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Summary:
An interview of Philip Hofer conducted 1984 Apr. 24, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Hofer speaks of his childhood in Cinncinnati, Ohio; attending boarding school at the Pomfret School in Connecticut; attending Harvard University; becoming friends with Theodore "Tubby" Sizer; taking a job at the Cleveland Museum of Art; returning to Harvard to study art history in graduate school; collecting illustrated books in his sparetime with his own money; moving to New York City to work as the assistant director of the Morgan Library; traveling through Europe for the Spencer Collection; working for Belle da Costa Greene at the Morgan Library.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Philip Hofer, 1984 Apr. 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
Philip Hofer (1898-1984) was a book collector, curator, and art historian at Harvard University. Hofer founded the Department of Prints and Graphics at Harvard University in 1938.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is 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 administrators.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
