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Catalog Data

Creator:
Freer, Charles Lang, 1856-1919  Search this
Names:
Freer Gallery of Art  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Smithsonian Institution  Search this
Yamanaka & Company  Search this
Bacher, Otto H. (Otto Henry), 1856-1909  Search this
Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959  Search this
Bing, Siegfried, 1838-1905  Search this
Binyon, Laurence, 1869-1943  Search this
Bixby, William K. (William Keeney), 1857-1931  Search this
Bosch-Reitz, Sigisbert Chrétien, 1860-  Search this
Caffin, Charles Henry, 1854-1918  Search this
Campbell, Colin, Lady, 1857-1911  Search this
Campbell, Colin, Lord, 1853-1895  Search this
Canfield, Richard A. (Richard Albert), 1855-1914  Search this
Chase, William Merritt, 1849-1916  Search this
Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart), 1842-1924  Search this
Churchill, Alfred Vance, 1864-1949  Search this
Coburn, Alvin Langdon, 1882-1966  Search this
Dewing, Thomas Wilmer, 1851-1938  Search this
Dow, Arthur W. (Arthur Wesley), 1857-1922  Search this
Fenollosa, Ernest Francisco, 1853-1908  Search this
Gallatin, A. E. (Albert Eugene), 1881-1952  Search this
Gellatly, John, 1853-1931  Search this
Gookin, Frederick William  Search this
Hartmann, Sadakichi, 1867-1944  Search this
Hecker, Frank J. (Frank Joseph), 1846-1927  Search this
Kelekian, Dikran, 1868-1951  Search this
Laufer, Berthold, 1874-1934  Search this
Matsuki, Bunkio, 1867-1940  Search this
McCormick, Frederick, 1870-  Search this
Melchers, Gari, 1860-1932  Search this
Meyer, Agnes Elizabeth Ernst, 1887-1970  Search this
Meyer, Eugene, 1875-1959  Search this
Moore, Charles, 1855-1942  Search this
Nomura, Yozo  Search this
Philip, Rosalind Birnie, 1873-1958  Search this
Platt, Charles A. (Charles Adams), 1861-1933  Search this
Reid, Alexander  Search this
Rhoades, Katharine N., 1885-1965  Search this
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919  Search this
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907  Search this
Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this
Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921  Search this
Tryon, Dwight William, 1849-1925  Search this
Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927  Search this
Warring, Joseph Stephens, 1863?-1944  Search this
Way, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert), 1861-1913  Search this
Whistler, Beatrix Philip Godwin, d. 1896  Search this
Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903  Search this
Wong, K. T.  Search this
Yue, Seaouke  Search this
Extent:
34 Microfilm reels
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1876-1931
Scope and Contents:
Papers concerning Freer's art collecting activities, including correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs. In addition to Freer's own correspondence, the papers include correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler and of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, correspondence of Freer's assistant Katharine Nash Rhoades, and correspondence regarding Freer's bequest to the Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence, ca. 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; 30 v. of letterpress books containing copies of letters sent, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler' mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer letters and regarding the settlement of his estate.
Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910;
Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art;
correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenellosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Among Freer's correspondents are: Otto Bacher, Bernard Berenson, Siegfried Bing, Laurence Binyon, W.K. Bixby, Sigisbert Chretien Bosch-Reitz, Charles H. Caffin, Colin Campbell, Richard Canfield, William Merritt Chase, Frederick Stuart Church, Alfred Vance Churchill, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Arthur Wesley Dow, Ernest Fenollosa, Albert Gallatin, John Gellatly, Frederick W. Gookin, Sadakichi Hartmann, Frank J. Hecker, Dikran Kelekian, M. Knoedler & Co., Berthold Laufer, Lien Hui Ching Collection, W.A. Livingstone, Frederick McCormick, Bunkio Matsuki, Gari Melchers, Agnes Meyer, Eugene Meyer, Charles Moore, Yozo Nomura, Rosalind Birnie Philip, Charles A. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Stephens Warring, Thomas Way, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, Charles Walcott of the Smithsonian Institution, Beatrix Whistler, James McNeill Whistler, K.T. Wong, Yamanaka & Co., and Seaouke Yue.
Arrangement:
All correspondence except letterpress books: arranged alphabetically by correspondent; letterpress books are chonological.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector; Detroit, Michigan. Collected Asian, American, and European art, including a large collection of works by James McNeill Whistler. Founded the Freer Gallery of Art, which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Selected for microfilming from the Charles Lang Freer papers at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Microfilmed 1992 by the Archives of American Art with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Fellowships and Grants Research Resources Program. Portions of the correspondence and the letterpress books were previously filmed by the Freer in the 1970 (AAA reels 77, 453-456, and 1217-1232); those reels have been replaced by this microfilming project. See Finding Aid for information on papers not selected for microfilming.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Identifier:
AAA.freechar
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw975f501e2-91f7-48f7-82dc-03482afd00c1
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-freechar