The records of the Municipal Art Society of New York, based out of New York City and established in 1893, measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1960. The records include minutes from the annual and directors meetings, which incorporate reports, directors' files, committee files, and printed material. Financial reports to the Municipal Art Society Board that detail the organization's Permanent Fund are also present.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Municipal Art Society of New York measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1960. Minutes from annual and directors meetings, printed materials, and financial reports document the Municipal Art Society of New York's involvement in urban planning, city beautification, funding art for public spaces, and generally improving the quality of life in New York City.
Bound minute books from the annual and directors meetings incorporate annual reports, committee reports, membership lists, and by-laws, as well as some correspondence with business colleagues and fellow arts organizations. Printed materials are also integrated into the minute books and often relate to the content of the adjacent administrative files and include exhibition announcements and catalogs, event invitations, meeting announcements, bulletins, newsletters, magazine and newspaper clippings, and membership solicitation materials.
Financial reports to the Municipal Art Society Board detail the Permanent Fund and the organization's accounts.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series.
Series 1: Annual and Directors Meetings Minutes, 1901-1960 (3.2 linear feet; Box 1-8)
Series 2: Permanent Fund Financial Records, 1913-1949 (1 folder; Box 8)
Biographical / Historical:
The Municipal Art Society of New York is a private organization that was founded in 1893 to beautify New York City streets, parks, and public places in ways both practical and artistic through projects supported by member dues. The society regularly held competitions for artists to create murals and sculptures to decorate public buildings, and exhibited artists' public works. Members of the society spearheaded efforts to preserve, improve, and maintain public buildings, monuments, and parks; create and maintain street signage and fixtures; regulate zoning; plan thoroughfares; and advocate for public housing. Interests of the society also included establishing a housing authority, slum clearance, and post-World War II planning. The Municipal Art Society of New York continues to influence urban planning and historic preservation into the 21st century, and is known for their architectural tours of New York CIty.
Provenance:
Donated 1968 by Municipal Art Society of New York.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Topic:
Historic buildings -- Conservation and restoration -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Public art -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Function:
Arts organizations -- New York (State)
Citation:
Municipal Art Society of New York records, 1901-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955)
Date:
1905-1983
bulk 1920-1976
Summary:
The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.
Biographical material includes W.G. Constable's curriculum vitae; club memberships; personal, educational, and military records; three memorial essays and obituaries; five address books; appointment books dating from 1930-1968; and financial records related to personal business travels.
Correspondence is mostly professional and arranged into General, Committee, Condolences, and J.G. Links. General correspondence is with friends, business associates, auction houses, galleries, and museums. The letters cover a wide variety of professional work, such as research projects, letters of inquiry and recommendation, and work done for Christie's and the Internal Revenue Service. Correspondents include Mortimer Brandt, Helen Frick, Helen Gluck, William Ivins, Duncan Phillips, Paul Sachs, and Rudolph Vasalle, among many others.
Committee related correspondence includes letters, memoranda, and reports related to ongoing committee objectives, projects, and routine activities. There is correspondence related to Constable's advisory work with the Art Gallery of Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Watts Gallery, among other projects. Condolences consists of letters and cards received by Constable's wife, Olivia, after Constable's death. Correspondence with J.G. Links is primarily about the second edition revision of Constable's book Canaletto.
There are over 170 drafts of Constable's notes and outlines for lectures. Topics range from 13th-20th century European and American art to museum conservation, ethics, art education, and art collecting. The series also includes lecture notes from organized touring trips to Canada, Northern Europe, Scandanavia, and Poland.
Writings consist of Constable's published and unpublished articles, articles submitted for the Encyclopedia of World Art, essays, notes, exhibition catalogs, translations, and drafts and research material related to Art Collecting in the United States, Art History and Connoisseurship, and The Painter's Workshop.
Files specifically documenting Constable's advisory role in the World War II American Defense Harvard Group drafting and organizing lists of men with curatorial, museum conservation, or library/archives backgrounds to aid in the protection European most valued cultural artifacts, artwork, and architecture. There are letters documenting the formation of the Harvard Group and its goals and objections. The files also include many of the original lists that were forwarded to the Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Europe, also known as the Roberts Commission, eventually leading to the formation of the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives division. The series also includes the Harvard Group's manual Safeguarding and Conserving Cultural Materials in the Field, committee minutes, and clippings related to their work. Correspondents include Ralph Perry, Paul Sachs, George L. Stout, and Hugh Hencken.
Constable's work after the war for the U.S. Office of Military Government for Germany is documented through numerous reports, memoranda, letters, and other official documents from the U. S. Army to Constable about surveying the state of German and Italian art institutions after World War II. The series also includes Constable's notebook "Visits in Germany" (1949), and a copy of his report Art and Reorientation: Status and Future of Museums and the Teaching of Art in Western Germany.
Exhibition files contain correspondence, notes, lists, research material, and reports related to exhibitions that Constable organized prior to his employment by and after his retirement from the Boston Museum of Art.
Research files contain materials relevant to Constable's interests and include notes, lists, correspondence, and printed and photographic reference material. These subject areas cover artists, including extensive files on Canaletto and other vedute painters, museum conservation, museums and galleries, private and public art collections, and schools of art.
Printed materials include clippings, programs, book excerpts and other miscellaneous printed materials.
Photographic materials include prints of Constable with friends and family, as well as prints, glass negatives and slides of artwork. There are also prints of the Fogg Art Museum's interiors and exterior and interior shots of Tennessee Valley Authority dam projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1905-1983 (1.2 linear feet; Box 1-2, OV 28)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1981 (6.2 linear feet; Box 2-8, OV 28-29)
Series 3: Lectures, 1909-1963 (4.6 linear feet; Box 8-12)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1910-1974 (2 linear feet; Box 13-14)
Series 5: American Defense Harvard Group, 1942-1946 (0.6 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 6: Office of Military Government for Germany, 1947-1952 (0.3 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 7: Exhibition Files, 1930-1969 (1 linear foot; Box 15-16, OV 29)
Series 8: Research Files, 1922-1976 (7.5 linear feet; Box 16-24, OV 28-29)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1921-1977 (0.5 linear feet; Box 24)
Series 10: Photographic Materials, circa 1940-1960 (1.4 linear feet; Box 24-27, OV 28-29)
Biographical / Historical:
W. G. (William George) Constable (1887-1976) was a museum curator and art historian who worked in England and Boston.
Born in Derby, England, Constable studied for the bar at Cambridge University, but was encouraged to pursue art over law by the Lord Chancellor who told him that law would be too strenuous after a two year convalescence from gassing during World War I. For three years, he studied at the Slade School and the Bartlett School of Architecture. In 1923, he joined the National Gallery of London where he became the Assistant Director in 1929. In 1930, he accepted the first Director's position at the newly formed Courtauld Institute, where he worked to develop one of the first programs on art history. In 1938, Constable became Curator of Paintings at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and worked there until his retirement in 1957.
Throughout his career as an arts administrator, Constable remained an accomplished lecturer and held appointments as the Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge (1933-1936), Ryerson Lecturer at Yale University (1940), and the Lowell Lecturer at the Lowell Insitute (1958). As a researcher and art historian, he published a steady stream of essays on European and American art connoisseurship, and authored over ten scholarly books, including The Painter's Workshop (1953), Richard Wilson (1953), and Canaletto (1962), the definitive work on the Venetian master.
Constable was a trusted arts advisor and, in this capacity, worked for the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1943-1945.
He also worked closely with Lord Beaverbrook to establish the National Gallery of Canada and later consulted for Sotheby's and the U. S. Internal Revenue Service.
In the years leading to World War II, Constable served as an advisor to the American Defense Harvard Group and was later appointed to the Commission for the Protection of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Europe (the Roberts Commission) by President Roosevelt. The Roberts Commission was responsible for the establishment of the U. S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section. After the war, Constable served the U.S. government as a member of a commission responsible for the recovery of looted art work and the evaluation of the state of the arts in Germany and Italy.
After his retirement from the Boston Museum, Constable continued to research and write, and also served as president of the International Institute of Conservation (1958-1960) and the Renaissance Society of America (1959-1961). From 1957 to 1966, he worked on behalf of Christie's auction house, where he met with prospective clients and provided preliminary valuations of private art works and collections.
On February 4, 1976, Constable died in Cambridge, Massachusetts from natural causes.
Related Materials:
The Archives also holds additional materials related to W.G. Constable, including an oral history interview with Constable conducted by Robert Brown in 1972-1973, and a photograph and clipping of Constable donated by Eleanor Barton in 1982.
Additional W.G. Constable papers are located at archival materials are also located at St. Johns College in Cambridge,England; the Warburg Institute in London, England; the National Gallery in London, England; and the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning in London, England. Photographs of works art collected by Constable are found at the British Studies Center at Yale University. Records relating to his tenure at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are housed there.
Provenance:
The papers of W.G. Constable were donated in multiple gifts from 1978 to 1979 and in 1987 to 1988 by his son Giles Constable. Additional material regarding Constable's research on Canaletto was donated by researcher J.G. Links in 1985.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
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.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war Search this
Citation:
W.G. Constable papers, 1905-1983, bulk 1920-1976. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Digitization of this collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes una recuperación y modernizacion impostergable = National Museum of Fine Arts : an urgent process of restoration and modernization Fundcación de Bellas Artes
Biographical information; writings by Shaw; sketches; etchings; silhouette portraits; photographs; and printed material.
Reel 3989: Biographical account; architect certification documents from 8 states; family correspondence; 5 poems by Shaw, 2 of which are illustrated; notes on Shaw's genealogy; miscellaneous notes; 24 geometrical sketches for school, 55 drawings, and 14 watercolors by Shaw; an etching of Shaw's first wife, Caroline Quinan; an etching by Henry B. Quinan; 2 silhouette portraits of Shaw and an unidentified man; clippings regarding Shaw's work in Williamsburg and at Brown University; brochures and programs; reproductions of art works; course descriptions and assignments from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts; and photographs of Shaw, his family, friends, colleagues, and buildings.
Reel 949: Two sketches, one by Shaw and one by his father George Russell Shaw; 14 photocopies of Shaw's acceptances to Music Houseparties; photographs of Shaw, his family, and houses designed by him.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect; Concord, Mass. Was active in architectural restoration and helped in restoration efforts of buildings in Williamsburg, Va.
Provenance:
Lent and donated 1975 by Sarah Quinan Shaw Johnson, Shaw's daughter by his first wife.
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.
Occupation:
Architects -- Massachusetts -- Concord Search this
Topic:
Architecture -- Conservation and restoration -- United States Search this
National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution) -- Designs and plans Search this
Extent:
1 Linear foot
5 Items (rolled docs)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[ca. 1930]-1965
Scope and Contents:
Notebooks, card file, architectural plans, elevations, details, drawings, and designs for chairs, desks, cabinets, picture frames, etc. relating to Proetz's renovation of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Many of the designs and records pre-dating the renovation were evidently used by Proetz in the renovation.
Included are 7 notebooks, 1948-1955, recording work; ca. 280 photocopies of designs for furniture, fireplaces, lamps, and other accessories; a card file of American architects; and a file of drawings, notes, and photographs relating to work done for the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; drawings, ca. 1930-1960, including: architectural plans for the renovation; elevations, details, electrical layouts, and proposed furniture for the homes of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Gilbert, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hexter, and Joshua S. Cospen; and alterations and additions to the home of George D. Widener.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect, interior designer; New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. Proetz was a close friend and associate of the Charles Nagel, the first director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Provenance:
Transferred from the National Portrait Gallery 1977-1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Interior decorators -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.) Search this
Bitter, Karl Theodore Francis, 1867-1915 Search this
Extent:
3.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1900-1978
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, writings, art work, photographs, subject files, and printed material, relating to Gruppe's career as a sculptor, his involvement with the Public Works of Art Project, and his teacher Karl Bitter.
REEL 104: A list of monuments and fountains in New York City surveyed for renovation by Gruppe under the PWAP from 1934-1937. Each survey includes a general description, sometimes a photograph, a statement of its condition, repairs needed and renovation costs.
REEL N70-35: Correspondence, clippings, catalogs, 1920-1970, including items about the controversy over New York City's sculpture. Correspondents include Robert Moses, Edmond R. Amateis, Mary W. Harriman, Reginald Marsh, and Henry Wolf.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographies and resumes; correspondence, 1930-1976, concerning commissions and organizations; letters from Karl Bitter and family, 1905-1966; 21 sketches of designs for medals and coins; writings, including a report by Gruppe to the heads of the Pan-American Exposition, 1901, and "Art and the Church" by Lee Lawrie; and files (1.5 feet) on commissions, organizations, memorials, and other projects, containing printed material, business records, correspondence, writings and photographs. File headings include Alben W. Barkley Competition, American Federation of Arts, Architectural League, Art Commission Associates, Karl Bitter, Century Association, Commmittee on Government and Art, Competitions, Ecclesiastical Competion, Fine Arts Federation of N.Y.,
First Art Film Festival in America, Fort Clinton, Fund Raising, Henry Hudson Memorial, Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Medallic Art Company, Medals & Memorials, Monumental Restoration Project, National Academy of Design, National Sculpture Society, Plaster Casts for Museums, Society of Medalists, U.S. Dept. of State, War Memorials, and William Rufus King Memorial.
Also included are a book, THE DREAM CITY, A PORTFOLIO OF PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS OF THE WORLDS COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, 1893, [cover inscribed THE MAGIC CITY]; clippings, 1949-1978; photographs (0.5 ft.) of Gruppe, his family, and friends, including Laura Gardin (Fraser), Anthony de Francisci, Karl Bitter and the Bitter family, and of art works by Gruppe, Bitter, Daniel Chester French and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, medalist; New York, N.Y. Studied at the Royal Academy, Antwerp, Belgium and at the Art Students League of New York with Karl Bitter. Served as president of the National Sculpture Society, 1950-1951. He worked on the Monument Restoration Project, New York City Department of Parks, for the Public Works of Art Project from 1934-1937.
Provenance:
Material on reel N70-35 lent for microfilming by Gruppe, 1970; remainder donated by Gruppe 1970-1973, and by his daughter Elizabeth Gruppe Stover, 1986.
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.
Occupation:
Medalists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Monuments -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Monuments -- Conservation and restoration Search this
115 letters to and from Ward, and 17 photographs and sketches of church interiors. The correspondence is with church ministers concerning the remodeling and building of churches in the Ohio cities of Radnor, Cuyahoga Falls, Sylvania, North Fairfield, Everett, Chardon, Tallmade, Peninsula, Chagrin Falls, West Richfield, Covington, and Applecreek, and in Benzonia, Mich.
Biographical / Historical:
Architectural historian; Oberlin, Ohio. Ward was a museum director and professor at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Provenance:
Lent 1973 by Ward's son, F. Champion Ward.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Architectural historians -- Ohio -- Oberlin Search this
Architectural blueprints made in the restoration of Fifth Meeting House in Lancaster, Mass. The church was originally designed by Charles Bulfinch.
Biographical / Historical:
Architectural firm (Boston, Mass.)
Provenance:
Acquired through Lee Farnsworth.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Interviews conducted by Charles B. Hosmer with 54 persons involved in American historic preservation (used in preparation for his book Preservation Comes of Age) and restoration in the United States. Among the topics discussed are the development of the National Park Service, Williamsburg, National Trust, and projects in California, Charleston, S.C., Illinois, Missouri, New Orleans, La., Newport, R. I., New York State, San Antonio, Tex., and Wisconsin. A 98 p. index to the transcripts is included.
Interviewees are: Horace M. Albright, Edward P. Alexander, Roy Appleman, Joseph Booton, Paul V. Brown, John Albury Bryan, Helen D. Bullock, Orin M. Bullock, E. Milby Burton, Janet R. Cooley, William King Covell, Elbert Cox, Antoinette Downing, Newton B. Drury, Emily Edwards, Herbert Evison, J. Everette Fauber, Finlay Ferguson, Mrs. Jules Fontaine, O'Neill Ford, Milton Grigg, Mary Harral, Ethel Wilson Harris, Louis C. Jones, Herbert E. Kahler, Harnett Kane, Richard Koch, Richard Lawwill, Ronald F. Lee, Ralph Lewis, Clifford Lord, Walter M. Macomber, Mrs. George Maurice Morris, James J. Morrison, Vernon Aubrey Neasham, George A. Palmer, Erling Pederson, Thomas Pitkin, Charles Porter, Philip T. Primm, Frederick L. Rath, Jerome V. Ray, Martha Robinson, Albert Simons, Clyde F. Trudell, Charles Van Ravenswaay, Mrs. George Henry Warren (Katherine Urquhart Warren), Malcolm Watkins, Elsa Watson, Mrs. Walter P. Webb, Melvin J. Weig, Mrs. George Wells, Robert N. S. Whitelaw, Samuel Wilson, and Arthur Woodward.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles B. Hosmer (1932- 1993) was an historian and writer in Principia College, Illinois.
Related Materials:
Charles Hosmer papers also located at the University of Maryland, Special Collections. The collection may include original recordings for some of the interviewees, as well as many additional oral history interviews conducted by Hosmer for his book Preservation Comes of Age as well as interviews conducted for a separate historic preservation project funded by the Eastern National Park and Monument Association.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-1978 by Charles B. Hosmer.
Restrictions:
Brown, Cooley, Ferguson, Lawwill, Lewis, Morrison and Palmer are: ACCESS RESTRICTED: written permission required.
Topic:
Historic buildings -- United States -- Conservation and restoration Search this
Architecture -- United States -- United States -- Conservation and restoration Search this
