The collection is arranged as 5 series: Series 1: Correspondence, 1971-1987 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1) Series 2: Artists' Files, 1963-2009 (30.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-31) Series 3: Subject Files, 1969-2008 (9.8 linear feet; Boxes 31-41) Series 4: Vogel Collection Business Records, 1974-1988 (0.3 linear feet; Box 41) Series 5: Printed Material, 1960s-2000s (6.7 linear feet; Boxes 41-47, OV48-58)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Summary:
The papers of contemporary art collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel measure 47.5 linear feet and date from the 1960s to 2009. Found is scattered general correspondence, artists' files, subject files, business records, and printed material relating to the Vogel Collection. Artists' and subject files create the bulk of the collection, the majority of which is printed material but includes some correspondence from artists.
Citation:
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel papers, 1960s-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reel 2435 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
Use Note:
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.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 2435) including three notebooks containing clippings, articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs and announcements. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Biography Note:
Dorothy (1935- ) and Herbert Vogel (1922-2012) were contemporary art collectors in New York City, New York. The middle-class couple bought and collected art for forty-five years and amassed an extensive collection.
A life-long New Yorker, Herbert Vogel was born in 1922 and dropped out of school to work in a garment factory. After joining the U.S. Army, Vogel became a postal clerk and began to frequent Greenwich Village's Cedar Bar, a popular bar of the arts crowd. Vogel developed a deep appreciation for art and for the artists themselves.
In 1960, he met librarian Dorothy Faye Hoffman and they quickly fell in love. During their honeymoon, they visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Dorothy and Herb's first purchase was a sculpture by John Chamberlain. On their civil servant salary, the Vogels continued to collect and purchase art, beginning with young artists of the 1960s and 1970s while bypassing the dealer system of the New York City art scene. The result was a collection of 5,000 pieces which had to fit in their one-bedroom apartment.
In 1992, the Vogels donated the bulk of their collection to the National Gallery of Art, with fifty pieces intended to go to a museum or institution in each of the United States. Herbert Vogel died in 2012 in Manhattan and is survived by Dorothy.
Language Note:
Collection is in English
Provenance:
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel donated their papers in several accretions from 1980 to 2009 and lent three notebooks for microfilming in 1982.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
