patsy Santo, Frank di Gioia, Watson Bidwell, John Bernhardt, John Laurent, Goldie Paley, and Eric Lundgren. See the appendix for dates.
Types of material include letters (sometimes illustrated), postcards, invitations, announcements, and Christmas cards, which are sometimes made of original artwork. Enclosures are often found, such as photographs, clippings, tracings of art work, writings, receipts, passes and membership cards. Some letters indicate enclosures that were previously separated and can be found in other series.
Significant writings enclosed with correspondence include an early vaudeville script written by Kuhn and his friend, Archibald Macnab (1923); drafts of articles about Kuhn by the poet Genevieve Taggard (1931), critic Alan Burroughs (1930), and patron Eloise Spaeth (1950); and an unpublished history of the 1913 Armory Show by Paul Bird (1938). Photographs and photographic postcards are also found throughout the series. Included are photo postcards from Spain and France (1925), and from Arizona and California (1928); and photographs related to Kuhn's work for the Union Pacific Railroad Company (1936, 1938).
Additional correspondence can be found throughout the collection. See individual series descriptions for details.
See Appendix for a list of selected correspondents in Series 4.3.
Appendix: Selected Correspondents in Series 4.3:
The following is a selective list of correspondents represented in Series 4.3: General Correspondence, with cross-references to correspondence in 4.4: Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files and 4.5: Provenance Files. It is not comprehensive. An effort has been made to index regionally and nationally known artists, Kuhn's patrons and students, models, art historians, writers, museum and gallery staff, dealers, and persons known to be well-represented in other collections at the Archives of American Art. Cross-references to existing letters in other parts of the Kuhn papers and Armory Show records are included selectively. Correspondents who have not been indexed include family members, neighbors, business contacts from his theater and vaudeville work of the early 1920s, and from his railroad car design work from 1936 to 1948.
Barr, Alfred H. Jr. (Museum of Modern Art): 1929, 1934, 1945 (5 letters)
Barrie, Erwin S. (Grand Central Art Galleries): 1927, 1951 (5 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Barrington, Lewis: 1932
Barry, Bobby (see Provenance Files, "Portrait of Bobby Barry")
Bartlett, Frederic Clay, Jr.: 1939-1940, 1942-1943, 1945, 1947 (7 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Bartley, Louise: 1931
Baur, John I.H. (Brooklyn Museum): 1946 (see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Beals, Ralph A. (New York Public Library): 1949
Bear, Donald (Santa Barbara Museum of Art): 1936-1938, 1945, 1948, 1949 (6 items including Christmas cards with original prints; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Beerbohm, Marvin (Detroit School of Art): 1938
Bell, Janet M. (John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art): 1952 (4 letters)
Belmont, Eleanor R.: 1935 Benjamin, Ruth: 1940
Bernays, Edward L. (see also Doris E. Fleischman): 1928, 1935-1937 (4 letters)
Bernhardt, John: 1948-1950 (4 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files, 1947)
Frankenstein, Alfred V. ( -- San Francisco Chronicle -- ): 1940 (2 letters)
Frankfurter, Alfred M.: 1938, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1950 (10 letters)
Fraser, Joseph T. (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts): 1947, 1951 (3 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Free, Karl R.: 1935
Freeman, Anna (Whitney Museum of American Art): 1938 (2 letters)
Frey, Erwin F.: 1943, 1945, 1947 (4 letters)
Frueh, Alfred: 1925, 1953 (2 letters)
Freund, Frank E.W.: 1932, 1934-1935, 1938 (7 letters)
Friede, Donald S. (Boni and Liveright Publishers): 1927
Frink, Angelika W.: 1941 (see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Gallagher, Edward J.: 1952
Gallatin, Albert E.: 1927, 1928 (3 letters)
Gardner, Paul (William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art): 1936, 1938-1945, 1947-1950 (26 items including Christmas card with original print; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Gardner, Mrs. William (see Owen)
Garrett, Garet: 1928
Garrett, Alice (Mrs. John Work): 1938, 1939 (5 items, including Christmas card with original photograph)
Gates, Margaret (Studio House, Philips Memorial Gallery): 1935
Genauer, Emily (New York World Telegram): 1947
Gest, J.H. (Cincinnati Museum Association): 1928 (3 letters)
Gise, Margaret (Marie Harriman Gallery): 1938 (see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files and Provenance Files, "Girl in Shako" and "Guide")
Glackens, William and Edith: 1938
Glackens, Edith: 1938, 1941, 1943, 1949, 1950 (7 items, including outgoing letters of condolence when William Glackens died, and response from Edith with account of his last day)
Godwin, Black-More (Toledo Museum of Art): 1932 (2 letters)
Goodrich, Lloyd (Whitney Museum of American Art; see Provenance Files, "Man with Ship Model")
Goodyear, A. Conger: 1934, 1938, 1941, 1949 (5 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files, and Provenance Files, "Dryad" and "Man From Eden")
Goodyear, Mary (Mrs. A. Conger, also Mrs. John W. Ames): 1936-1942, 1947, 1949, 1954 (44 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Grace Horne Galleries (see M.E. Brown, Littlefield; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Graham, John D.: 1937
Greason, Donald (Deerfield Academy): 1942 (discussing Harry Whitney)
Grossman, Ted (Edwin Booth): 1938, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1952 (13 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Grumman, Paul H. (Joslyn Memorial Art Museum): 1943
Hagen, Oskar: 1938, 1939 (2 letters)
Hagerman, Percy (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center): 1949
Hale, Dorothea: 1928
Hale, Robert B. (Metropolitan Museum of Art): 1950-1951 (2 letters)
Halpert, Edith (Downtown Gallery): 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 (7 letters; New Year card 1928 printed with collage of Walt Kuhn)
Keppel, Frederick P. (Carnegie Corporation): 1938 (2 letters)
Kerr, George F. (Society of Illustrators): 1930 (2 letters)
Kimball, Fiske (The Pennsylvania Museum): 1928, 1939 (2 letters)
Kingman, Eugene (Joslyn Memorial Art Museum): 1951 (4 letters)
Kirsch, Dwight (University of Nebraska Department of Art): 1941, 1943-1944, 1946, 1950, 1953 (9 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Kirstein, Lincoln (Museum of Modern Art): 1932
Kissel, Eleanora: 1928
Kistler, Aline ( -- San Francisco Chronicle -- , -- The San Franciscan -- , M.H. de Young Memorial Museum): 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933 (6 letters)
Klopfer, Donald S. (Random House, Inc.): 1940
Kohl, Dorothy (Philadelphia Art Alliance): 1945 (3 letters)
Komroff, Manuel: 1938
Kravis, Hal: 1936, 1941 (3 letters)
Kunstverein München E.V.: 1930
Kurtzworth, Harry Muir (Los Angeles Art Association, California Academy of the Fine Arts): 1938 (2 letters)
Lahr, Bert: 1948 (see also Provenance Files, "Portrait of Bert Lahr")
Labaudt, Lucien: 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938 (5 items including Christmas card; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Lamb, James E.: 1928, 1930, 1935, 1937 (4 letters)
Larcada, Dick: 1963
Laurent, John: 1947-1950, undated (12 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Laurent, Mimi (Mrs. Robert): 1952
Laurent, Robert (Indiana University): 1923, 1949, 1953 (8 letters; see also Provenance Files, "Black Butterfly")
Lea, Lida Gorwin; 1935-1938, 1942 (8 letters, including Christmas card with original print; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Mencken, H.L.: 1945, 1946, 1947 (3 letters; see also Series 4.8: Notes and Writings)
Merrick, James Kirk (Philadelphia Art Alliance): 1945
Messer, Thomas M. (American Federation of Arts): 1952-1954 (5 letters)
Metcalf, Thomas N. (Boston Museum of Modern Art, Inc.): 1938, 1940 (2 letters)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1949, 1956 (5 letters; see also Hale, F.H. Taylor, Wehle)
Mellon, Minna (Mrs. Paul): 1946
Millay, Edna St. Vincent (typed copy): 1947 (see also Engen Boissevain in Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Miller, Dorothy C. (Museum of Modern Art): 1943
Miller, Lulu F. (The Hackley Gallery of Fine Arts): 1928
Milliken, William M.: 1936 (2 letters)
Minnigerode, C. Powell (Corcoran Gallery of Art): 1928 (2 letters)
Montclair Art Museum: 1928, 1932 (2 letters)
Montgomery, Gertrude: 1928
More, Hermon (Whitney Museum of American Art): 1933, 1935, 1943, 1948-1950 (8 letters)
Morgan, Agnes: 1938
Morison, David (Hamilton Easter Field Art Foundation): 1930
Morley, Grace: 1936, 1937-1939, 1943 (11 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Morse, John (see Provenance Files, "Man and Sea Beach")
Muguruza Otaño, Pedro: 1928
Museum of Art of Ogonquit: 1953 (see also Strater)
Museum of Modern Art (see Barr, Catlin, Haven, Hawkins, Kirstein, D. Miller, Pelles, A. Porter)
Nadelman, Viola M. (Mrs. Elie): 1947
Nankivell, Frank: 1934-1935 (Christmas cards with signed prints)
National Arts Club: 1932
Newhall, Beaumont (Museum of Modern Art): 1938
Nichols, Hobart (National Academy of Design): 1948
Nichols, J.C. (William Rockhill Nelson Trust): 1948
North, Henry Ringling (Ringling Brothers): 1941 (2 letters)
Norton Gallery and School of Art (see Hunter)
Norton, Ralph H. (Norton Gallery and School of Art): 1948
O'Connor, John Jr. (Carnegie Institute): 1943, 1945-1946, 1948 (8 letters)
Oldfield, Otis: 1928-1946, 1948-1949, 1951-1952, undated (111 letters; 1931, 1941, undated include Chritmas cards with print; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
O'Neil, John (University of Oklahoma): 1946
Owen, Ronnie (Mrs. William Gardner): 1941-1942, 1944-1946, 1948-1949 (15 letters)
Owens, Virginia B.( -- Christian Science Monitor -- ): 1943 (2 letters)
Roullier, Alice F. (Arts Club of Chicago): 1925, 1927, 1933, 1941 (8 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Rousseau, Théodore: 1935
Rumsey, Mary H. (Mrs. C.C.): 1930, 1934-1936, 1938, 1940, 1945, 1949, undated (11 items including Christmas card and receipts for paintings sold)
Ryan, Beatrice Judd (Beaux Arts Galerie): 1928, 1929 (4 letters)
Saint-Gaudens, Homer (Carnegie Institute): 1931, 1933, 1940, 1946-1949 (18 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Saklatwalla, Ann: 1944-1945 (2 letters; see also Provenance Files, "Bareback Rider")
Saklatwalla, B.D.: 1928, 1930-1936, 1941 (2 letters, 7 Christmas cards containing prints, 1931 print signed Jean Crotti)
Salinger, Jehanne Bietry: 1928-1930, 1933, 1935, 1946-1948 (includes signed print by Harry Wickey; 17 letters)
Salons of America: 1923, 1924
Salpeter, Harry ( -- Esquire -- ): 1936-1938 (6 letters)
Sanborn, Robert Alden: 1945
Sands, Mary (Museum of Modern Art): 1930
Sanger, Helen: 1948-1950, 1953, 1963 (16 letters)
Sanger, Margaret (American Birth Control League, Inc.): 1928
Santa Barbara Museum of Art (see Bear, Steele, Story; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Santo, Patsy: 1937-1946, 1948-1949, 1953 (103 letters, some illustrated)
Sardi Gina, Anne (Marie Harriman Gallery): 1941-1942, 1947, 1949 (6 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files and Provenance Files, "Girl in Shako" and "Guide")
Schulte, Antoinette: 1932-1938 (8 items, including Christmas card with original print)
Seiberling, Frank Jr. (Toledo Museum of Art): 1943, 1946 (3 letters)
Seymour Halpern Associates: 1945
Shapiro, Meyer: 1938
Sharkey, Alice M. (Whitney Museum of American Art): 1944
Shaw, Marjorie: 1930 (Christmas card with woodblock print)
Sheeler, Charles: 1938 (See also Series 4.2: Walt Kuhn Letters to Family)
Shostac, Percy (Labor Division, Greater New York Fund): 1941
Shyrock, Burnett H.: 1938 (4 letters)
Siple, Walter H. (Cincinnati Art Museum): 1938, 1942, 1945 (4 letters)
Skeoch, Mary E.: 1934-1936, 1938 (8 letters)
Skira, Alfred: 1932 (5 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files, 1933)
Smith, Adele (Studio House, Philips Memorial Gallery, Museum of Modern Art Gallery of Washington): 1935, 1938, 1939 (5 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Smith, Cecil: 1937-1938 (3 letters)
Smith, Gordon M. (Currier Gallery of Art): 1950
Smoluchowska, Donia (Arden Gallery, Marie Harriman Gallery): 1929, 1932 (3 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Teigen, Peter (Princeton University School of Architecture): 1928, 1929 (2 letters)
Thayer, Ellen ( -- The Dial -- ): 1927, 1928 (2 letters)
Thompson, Mark B.: 1934, 1935, 1937 (3 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Thorp, George G. (American Federation of Arts): 1947
Toledo Museum of Art (see Godwin, Rivière, Seiberling)
Toler, Sidney: 1941
Todd, Bianca: 1929, 1933, 1934 (3 items including Christmas cards with original prints)
Trovato, Joseph (Munson-Williams-Proctor-Institute): 1946, 1949 (2 letters)
Tucker, Allen: 1938
Turney, Winthrop: 1924
Tyson, Carroll: 1934
Underwood, Gilbert Stanley (architect): 1938, 1948 (5 letters)
Valentiner, Dr. W.R. (Detroit Institute of Arts): 1945
Valez, Dr. Xavier de: 1934
Venendi, Mario: 1949 (3 letters)
Vidar, Frede: 1936
Vreeland, Mr. and Mrs. Francis (Toby and Marion): 1934-1938 (6 letters)
Wadsworth, Alice (Mrs. James W.): 1940, 1941, 1942, 1945 (8 letters)
Waida, Robert: 1928
Waldron, James M. K. (Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery): 1936, 1937, 1961 (3 letters)
Walker, Maynard: 1946, 1948-1949, 1951-1952, 1955, 1961 (10 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files and Provenance Files, "Guide" and "Veteran Acrobat")
Ward, William: 1949
Washburn, Gordon B. (Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art): 1945
Watkins, C. Law (Studio House, Phillips Memorial Gallery): 1933 (2 letters)
Watson, John (for John Quinn): 1914, 1921 (2 letters), 1938
Whitney, Harry: 1942 (see also Greason and Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Whitney Studio Galleries (see also Force): 1929
Whitney Museum of American Art (see Force, Free, More, Freeman, Sharkey, Goodrich)
Wilder, Mitchell A. (Colorado Springs): 1946-1953 (75 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Wilenski, R.H.: 1938, 1939, 1945-1946 (8 letters)
Williams, Adele (Women's club of Richmond): 1930
Williamson, Ada (Philadelphia Art Alliance): 1927, 1928, 1945, 1949 (19 letters; see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts (see Bissell)
Wilson, Henry J.: 1950
Winser, Beatrice: 1935, 1940 (7 letters)
Woelfle, Arthur M.: 1914 (see also Selected Gallery and Exhibition Files)
Woelfle, Georgiana: 1936, 1937, 1963 (3 letters)
Wood, Stanley: 1928
Zayas, Marius de: 1934, 1939, 1947, 1948 (10 letters)
Zügel, Heinrich von: 1904
Collection Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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:
Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records, 1859-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Group at the American Federation of Arts Convention, ca. 1940. [Rosalie Berkowitz collection of photographs], [1927-1950]. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
An interview of Eloise Spaeth conducted 1973 February 6-March 9, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Eloise Spaeth (1902-1998) was a collector and writer from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 50 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Eloise Spaeth, 1973 February 6-March 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.