John Storrs' personal business records consist of address books, records regarding his artwork and commissions, contracts, appraisals, financial records, and other documents regarding professional activities. Artwork Records include scattered exhibition loan forms, records of loans and sales of his work, and various lists of artwork. Also included here are correspondence and loan forms for his retrospective exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery and Whitney Museum, documentation from art shipping company Lefebvre-Foinet, and extensive documentation of Downtown Gallery's representation of Storrs' work during the 1960s, including correspondence between Edith Halpert and Monique Storrs Booz.
Commission Files document many of the major public sculptures done by Storrs. Files may include correspondence, news clippings and press material, sketches, photographs, and legal contracts.
Financial Records consist of correspondence and agreements with financial institutions; bills and receipts; tax, stock, and insurance records; and ledgers recording John Storrs' monthly transactions.
Also filed here are city adoption documents regarding Storrs' attempts to find American sister-cities for French cities devastated by World War II. Various other documents include records of the Ecole de la Loire artists group (all in French), various contracts and agreements, and estate records for family members of Marguerite Storrs. Additionally there are records relating to Chateau de Chantecaille, an estate purchased by Storrs in the early 1920s as his primary residence and studio, including and appraisals and inventories for furniture, maintenance records, correspondence, drawings and plans for the property, and a guest book signed by visitors to the estate containing notable autographs by Marsden Hartley, George Biddle, and others.
Arrangement:
Items are arranged chronologically within each folder.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and not served to researchers.
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:
John Henry Bradley Storrs papers, 1890-2007, bulk 1900-1956. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by 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.
