Collection consists of labels, created by Chicago business Valmor Products Company, for packaging intended to appeal to the African American consumer market dating from 1934-1946.
Scope and Contents:
Collection consists of fifty-three product labels created by Chicago area business Valmor Products Company and its subsidiaries: Madam Jones and Famous Products Company. The labels do not appear to have been used on product packaging. Personal care products were for both men and women and include cold cream, perfume, bleaching cream, talcum powder, toilet water, shaving cream, deodorant, hand cream, hot comb oil, hair dressing, and mouth wash. Common brand names on the product labels are Sweet Georgia Brown, Lucky Brown, Lucky Mojo, Lucky Man, Madam Jones, and Happy Go Lucky. Some of the products are specific to the African American community with mainstream products meant to appeal to this sector of American society. In many cases the company name, brand name, and copyright date appear on the labels. Materials are arranged in alphabetical order by the company name. If the company name does not appear on the label the brand name of the product was used.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged in one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The Valmor Company was established in 1926 on the South side of Chicago. It was owned and operated by Morton Gross Neumann (1898-1985) and Rose Fogelson Neumann (1902-1998). The company catered to an African American consumer market and employed local black residents as warehouse workers and salesmen. It created advertisements and product packaging using the talents and skills of African American artists Charles Clarence Dawson (June 12, 1889 - March 1, 1981) and Jay Paul Jackson (September 10, 1905 - May 16, 1954). Products were sold under the Valmor name and its subsidiary companies: Lucky Brown, Madam Jones, King Novelty, and Famous Products Company. The company was purchased by New York's R. H. Cosmetic Corporation after the death of Morton G. Neumann in 1985.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, NMAH.AC0060
Nathaniel Mathis Collection of Barbering and Beauty Culture NMAH.AC0641
Cover Girl Advertising Oral History & Documentation Project NMAH.AC0374
Carolyn Jones Papers NMAH.AC0552
Other Repositories
Valmor Products Label Collection, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center
Graphic Arts Collection, Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University
Made-in-Chicago Museum
Provenance:
Collection was donated to the Archives Center by National Museum of American History (NMAH) curator Helena Wright, November 23, 1993.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The A. Alfred Taubman papers measure 14.0 linear feet and date from circa 1964-2014. The majority of the collection documents Taubman's extensive art collection, which included works from many different time periods of European and American Art. The collection includes files for each individual work, including works donated or sold at various points. Files include correspondence, sales invoices and receipts, shipping documents, framing and conservation documents, loan agreements, printed materials, and photographic materials.
Additional material lent for microfilming on reel 1159 in 1976 includes subject files on ten sculptors from whom Taubman purchased sculpture for his company the Taubman Co. Files contain photographs of the artists' works; letters; a sketch; and four exhibition catalogs. Artists include Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Robert Cook, Aaronel de Roy Gruber, David Hayes, Milton Hebald, Wolf Kahn, Joseph Anthony McDonnell, M. Antoine Poncet, Paul von Ringelheim, and Francois Stahly.
Biographical / Historical:
A. Alfred Taubman (1924-2015) was a businessperson, collector, and philanthropist in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Provenance:
A small portion of the papers were lent for microfilming in 1976 by A. Alfred Taubman. The bulk of the papers was donated in 2023 by the A. Alfred Taubman Restated Revocable Trust via William S. Taubman, Trustee.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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.
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:
Leo Castelli Gallery records, circa 1880-2000, bulk 1957-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the partial digitization of this collection was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information Technology and Communications Search this
Harris Automatic Press Company, Dayton, Ohio Search this
Extent:
6.5 Cubic feet (13 boxes and 5 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photograph albums
Newsletters
Photographs
Blueprints
Catalogs
Date:
2003 - 2003
1889 - 1995
Summary:
Collection documents the Harris Automatic Press Company, manufacturers of a printing press with an automatic feed primarily through drawings and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains photographs of the presses, factory and employees; a scrapbook of presses, 1915; drawings; trade literature and catalogs; the Harris Impressions newsletter; blueprints of the presses; and histories of the company.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1889-1995
Series 2: Drawings, 1896-1929
Series 3: Photographs, 1921-1968; 2003
Biographical / Historical:
In 1890 jewelers and tinkerers Alfred and Charles G. Harris developed a new printing press with an automatic feeder. Their first press was a revolutionary breakthrough, delivering ten times what a pressman could feed by hand. The Harris Automatic Press Company was responsible for many printing innovations during the early 1900s including the first commercially successful offset lithographic press and the first two-color offset press. The company became one of the world's largest and most successful manufacturers of printing equipment.
Harris-Seybold Company (later Harris Intertype) of Cleveland, Ohio manufactured high-quality sheetfed offset lithographic printing presses. The Harris Automatic Press Co. of Niles, Ohio (the original company name) designed and built the first commercially successful sheetfed offset lithographic printing press in 1906. It was sold to the Republic Banknote Company (later became part of U.S. Banknote Corporation) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shipped on July 26, 1906. This printing press was retired in August 1940, rebuilt by Harris and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. From 1906 to 1976, Harris manufactured thousands of lithographic printing presses in various models and sizes along with various designs of bindery equipment. They were leaders in offset lithography technology. Many of the sheetfed offset lithographic presses presently being manufactured use some form of the early Harris innovations. In 1957, the company name was changed to Harris Intertype Corporation and in 1974 the name was changed to Harris Corporation. At this time the company was comprised of several electronic divisions in addition to the printing equipment divisions. The company stopped production of sheetfed lithographic printing presses in 1976. The corporate offices moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Melbourne, Florida in 1978 where Harris Corporation is still located. Harris Corporation disposed of its printing equipment plants in 1984 in a leverage buyout. Heidelberg (Germany) purchased some of the printing manufacturing plants in the late 1990s.
Provenance:
Collection donated by GSS Printing Equipment.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The papers of art historian and museum educator Ruth Bowman are dated 1936-2006, bulk 1963-1999, and measure 26.7 linear feet and 21.99 GB. Professional correspondence and subject files document Bowman's relationships with colleagues and reflect her interests, activities including curatorial work, and accomplishments as a museum educator. Writings and related research materials include her thesis,"Thomas Pollock Anshutz, 1851-1912" (M.A., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1971), and unfinished projects. Also found are interviews conducted by Bowman with a wide range of individuals for a variety of purposes.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian and museum educator Ruth Bowman are dated 1936-2006, bulk 1963-1999, and measure 26.7 linear feet and 21.99 GB. Professional correspondence and subject files document Bowman's relationships with colleagues and reflect her interests, activities including curatorial work, and accomplishments as a museum educator. Writing and related research materials include her thesis, "Thomas Pollock Anshutz, 1851-1912" (M.A., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1971), and unfinished projects. Also found are interviews conducted by Bowman with a wide range of individuals for a variety of purposes.
Biographical materials consist of certificates, resumes, and a few photographs of Ruth Bowman. Correspondence concerns Bowman's professional activities and interests. Among the most frequent correspondents are: American Association of Museums, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Los Angeles), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art.
Writings by Ruth Bowman, published and unpublished, include a thesis and articles about Thomas Pollock Anshutz, catalogs for American Federation of Arts and The Newark Museum exhibitions, lectures, as well as articles about museum education and visual arts programs. Research relates to her writings about Anshutz, and to unrealized projects concerning Anshutz, Cézanne, Eakins, Picasso, and other subjects. Also found are two brief writings about Bowman.
Subject files--general subjects, artists' files, Ruth Bowman activities, and "Sunrise Semester"--contain the majority of Bowman's professional correspondence along with printed material, writings, photographs, and sound recordings. Among the most thoroughly documented general subjects are: The Brooklyn Museum's Trustees Retreat, Canadian Museums Association, a 1981 Craft Symposium, International Network for the Arts, Long Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Museum Directors' Forum", New York University Art Collection, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Council for the Arts. Artists' files are comprised mainly of printed material with a small amount of correspondence and some photographs. The Les Levine file consists of the first issue of Art-Rite featuring a brief article about Levine on its cover; Thomas Wilfred's file includes information about Lumia. Ruth Bowman activities include lectures, radio and television appearances, and participation in professional events. "Sunrise Semester," a collaboration between CBS television and New York University, offered early morning courses for college credit. Ruth Bowman was the instructor for "20th Century American Art," which is documented by general information, scripts, and sound recordings of all 46 classes.
Interviews conducted by Bowman are with English museum administrators and educators; people knowledgeable about a controversial proposal for an Annenberg Fine Arts Center at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; guests on KUSC radio shows "Sounds of Seeing" and "Live from Trump's"; and guests on the WNYC radio program "Views on Art." Interviews with miscellaneous individuals include Josef Albers, Hans Burkhardt, Carl Holty, Isamu Noguchi, and Helen Farr Sloan. Bowman interviewed a dozen American abstract artists, including Ilya Bolotowsky, Rosalind Bengelsdorf Browne, Burgoyne Diller, John Ferren, Carl Holty, Harry Holtzman, Ibram Lassaw, Jacques Lipchitz, Alice Mason, George McNeil, George L. K. Morris, and Ad Reinhardt for a thesis on the subject, but eventually wrote on a different topic. Two interviews with Bowman were conducted by Duncan MacDonald and an unidentified interviewer.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1964-1984 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1963-1996 (Box 1; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Related Research, 1942-1999 (Boxes 1-3; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1936-2006 (Boxes 3-12, 26; 9.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Interviews, 1963-1989 (Boxes 12-25; 9.2 linear feet, ER01-ER70; 21.99 GB)
Biographical / Historical:
Ruth Bowman (b. 1923) is an art historian and museum educator who worked in New York City and Los Angeles. She is known for her interest in using new communications technology for museum education, discovering Arshile Gorky's long forgotten murals at Newark Airport, and expertise in the work of Thomas Anshutz.
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College (B.A. 1944), where she had studied art history and classical archaeology, Ruth Bowman began a museum career in New York as an assistant curator at the Jewish Museum in the early 1960s. From 1963-1974 Ruth Bowman served as curator of the York University Art Collection and was involved in its transition to the Grey Art Gallery and Study Center. Bowman wrote her master's thesis on Philadelphia artist Thomas Pollock Anshutz and received a degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 1971. During this same period, she was a staff lecturer at The Museum of Modern Art and taught art history in divisions of New York University. She was the instructor for a "Sunrise Semester" 20th century American art course broadcast nationally on CBS.
In 1974 Bowman and her family moved to California and she began an association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as Director of Education. She attended summer courses in arts administration at Harvard University (1975) and similar training provided by the British Arts Council (1976). She taught at University of California Santa Barbara, as well as at California State University at Fullerton and Long Beach. Bowman was active in the Council of the American Association of Museums (vice president), the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles (vice president), and has served as a consultant to several museums and a corporate collection.
Ruth Bowman with her friend Harry Kahn (1916-1999) developed a collection of self-portraits by 20th century American artists, which she donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 2002. Mrs. Bowman is the widow of R. Wallace Bowman and currently resides in New York City.
Provenance:
Donated by Ruth Bowman in 2004.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
Research material including correspondence, writings and notes, photographs, and printed material on Cezanne, Thomas Eakins, and Picasso: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Ruth Bowman. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's private art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the World Trade Center, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Miller's work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files of her husband Holger Cahill about his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is a scattered documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Also found is Dorothy Miller's collection of artists' Christmas cards and photographs of Miller and others. An addition to the papers includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number professional files are included, the majority of the addition relates to her personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of contemporary and folk art curator, historian, and consultant Dorothy C. Miller measure 34.6 linear feet and date from 1853-2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1996. The papers primarily concern Miller's art consulting work outside of her curatorial work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York city. Found are scattered biographical materials, extensive correspondence and subject files, and project files for her art consulting work for the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other miscellaneous corporate and private clients. Her work as a trustee and committee member of various public and private boards and commissions is also represented here. Additionally, the papers contain Miller's research files on Edward Hicks and folk art, and a small number of files related to Miller's husband Holger Cahill and his work as Director of the Federal Art Project. There is important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center. Artwork includes scattered sketches and drawings enclosed with correspondence and original Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists. Photographs of Miller date from 1926 - circa 1950.
Scattered biographical material mostly concerns Miller's education at Smith College and awards and honorary degrees that she received. Extensive correspondence and subject files document her professional and personal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, museums, art dealers and artists, as well as her research interests. Individual files may contain a mix of correspondence with, as well as about, the person or subject, compiled research documents, printed materials, and scattered photographs. Files are found for Lewin Alcopley, Alfred Barr, Betty Parsons Gallery, Cahill family members, Lee Bontecou, James Byars, Holger Cahill, Alexander Calder, Christo, Chryssa, Calvert Coggeshall, John Canaday, Maryette Charlton, Stuart Davis, Jay DeFeo, Lorser Feitelson, Arshile Gorky, Peggy Guggenheim, Grace Hartigan, Will Horwitt, Jasper Johns, Julien Levy, Pierre Matisse, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Isamu Nauchi, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Kay Sage, Charles Sheeler, Hedda Sterne, travel, Clyfford Still, William Scharf, among many others.
Detailed records of Miller's art consulting and advisory work for the Rockefeller family include correspondence with Nelson A. Rockefeller and David Rockefeller about building their personal collections of contemporary and folk art, meeting notes and minutes, research notes and writings, and printed materials. The largest group of records concerns the writing and publication of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. Miller's curatorial work for David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller University's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Hall art collection is documented in Series 4 through curatorial files, correspondence, printed materials, photographs and slides, artists files, and design records.
Series 5 contains files relating to Miller's work as the first art consutant to the Chase Manhattan Bank and the building of the corporation's extensive collection of contemporary art. There is a draft of Miller's text for the bank's published catalog, Art At Work: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection. A smaller set of records is found in Series 6 documenting Miller's work on the Art Committee of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including files about selecting artwork for the World Trade Center during the early 1970s. Files concerning Miller's advisory work with additional public and private clients, boards, and commissions are arranged in Series 7 and 8 and concern the Amstar Corporation, Fidelity International Bank, First National Bank of Tampa, First National City Bank, Inmont Corporation, Pepsico, United Mutual Savings Bank, the Empire State Plaza Art Commission, the Hancock Shaker Village, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Mark Rothko Foundation, the Museum of American Folk Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art.
Miller's papers include a small group of files relating to the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP)created by her husband Holger Cahill when he was director of the FAP, Holger Cahill. A small series is devoted to Miller's work with Eleanore Price Mather researching and writing Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdom and Other Paintings. A series of general research files contain miscellaneous research notes and photographs related to Miller's interests in early American art and folk art. Series 12 contains important documentation of Miller's early curatorial work with Holger Cahill on the First Municipal Art Exhibition (1934) held at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center.
Works of art are primarily in the form of Christmas cards sent to Miller by various artists including Elise Asher, Lyonel Feininger, Bernard Karpel, and Irene Rice Pereira. A small group of photographs includes photographs of Miller from 1926-circa 1950 and a few photographs of others.
The addition includes biographical material; family papers; correspondence; professional files; art collection and client files; printed material; and photographic material. While a small number of professional files are found here, the majority of material relates to Miller's personal life, including correspondence with her husband Holger Cahill, and files pertaining to her personal art collection. Scattered correspondence, inventories, research, and notes created by curator and donor of the papers, Wendy Jeffers, are found throughout the collection. These materials date from the 1980s-2000s.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 15 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-1986 (Box 1; 0.3 linear ft.)
Series 2: Correspondence and Subject Files, circa 1912-1992 (Boxes 1-8, OV 27; 7.2 linear ft.)
Series 3: Rockefeller Family Art Collections, circa 1949-1985 (Boxes 8-12, 25; 3.9 linear ft.)
Series 4: Rockefeller University Collection, 1923-1984 (Boxes 12-13, OV 27; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 5: Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, 1959-circa 1985 (Boxes 13-14, 26; 1.4 linear ft.)
Series 6: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Art Committee, circa 1965-1987 (Boxes 14-15, OV 27; 0.8 linear ft.)
Series 7: Other Corporate and Private Clients, 1968-1984 (Boxes 15-16; 1.3 linear ft.)
Series 8: Other Boards, Committees and Commissions, 1925, 1949-1985 (Boxes 16-20; 3.6 linear ft.)
Series 9: Works Project Administration Federal Art Project Files, 1935-1979 (Box 20, OV 27; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 10: Edward Hicks Catalog, 1934-1984 (Boxes 20-22; 1.5 linear ft.)
Series 11: Research Files, 1930s-1980 (Boxes 22-23; 0.8 linear ft.)
Series 12: Exhibition Files, 1932-1986 (Box 23; 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 13: Works of Art, circa 1924-circa 1982 (Boxes 23-25; 1.5 linear ft.)
Series 14: Photographs, 1926-circa 1970s (Boxes 24-25; 0.3 linear ft.)
Series 15: Addition to the Dorothy C. Miller Papers, 1853-2003, bulk 1920-1996 (Boxes 28-38, OVs 39-41; 9.9 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
Dorothy Canning Miller (1904-2003) worked in New York City as a highly influential curator of contemporary and folk art at the Museum of Modern Art and as the first curator of the museum. Later, she was the primary art consultant for Nelson A. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller University, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the Port Authority of and New Jersey. Dorothy Miller was also married to Holger Cahill, director of the WPA Federal Art Project.
Dorothy C. Miller was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts in 1904 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in 1925. She was first introduced to modern art through classes at the Newark Museum taught by John Cotton Dana and Holger Cahill. Miller joined the curatorial staff of the Newark Museum in 1926. The museum was one of the first to organize exhibitions of American folk art, American Primitives (1930-1931) and American Folk Sculpture (1931-1932). Miller worked with Cahill and others on the exhibition and developed a life-long interest in folk art.
After four years at the Newark Museum, Miller moved to New York city, hoping to get involved with the newly opened Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and, likely, to be with Holger Cahill, with whom she lived with on 8th Street prior to their marriage in 1938. Between 1930 and 1932 she took odd jobs and worked with Mrs. Henry Lang cataloging, researching and installing Lang's collection of Native American art Lang donated to the Montclair Art Museum. At the same time, Holger Cahill was serving as Acting Director of the Museum of Modern Art during an absence of Director Alfred H. Barr. In 1932, Cahill asked Miller to assist him with curating the American Painting and Sculpture, 1862-1932 exhibition at MoMA, and together they also curated the First Municipal Art Exhibition, 1934 at the Rockefeller Center.
In 1934, Barr hired Miller as his assistant and one year later appointed her as MoMA's first curator. Miller spent the next 35 years organizing many of this country's most important exhibitions of contemporary art and building personal relationships with new artists and photographers, as well as the collections of MoMA. Miller retired from MOMA in 1969 and focused more on her art consulting work begun in the late 1950s.
Dorothy Miller's most notable client was Nelson A. Rockefeller. She assisted and advised Rockefeller as he acquired a vast personal collection of modern art - some of which was later donated to MoMA. Just prior to her retirement, Miller organized a large exhibition of Rockefeller's collection. The exhibition catalog written by Miller was the basis for the book she worked on with Rockefeller up until and following his death in 1979, ultimately published as The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art. In the preface, Rockefeller credited Miller with being one of the four people to whom he was indebted "for the understanding and endless joy I have found in the collecting of modern art in all forms."
Miller also served as the primary art consultant for projects to furnish federal spaces, including Henry Kissinger's State Department office suite, and the official Vice-Presidential residence at the Admiral's House in Washington D.C.
In 1959 Miller was invited to join the art collection committee of the Chase Manhattan Bank and served on the committee until the mid-1980s, contributing her expertise to the development of one of this country's oldest and largest corporate collections of modern and contemporary art.
Miller was also an advisor to other members of the Rockefeller family, including David Rockefeller, and assisted with developing the art collections of Rockefeller Institute/University. From 1960 through the late 1980s Miller was a member of the art committee for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANJY) and was responsible for selecting much of the artwork for the World Trade Center in the 1970s. She served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Hancock Shaker Village, the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Empire State Plaza in Albany, Smith College Museum of Art, and the Museum of American Folk Art. She also became a member of the Mark Rothko Foundation Board of Directors after the litigation following Rothko's death between Rothko's executors and his daughter.
In the mid-1970s Miller assisted the Whitney Museum of American with planning an exhibition and supporting catalog of the work of folk artist Edward Hicks. Although the exhibition and catalog were only partially realized in 1980, Miller and Eleanore Price Mather compiled and published a book on Hicks, Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdoms and Other Paintings, published in 1983.
In 1982-1983 Miller received the Art Dealers Association Special Award, an honorary degree from Williams College, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture governor's award. In 1984 she was named honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1985 the Smith College Museum of Art honored her important contributions to museum connoisseurship with the exhibition Dorothy C. Miller: With An Eye to American Art.
Dorothy Miller died in 2003 at the age of 99 at her home in Greenwich, New York.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art holds two oral history interviews with Dorothy C. Miller. The first was conducted by Paul Cummings between May 26, 1970 and September 28, 1971, and details Miller's life from childhood up to, and including, her years at the Museum of Modern Art. The second was conducted by Avis Berman on May 14, 1981 and covers Miller's relationships with Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Also found among the holdings of the Archives are the papers of Holger Cahill, Dorothy Miller's husband and colleague.
The Museum of Modern Art Achives holds Dorothy Miller's papers related to her curatorial work at the museum.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Dorothy C. Miller via Wendy Jeffers between 1986 and 1997, and Reid White, Executor of Miller's estate, in 2004. Two subsequent additions were donated by Wendy Jeffers in 2014 and 2015.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The records of the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, and its predecessor the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, Ohio, measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1943-1989. Records consist of correspondence, artist files, exhibition files, business records, writings, and video recordings that document the activities of Wise's gallery in Cleveland from 1957-1961 and, to a lesser extent, his gallery in New York City from 1960-1970. Wise's activities following the closing of the Howard Wise Gallery are also found among the correspondence, artist files, business records, writings, and video recordings.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, and its predecessor the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, Ohio, measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1943-1989. Records consist of correspondence, artist files, exhibition files, business records, writings, and video recordings that document the activities of Wise's gallery in Cleveland from 1957-1961 and, to a lesser extent, his gallery in New York City from 1960-1970. Wise's activities following the closing of the Howard Wise Gallery are also found among the correspondence, artist files, business records, writings, and video recordings.
Correspondence documents the operations of Wise's galleries in Cleveland and New York. A few subject files and a small amount of Howard Wise's personal correspondence (some pre-dating and post-dating the galleries) are also included in this series.
Artist files contain varying combinations of correspondence, printed material, notes and writings, and photographs. Most artists represented in this series were affiliated with Howard Wise Gallery either in Cleveland or New York City, but some files are for individuals of potential interest to the gallery, and those of continued interest to Wise after the closing of the gallery. Exhibition files contain correspondence, printed material, guest lists, and notes. Exhibition files are not a comprehensive record of exhibitions held in Wise's galleries.
Business records include records of cash disbursements that are primarily for Howard Wise's travel and entertainment expenses. Business memoranda and correspondence between the Cleveland and New York galleries document sales, inventory, shipments and financial information. Also among the business records are photographs of the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, a set of slides of artworks and installation views dating to the late 1950s, and inventories and loan documentation related to Howard Wise's personal art collection. Writings consist of essays and speeches by Howard Wise, writings on Howard Wise and the Howard Wise Gallery artists by Douglas MacAgy and Marita Sturken, and a typescript recollection of a dinner party conversation with Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger from 1973.
Video recordings include 41 videoreels and videocassettes, a log book of video shot by Wise in the early 1970s, and a program for a screening of his videos held in Wellfleet, Mass. Recordings are mainly unedited footage of interviews with artists and community figures, gallery openings, and other community events in Wellfleet, Mass. and the greater Cape Cod region. A log book and detailed labels on videos provide details about their content. Three edited works made by Wise from the raw footage include "video portraits" of Serge Chermayeff, Edwin Dickinson, and Jack Tworkov. Also found is footage from the premiere performance of Jean Dubuffet's Coucou Bazaar at the Guggenheim Museum, and a dinner party attended by Dubuffet. Video of works by other artists include footage from media and kinetic artworks shown in the Howard Wise Gallery from 1964-1967, as well as a video performance by Hannah Wilke from 1974.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1943-1984 (Boxes 1-2; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1950-1984 (Boxes 3-6; 3.4 linear ft.)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1957-1968 (Boxes 6-7; 0.9 linear ft.)
Series 4: Business Records, 1957-1989 (Boxes 7-9; 2.6 linear ft.)
Series 5: Writings, 1957-1984 (Box 9; 4 folders)
Series 6: Video Recordings, 1973-1985 (2.5 linear feet)
Historical Note:
After twenty-five years as president of Arco Company, his family's industrial paint and varnish manufacturing business in Cleveland, Howard Wise (1903-1989) sold his interest in the business and began to pursue his own artistic interests. The Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture opened in Cleveland in 1957 and operated for the next five years. It first showed School of Paris and New York painters and also sold prints. With the exception of a few collectors and loyal customers, Clevelanders did not appreciate Wise's efforts to bring the best new art from all over the world to the city. The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran several editorials ridiculing modern art in general and Howard Wise and his gallery in particular. Attendance was poor and Wise decided to relocate to New York.
After a year of searching for a suitable location and renovating the space, Howard Wise Gallery opened at 50 West 57th Street in 1960. The gallery generated excitement among visitors and artists, and sales and attendance were much better than in Cleveland. After closing the Cleveland gallery in 1961 Wise never again returned to his native city. Despite being well received and conducting significantly more business in New York, the gallery was not a great financial success. Between 1962 and 1965, art consultant Douglas MacAgy, a friend and the former director of the Dallas Museum of Art, worked with Wise in running the gallery. Although the critics were not always favorably impressed, Howard Wise Gallery had a significant following and made important contributions through its support of the use of technology in art, specifically kinetic and light sculpture and the video art movement.
By the late 1960s, Wise recognized that a gallery setting was not suitable for many of the new art forms. He closed Howard Wise Gallery in 1970 so that he could focus his energy and resources on exploring the best way to support environmental sculpture, political work, and video art. Wise founded Electronic Arts Intermix in 1971. Originally an artist-run umbrella organization, today Electronic Arts Intermix is a non-profit videotape distribution service and editing facility, that has amassed an important and highly regarded video art collection.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Howard Wise conducted by Paul Cummings on February 22, 1971. The Harvard Art Museum Archives also holds archival records of the Howard Wise Gallery.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel N70-77) including publicity materials, correspondence, exhibition plans, text of an exhibition catalog, and photographs relating to Howard Kiesler. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1979, the Howard Wise Gallery lent material to the Archives of American Art for microfilming. The rest of the collection was donated by Howard Wise in 1971 and by Barbara Wise, Howard Wise's widow via Dana Kasarsky, Wise's daughter-in-law in 2011.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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.
The Millard Sheets papers comprise 27.6 linear feet of material dating from circa 1907 to 2000 with bulk dates spanning 1956 to 1981. The collection documents Sheets's career as a designer, painter, and muralist, and his personal and professional interests through correspondence, writings, lectures, printed material, drawings, slides, photographs, and ephemera.
A small addition donated 2018 by Carolyn Owen-Toole, Sheet's daughter. There is a 4.6 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2018 that includes writings; sketchbooks and sketches; photographs and negatives of works of art, images of Millard Sheets and others including family; printed material, including two scrapbooks; and scattered correspondence regarding Sheet's projects.
Scope and Content Note:
The personal papers of Millard Sheets (1907-1990) measure 27.6 linear feet and date from circa 1907-2000, with bulk dates of 1956-1981. The collection reflects Sheets's career as a designer, painter, and muralist, as well as his other personal and professional interests, through correspondence, writings, lectures, clippings, blueprints, drawings, slides, photographs, and ephemera.
The Project Files comprise the largest group of materials in the collection and document design work undertaken by Sheets through his company Millard Sheets & Associates Designs. Sheets and his associates produced concept drawings and blueprints and supervised the construction for a wide range of design projects that ranged in scale from architectural plans for private residences to bid proposals for shopping malls and financial institutions located in California and the Southwest.
Sheets designed interior and exterior plans for over forty Home Savings and Loan bank branches in California. The distinctive modular design which Sheets created and then customized by integrating interior and exterior art elements that highlighted local historical events or natural features became synonymous with the image of Home Savings and Loan. Sheets also teamed up with the architect Edward Durrell Stone to produce a proposal for the Capitol Mall Project, an urban renewal project for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Sacramento. Researchers will find correspondence, job costs and billing statements, and notes that trace the development of these and other building construction projects. In some instances the documents are supplemented by blueprints, photographs, and/or drawings of the project, but in many cases, visual documentation is missing.
The Project Files also document work done by Millard Sheets on public projects such as the Family of Man mural in the Los Angeles City Hall Annex, a mosaic dome in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., and the Word of Life mural at the University of Notre Dame, Ind., along with numerous other murals and mosaics created for private individuals and corporations.
The Correspondence Series primarily reflects the interaction between Sheets and his clients, colleagues, and personal acquaintances. These files will prove valuable to researchers who are interested in the way that Sheets's beliefs about the role of art in everyday life impacted the way he conducted business and managed both large and small design projects. The correspondence also reflects Sheets's interest in popular American culture, travel, political issues of the day, and art collecting.
The Membership Files document the wide variety of interests that Sheets maintained through active membership in associations and organizations. The material in this series consists primarily of correspondence, minutes of meetings, and notes which Sheets created or used as he served as a board member or trustee on a number of organizational boards, such as the California Institute of the Arts, the Claremont Colleges, Virginia Steele Scott Foundation, Webb School of California, and Goodwill Industries of Southern California.
Also found in this series is material that documents his interest and participation in various recreational and professional organizations. Sheets maintained a long association with the Economic Roundtable, a group of businessmen who met regularly to give presentations and share discussion on contemporary political and social issues. Sheets was a frequent speaker and his talks given at the Economic Roundtables can be found in Lectures and Speeches, a subseries of the Writings Series.
Included in the Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, Inc. series are records that reflect the day-to-day operations of Sheets's design firm. Found here are chronological copies of correspondence that were sent out, files Sheets maintained on various independent contractors that the design firm frequently used, resumes and letters of recommendation that Sheets received regarding potential employees, as well as records relating to the cost and maintenance of Sheets's office building.
The Teaching and Workshop Files document the instructional activities undertaken by Sheets throughout his career in the arts. Although Sheets became pivotal in establishing a regionally recognized art department at Scripps College in Claremont, California, the files that reflect his academic position there are limited in scope and depth. Researchers will find more substantive the files that he maintained on the numerous art demonstrations and paintings workshops that he conducted privately throughout his career. Sheets traveled extensively around the world through his teaching activities and the files in this series track his path.
Closely related to the Teaching and Workshop Files is the Painting Trips series. The material in these files document Sheets's service as an American Specialist in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the USIS, Department of State. Sheets served two times as a cultural arts representative in Turkey in 1960 and in the former USSR in 1961. Sheets also made numerous trips to South East Asia, which had proved an area of fascination for him since his experiences as a war correspondent in Burma and India in World War II. The files in this series document his painting trips to Tahiti, the Pacific Ocean Rim, and Hawaii. Also found are files that detail his painting activities in Mexico.
The Exhibition Files reflect the records that Sheets maintained regarding his participation in art exhibitions, as well as his files on art shows that he personally directed or organized for public or private groups or organizations. Although Sheets exhibited his work predominantly in the West and Southwest, the files in this series demonstrate that he exhibited both nationally and internationally as well.
Also found within the records for this series are files relating to Sheets's representation of his artwork through established galleries and art agents. The Dalziel Hatfield Galleries of Los Angeles, California, served as his primary agent for most of his painting career. Correspondence between Sheets and the Hatfields provide insight into Sheets's development into a regionally and nationally significant watercolorist and painter. The files relating to the Kennedy Galleries in New York and the Circle Gallery in Chicago reflect Sheets's efforts to maintain a national presence in the arts community.
The Jury Files document Sheets's involvement as a juror in regional, as well, as national shows. The files reveal the great variety of professional watercolor and painting exhibitions in which Sheets participated as either a jury panelist or solo judge.
The Writings Files provide an excellent source for researchers interested in Sheets's philosophical beliefs about the relationship between art and everyday life. His articles, lectures, and speeches predominantly address the role of the artist, the relationships that exist between artists and the community, and the role that art can play in making a fuller, more productive life. Also found in the files of this series are articles written by others about Sheets.
The Biographical Material series provides a short introduction to Millard Sheets. The files consist of the calendars maintained by Sheets and his wife and staff, which were used to coordinate his many commitments and appointments. Also found in the files of this series are family chronologies that were created by Mary Baskerville Sheets. Medical records and resumes provide personal information about Sheets's background and health. A small file of military memorabilia provides information about Sheets's contributions to the war effort in World War II.
The Printed Matter series documents family activities and personalities through publicity clippings. Also found are exhibition catalogs and announcements that Sheets saved regarding other artists. Miscellaneous interests and activities of Sheets are found through magazine articles, brochures, and flyers.
The Photographs series includes photographic documentation for Sheets's artwork, horses, and major projects. A small group of photographs of Sheets are also in this series.
The files in the Artwork series include original drawings by Mary Baskerville Sheets and Millard Sheets.
There is a 4.6 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2018 that includes writings; sketchbooks and sketches; photographs and negatives of works of art, images of Millard Sheets and others including family; printed material, including two scrapbooks; and scattered correspondence regarding Sheet's projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into fifteen series. Small series, such as Biographical Material are generally based on type of document. Larger series, such as Correspondence or Project Files, are arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent or project. General correspondence has been made into its own series, but other series or subseries may also contain some correspondence. Within particular series, materials have been further divided into subseries which represent particular aspects of the project or event. For example, the Writings Series is further divided into subseries of books and articles, eulogies, and lectures and speeches. An outline listing series and subseries titles and dates follows.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1907-1982, undated (boxes 1-2; 1.25 linear ft.)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1929-1990, undated (boxes 2-4; 2.75 linear ft.)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1933-1980, undated (boxes 5-6; 1.25 linear ft.)
Series 4: Membership Files, 1946-1982, undated (boxes 6-8; 2.5 linear ft.)
Series 5: Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, 1934-1982, undated (boxes 8-9; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 6: Project Files, 1956-1981, undated (boxes 9-18; 8.25 linear ft.)
Series 7: Teaching and Workshop Files, 1932-1982 (box 18; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 8: Painting Trips, 1959-1980, undated (box 18; 16 folders)
Series 9: Exhibition Files, 1932-1937, 1951-1988, undated (box 19; 0.75 linear ft.)
Series 10: Jury Files, 1941-1982 (boxes 19-20; 42 folders)
Series 11: Writings, 1936-1988, undated (boxes 20-22; 2.5 linear ft.)
Series 12: Printed Matter, 1936-1922, undated (boxes 22-23; 20 folders)
Series 13: Photographs, 1934-1983, undated (box 23; 17 folders)
Series 14: Artwork, circa 1929, undated (box 23; 2 folders)
Series 15: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1930-2000 (boxes 24, 26-30, OV25: 4.6 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
"Your painting is a measure of your mind"-Millard Sheets
Millard Sheets, as one of the founding members of the "California Scene Painters," exerted a lasting influence upon subsequent generations of Western painters. He and the small group of painters who worked in California during the 1930s and 1940s, developed a new style of watercolor painting that was at the forefront of the American watercolor movement of the time, and that later gave rise to a subsequent generation of painters who became known as the California Regionalist school.
Sheets was born in Pomona, California on June 24, 1907. His mother died in childbirth, and his father, John Sheets, unprepared to raise a baby alone, sent Millard to Pomona, California to be raised by his maternal grandparents, Lewis and Emma Owen. Sheets's grandfather proved to be a guiding force in his life, and when Sheets's father remarried and offered Millard the opportunity to return to the Sheets household, Millard chose instead to remain with his grandparents.
Sheets's love of horses can be directly traced back to his childhood years spent living at his grandfather's horse ranch. Millard rode his first horse when he was three years old. Throughout his life, Sheets returned to the theme of horses in his paintings, as well as maintaining a private stable of horses, and raising and breeding racehorses.
His interest in art also began in childhood. When he was still a young boy, his two maternal aunts encouraged him to play with crayons and pencils. Sheets took his first painting lesson from a neighbor at the age of seven, and by 1919 he had already submitted artwork to the copy division of the Los Angeles County Fair fine arts show competition. He submitted a drawing he had copied of a tinted photograph of Lake KIlarney, California. Sheets won first prize in his division.
It was through this competition that Millard met Theodore B. Modra, a Polish artist who had retired to the Pomona area. After giving Sheets a lecture on the evils of copying art, Modra offered to give him art lessons.
Sheets continued to pursue his interest in art and enrolled in the Choinard School of Art in Los Angeles, California. By the time that he graduated in 1929, Sheets had also managed to come to the attention of Dalzell and Ruth Hatfield of the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries in Los Angeles, California. The Hatfields were one of the most influential art dealers in Southern California, and that same year, they sponsored Sheets in his first one-man exhibition in 1929. The exhibition brought Sheets to the attention of Western Coast art critics and launched Sheets on his painting career.
In 1929 Sheets also learned that he had won second place in the annual Edgar B. Davis art competition held in San Antonio, Texas. The award came with a cash prize and Sheets made plans to travel to Europe to study and paint. Shortly before his departure, however, he met an art student, Mary Baskerville, and they began a whirlwind romance. With Baskerville's enthusiastic support for European plans, and with her promise that she would wait for him, Sheets departed for New York and then Europe.
While overseas during 1929 and 1930, Sheets studied under Dorfinant, a master printer in Paris. Through his work at this studio workshop, he met Henri Matisse.
Five months after Millard returned to the California in 1930, Sheets and Mary Baskerville married. Sheets worked as the director of the Fine Arts Exhibition of the Los Angeles County Fair. In 1932 Sheets returned to school to study art and humanities at Scripps College in Claremont, California. After graduating from Scripps, school officials approached Sheets with an offer to set up a separate fine arts program and asked him to chair the new department. This was the beginning of a twenty year association with the school. In 1938, he also became the Director of Art at Claremont Graduate School.
Sheets left the school during the years of World War II to serve as a war-time artist and journalist for Life magazine, and from 1943-1944 was stationed on the Burma-India Front. His experiences in Asia appeared to affect him deeply. In contrast to his earlier works which featured backgrounds with neutral tones and brilliant shades that highlighted and punctuated the compositions, the paintings from the wartime featured somber tones. Sheets remarked of this time:
During the fighting and the time I spent in the C-B-1 theater, I was too shaken and intellectually stunned to do any complete paintings. I made many, many sketches, though, as well as a real effort to remember each scene that particularly affected me. Then, once I returned to America, I painted frantically, for months, exorcising demons. [Lovoos, Janice and Edmund F. Penney, Millard Sheets: One-Man Renaissance, Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 1984]
Sheets returned from the war in 1944 and resumed his position at Scripps College until 1955 when he was approached by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and asked to overhaul the fledgling Los Angeles County Art Institute. Sheets accepted the position and spent the next five years reshaping the mission and format of the school, renaming it the Otis Art Institute. In the years after Sheets left the directorship, the school eventually became part of the Parson's School of Design on the West Coast.
In 1953 Sheets founded the Millard Sheets Designs company. He hired between twenty-five and thirty artisans for large projects, with Susan Hertel, a former student of his, serving as his assistant in all the operations of the design studio. The working staff included engineers, registered architects, draftsmen, and artists, and the projects that the firm produced included murals, mosaics, stained glass, and sculpture for private homes and public and commercial businesses.
The design studio completed several major architectural projects throughout the late 1950s through the mid 1970s, including the design and construction of Cal Aero, a flight training school for the US Air Force, the National American Insurance Company offices for the California financier, Howard Ahmanson, Ahmanson Bank and Trust Company in Beverly Hills, many Home Savings and Loan Association Buildings, private residences, and the Scottish Rite Memorial Temples in Los Angeles and San Francisco, among many other projects.
Sheets also designed and completed mural and mosiac work for numerous public buildings in the Los Angeles area, as well as across the nation. Many of the murals and mosiacs were for those buildings designed by his firm while others were done as independent commissions.
In 1968 Sheets first proposed the murals he designed for the Los Angeles City Hall. His design was approved and he was awarded a commission to complete The Family of Man murals over the two main entrances to the Los Angeles City Hall. The murals were completed in 1971 and installed in 1972. Sheets also designed mosiacs and murals for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Library at Notre Dame University, the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Los Angeles, several Home Savings and Loan Association buildings in the Los Angeles area, the Detroit Public Library, and the Dome of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
During the early 1960s Sheets participated in the American Specialist Program of the US Department of State. His first assignment was to Turkey in 1960, where he served as a visiting artist. The following year he went to the USSR in the same capacity.
During the early to mid 1950s Sheets became involved with Columbia Pictures and was technical advisor and production designer for a few years.
Millard Sheets was a member of the National Watercolor Society, the American Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors, and the Century Association. Sheets actively promoted his own work and was a businessman, an active and prolific artist, instructor, and designer. Millard Sheets died on March 31, 1989 in Gualala, California.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels LA 10) including a biographical sketch, career resume, and a list of sheets' work prepared in 1964. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Millard Sheets lent material for microfilming in 1965. Mary B. Sheets, Millard's widow, donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1992. Carolyn Owen-Toole, Sheet's daughter, gave a small addition of material in 2018.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1933-1945
United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945
Date:
1902-1960
bulk 1932-1942
Summary:
The Edward Bruce papers measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1902 to 1960, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1942. The collection documents Bruce's work as an artist, art collector, exhibition juror, and federal government art administrator, particularly his tenure as Director of the U. S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Well over one-half of the collection consists of extensive correspondence with artists, art collectors and dealers, arts associations, galleries, and government officials, including President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Scope and Content Note:
The Edward Bruce papers measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1902 to 1960, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1942. The collection documents Bruce's work as an artist, art collector, exhibition juror, and federal government art administrator, particularly his tenure as Director of the U. S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Well over one-half of the collection consists of extensive correspondence with many notable artists and government officials. Also found is scattered biographical material, office diaries and speeches, personal financial material, printed material, four scrapbooks, and photographs.
A small amount of biographical material includes birth records and many awards and certificates. Bruce's correspondence files comprise over half of this collection, containing correspondence with family, friends, artists, art organizations, political figures, museums, art galleries, and government agencies. Found within the files is extensive correspondence with friend and art critic Leo Stein and artist friend Maurice Sterne. Additional artists Bruce corresponded with include George Biddle, Adrian Dornbush, and Olin Dows. Also included is correspondence documenting his career as Chief of the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts with government colleagues and officials, much of it concerning his role on various federal arts committees, including the Commission of Fine Arts. There is also extensive correspondence with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt concerning federal and public art projects.
Writings include office diaries and notebooks containing notes, addresses, lists of Section of Fine Arts projects, and dated work entries. There are copies of numerous written speeches given by Bruce on the importance of art, public art projects, and political issues. Financial material consists of a small number of items documenting Bruce's financial activity such as tax and insurance records, bills, a cash book, and house leases. Printed material documents Edward Bruce's career as an artist and federal arts projects and programs. Found are news clippings and magazine articles, exhibition catalogs, brochures, bulletins from the Section of Fine Arts, published speeches, and miscellaneous publications. Four scrapbooks contain news clippings, letters, photographs, and other printed material highlighting Bruce's career.
Extensive photographs include photographs of Bruce's artwork, portraits of Bruce, the Bruces with family and with friends and at many special events, including an NBC radio broadcast and at an exhibition with Eleanor Roosevelt. There are also photographs taken by Bruce during his travels and while living in Anticoli Carrado, Italy.
Arrangement:
The Edward Bruce collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1904-1938 (Box 1, OV 11; 3 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1921-1957 (Boxes 1-6; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1931-1942 (Box 6; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Financial Material, circa 1909-1913, circa 1928-1943(Box 6, 0.3 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1919, circa 1926-1943, 1960 (Box 7, 0.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1922-1941 (Box 7-8; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1902-1943 (Box 7, 9-10; 1.0 linear foot)
Although the collection no longer matches the exact filmed order, large groups of materials have been maintained in film order, particularly the correspondence. Microfilm reel and frame number notations are provided at the folder level when known.
Biographical Note:
Edward Bruce was born in 1879 in Dover Plains, New York. Though he enjoyed painting at a young age, he pursued a career in law and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1904. He practiced law in New York and in Manila, Philippines and was actively involved in international issues. He became president of the Pacific Development Corporation of California, was a lobbyist for the Philippine Independence Bill, and, in 1933, attended the London Economic Conference as a silver expert.
In 1923 Bruce gave up his career in law and business and began to paint, particularly landscapes. He and his wife Peggy spent the next six years in Anticoli Carrado, Italy where he studied painting from his friend and fellow artist Maurice Sterne. Bruce returned to the United States in 1929 and settled in California, exhibiting his artwork to much public and critical praise. In addition, Bruce was an avid collector of Chinese art.
In 1933 Bruce was appointed Chief of the newly established Public Works of Art Project, a federal government New Deal program within the U.S. Treasury Department, that employed artists to decorate numerous public buildings and parks. Though this federal program lasted less than a year, Bruce worked with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., to establish the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture in 1934 - later renamed the Section of Fine Arts in 1938. Bruce was appointed Director of the department and played a primary role in securing federal government support for American artists. In 1940 he was appointed to the Commission of Fine Arts by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Bruce received many honors and awards during his lifetime both for his work as an artist and for his capable and dedicated administration of federal arts programs. Despite poor health, he continued his work for the Section of Fine Arts until shortly before his death in 1943.
Related Material:
Other resources in the Archives relating to Edward Bruce include an oral history interview with Margaret (Peggy) Bruce on October 11, 1963 conducted by Harlan Phillips. Miscellaneous Manuscript Collections include one file of material, 1933-1960, concerning Edward Bruce that was donated by the U.S. General Services Administration in 1986 and microfilmed on reel 3960.
Also available at the Archives are two collections of records loaned by the U.S. National Archives from their Public Buildings Administration records and the records of the Public Works of Art Project for microfilming by the Archives. Microfilm reels DC1-DC 13 and DC116-DC128 contain Edward Bruce's files and correspondence, respectively.
Separated Material:
A book Art in Federal Buildings by Forbes Watson and Edward Bruce was donated to AAA with Bruce's papers and microfilmed with the rest of collection on Microfilm Reel D91-D92, and then transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library.
Provenance:
The Edward Bruce papers were donated by Margaret (Peggy) Bruce, Edward Bruce's wife, in 1962. Additional printed material, financial records, and photographs of artwork were donated by Mrs. Bruce's niece, Maria Ealand in 1979.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. The collection is partially microfilmed. Use of material not microfilmed requires an appointment.
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.
Files consist of Henry-Russell Hitchcock's personal and professional correspondence, as well as subject files relating to academic research, teaching, curatorial interests, and professional associations. Subject files are comprised mainly of correspondence and printed material, with a small number of photographs that mostly relate to exhibitions and writings. After 1932, copies of Hitchcock's outgoing letters are almost always included, making the files from 1932-1987 almost complete.
The correspondence includes large numbers of letters from prominent architectural historians, architects, artists, preservationists, museum directors and curators. Also included is correspondence with students, friends, relatives, publishers, and representatives of organizations and institutions.
Among the correspondents of note are: Bernard Berenson, Eugene Berman, Leonid Berman, Lyonel Feininger, Brendan Gill, Robert Goldwater, George Howe, Lincoln Kirstein, J. J. P. Oud, Erwin Panofsky, Kingsley Porter, Paul J. Sachs, R. M. Schindler, Theodore Sizer, E. Baldwin Smith, Peter van der Meulen Smith, James Soby, Victor Spark, Harold Sterner, John Summerson, Virgil Thomson, Paul Vanderbilt, Theo Van Doesburg, Helmut von Erffa, and Gordon Washburn. Other important correspondents represented in a decade or more of correspondence include: Jere Abbott, Winslow Ames, Everett A. (Chick) Austin, Alfred H. Barr, Agnes Rindge Claflin, John Coddington, Walter Cook, John Coolidge, Henry (Harry) Sayles Francis, George Heard Hamilton, Ada Louise Huxtable, Philip C. Johnson, William Jordy, George N. Kates, Edgar Kauffmann, Jr., Richard Krautheimer, Phyllis W. Lehmann, Thomas J. McCormick, Agnes Mongan, Lewis Mumford, Nikolaus Pevsner, A. Kinglsey Porter, Willebald Sauerlander, Vincent Scully, Helen Searing, James Thrall Soby, Dorothy Stroud, John Summerson, Virgil Thomson, Emily Tremaine, Paul Vanderbilt, Rudolph Wittkower, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
See Appendix for a list of individuals, organizations, and subjects in Series 2
Arrangement note:
Files are arranged with a single alphabet for each year.
Appendix: Individuals, Organizations, and Subjects in Series 2:
Below is an index to individuals, institutions, organizations, and a small number of subject files, found in Series 2: Alphabetical Files. The index indicates the name and the alphabet year(s) in which each can be found.
Hitchcock did not follow strict alphabetical schema when organizing his files and filing eccentricities for the letters D, M, N, and V are explained below. The original arrangement has been left in place due to the difficulties and time involved in re-arranging the material within multiple alphabets.
Note on filing order for D's: Names beginning with the prefix "de" (e.g. De Cordova) are all filed before names beginning with the letters "de" e.g. Deerfield Academy.
Note on filing order for M's: Names beginning with the prefix "Mac" and "Mc" are all filed after names beginning with Ma. They are interfiled according to the first and subsequent letters following the prefix e.g. McIntyre, Mackay, McKean, MacLaren.
Note on filing order for N's: Proper names beginning with the word "new" (e.g. New American Library) are all filed before names incorporating the syllable "new" e.g. Newark Public Library.
Note on filing order for V's: Names beginning with the prefix "van" (e.g. Van Derpool) are all filed before names beginning with the syllable "van" e.g. Vancouver Hotel.
Ackerman, James S. (1948, 1952-1955, 1960, 1964, 1966)
Ackworth, Angus (1945)
Adams, Anthony (1960)
Adams, Florence B. (1948)
Adams, Frances S. (1965)
Adams, Frederick (1949)
Adams, Henry (1974)
Adams, Nicholas (1976-1978)
Adams, Philip R. (1952)
Addis, Reid M. (1974-1975)
Addison Gallery of American Art (1953-1954)
Addison, John (1982, 1984)
Adler, David (1928)
Agtmaal, J. G. van (1958)
African Studies, International Congress of (1978)
Ahda Artzt Gallery (1964)
Air Ministry (1946)
Aitken, Dott and Son (1946-1947)
Akron (1948)
Alabama Polytechnic Institute (1955)
Aladdin Office Services (1957)
Albany Institute of History and Art (1966, 1969)
Albers, Joseph (1946)
Albrecht, Otto (1927)
Albright Art Gallery (1947)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1962)
Aldrich, Frances T. (1948)
Alexander, Robert L. (1951, 1956-1958, 1960-1961, 1963-1965, 1967-1968, 1975-1977, 1986)
Alexander, Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Allen (1958)
Alexander, William (1968)
Alfa (1958)
Alfieri, Bruno (1959, 1964-1965, 1968-1969)
Alfonsin, Anthony (1983)
Alford, John (1946, 1955)
Alford, Roberta (1961)
Alinari (1958)
Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Eliot D. (1953)
Allen, F. P. (1961)
Allen, W.G. Russell (1945, 1947, 1952-1953, 1956)
Allen and Unvin, Ltd. (1978, 1980)
Allert de Lange, C. V. (1956)
Allison, George E. (1948)
Allstate Insurance (1948)
Altree, Guy (1975)
Altschul, Frank (1952)
Alumnae Association [Smith College] (1952) ( -- see also -- : Smith College Alumnae Association)
Ambassadeurs Club (1946)
America-Italy Society (1958)
American Academy in Rome (1950, 1958-1959, 1983)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1953-1954, 1957-1958, 1961-1963, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1981)
American Antiquarian Society (1935, 1939, 1947, 1952, 1955)
American Architectural Books (1937, 1945, 1961)
American Association for State and Local History (1963)
American Association of Architectural Bibliographers (1958-1959, 1961, 1963-1964, 1966, 1970)
American Association of Museums (1952, 1955, 1962)
American Association of Schools of Architecture (1982)
American Association of University Professors (1948, 1981-1982)
American Association of University Women (1948, 1958)
American Automobile Association (1962)
American Collector -- (1947)
American Committee on Renaissance Studies (1954)
American Council of Learned Societies (1950, 1961, 1963, 1980)
American Embassy, London (1962)
American Express (1952, 1955)
American Federation of Arts (1942, 1947-1948, 1952, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1974)
American Friends Service Committee (1951)
American Historical Association (1942)
American Historical Review -- (1943, 1952)
American Institute of Architects (1942, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1952-1955, 1957, 1959, 1961-1962, 1964, 1969-1970, 1972-1973, 1978, 1980)
American Institute of Planners (1945)
American Life Foundation (1972)
American Museum in Britain (1961)
American National Theatre and Academy (1952)
American Peoples Encyclopedia -- (1953)
American Philosophical Society (1943)
American Quarterly -- (1949, 1952-1953, 1955)
American Science and History Preservation Society (1981)
American Scholar -- (1948, 1982)
American Society of Architectural Historians (1945-1947)
American Society of Planners and Architects (1946)
American State Capitols Research Project, Victorian Society in America ( -- see -- : Victorian Society in America, American State Capitols Research Project)
Burnham Library, Art Institute of Chicago (1945, 1971) ( -- see also -- : Ryerson and Burnham Libraries; Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, Art Institute of)
Burns, Howard (1968)
Burns, John (1952, 1983)
Burroughs, T.H.B. (1967)
Burton, Christopher (1963)
Burton, Emily (1952)
Burton, Michael (1953, 1956)
Bush, Lucile (1965)
Bush, Martin H. (1963)
Bush-Brown, Albert (1952, 1956-1958, 1977)
Bush-Brown, Harold (1954, 1965)
Butler, Jeanne F. (1972)
Butler, L. D. (1967)
Butler, Ruth (1957)
Butterfield, Victor (1945, 1947)
Butterick, George F. (1978)
Cabral, Edward (1980)
Cadbury-Brown, John (1955)
Cadbury-Brown, H. T. (Jim) (1956, 1958)
Cahill, Fred V. (1957)
Cahn, Elizabeth (1977)
Calder, Sandy (1938, 1955-1956)
Caldwell, Ian (1975-1976)
Calendars (see: B.1955)
California (1965)
California Institute of Technology (1948-1949)
California Palace of the Legion of Honor (1950)
California, San Jose State University (1979)
California, University of (1951-1952, 1961, 1964, 1966-1967, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1980)
Callisen, Sterling A. (1941)
Callisen, Sterling A. and Sally (1945)
Cambridge [Mass.] Historical Society (1967)
Cambridge University (1962, 1964, 1966)
Campagnie Francaise d'Aeronautiques (1956)
Campanella, Gaspare (1970)
Campbell, Colin G. (1978)
Campbell, Malcolm (1975)
Canada, Atomic Energy Commission of (1973)
Canada Council (1971)
Canada, National Archives of (1956)
Canada, National Gallery of (1926, 1960)
Canada, Royal Architectural Institute of (1960)
Canfield, Abigail and Cass (1975)
Canner and Co. (1949)
Caples, Sara Elizabeth (1969-1970)
Car (European) (1965)
Car (1966)
Cardiff Public Library (1946)
Carey, Jane F. (1973)
Carey T. (1973)
Carlhian, Jean Paul (1952-1953, 1966, 1971, 1973)
Carling, E .B. (1947-1948)
Carlisle, Anna (1956)
Carlson, Ralph (1979)
Carnegie Book Shop (1952)
Carnegie Institute (1955, 1985)
Carnegie Institute of Technology (1947, 1954)
Carpenter, G. R. (1946)
Carpenters Company of Philadelphia (1973)
Carr, Gerald (1968)
Carre Gallerie (1947-1949)
Carrington, Robert (1953, 1970)
Carroll, Martha 1975
Carrott, Richard G. (1955-1956, 1959-1963, 1965, 1967-1969, 1971-1979, 1981-1986)
Carter, Amon E. (1960)
Carter Foundation (1961)
Carter, Lady Bonham (1956)
Carter, Edward C. (Bobby) (1926, 1944-1948, 1960)
Carter, Ernestine (1947, 1952, 1962-1963, 1968, 1978-1979, 1983) ( -- see also -- : Carter, John and Ernestine)
Carter, Gwendolyn (1952)
Carter, John 1941, (1946, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1959)
Carter, John and Ernestine (1936, 1945) ( -- see also -- : Carter, Ernestine)
Carter, Norman F. (1952, 1954, 1959)
Casabella-Continuita (1961, 1965)
Casanelles, Enric (1959)
Cascieri, Arcangelo (1954)
Case Western Reserve University (1972-1973)
Cassidy, Victor M. (1974)
Cassilly, Carolyn (1974)
Casson, Hugh (1948, 1955)
Cassy, Edmund J. (1964)
Cast Iron Architecture, Friends of (1970, 1973-1974)
Castano Galleries (1963)
Castro, Dicken (1955-1957, 1960-1961)
Catholic University of America (1963)
Catlin, Stanton L. (1952, 1956)
Catsoulis, Evangelos (1981, 1983)
Causey, Andrew (1983)
Cavanagh, Tom R. (1949)
Cement and Concrete Association (1954)
Center for Inter-American Relations (1969)
Central Corporate Library (1960)
Central Council for the Care of Churches (1955)
Central National Bank of Middletown (1946)
Central Office of Information (1955-1956)
Centrum (1963)
Century Association (1972-1973, 1975-1977, 1979-1980, 1982, 1984)
Chelmsford and District Chapter, Society of Architects (1962)
Cheltham, Charles (1962, 1964)
Chermayeff, Serge (1939, 1946-1948, 1950, 1954)
Chernow, Barbara (1982)
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. (1948)
Chevojon Freres (1956, 1958)
Chicago Architectural Landmarks, Commission on (1964)
Chicago Architectural Photographing Co. (1956, 1958, 1966)
Chicago, Art Institute of (1937, 1944, 1945, 1951, 1960, 1978) ( -- see also -- : Art Institute of Chicago; Burnham Library Ryerson; Burnham Libraries)
Chicago, Arts Club of (1951-1952)
Chicago Committee on Architectural Landmarks (1960)
Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks, Commission on (1969-1970, 1973, 1975)
Chicago School of Architecture Foundation (1967)
Chicago, University of (1947, 1953, 1957, 1961-1962, 1973, 1986) ( -- see also -- : University of Chicago)
Chickering, A. H. (1954)
Childs, Charles D. (1951-1952, 1955)
Childs, Maurice F. (1952, 1955)
Chittenden, A. J. (1947)
Christian Science Monitor -- (1948)
Christiansen, Erwin O. (1946)
Christmas Cards (1952, 1983, undated)
Church, Robert M. (1951-1952, 1954-1955)
Churchill, Agnes (1948)
Cincinnati (1969)
Cincinnati Art Museum (1955-1956, 1960-1961)
Cincinnati Astronomical Society (1935)
Cincinnati Modern Art Society (1948)
Cincinnati, University of (1966)
Cistercian Order (1958)
City Art Museum of St. Louis ( -- see -- : St. Louis, City Art Museum of)
City University of New York (1970, 1974-1976, 1978)
City [of Springfield, Mass.] Library Association (1954)
Ciucci, Giorgio (1970)
Claflin, Agnes Rindge (1948-1949, 1952, 1956, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1973, 1977-1978) ( -- see also -- : Rindge, Agnes)
Clapp, Verner W. (1953)
Clark Art Institute (1973, 1986)
Clark, G. R. (1946)
Clark, James (1973)
Clark, Orton Loring (1952)
Clark, Robert J. (1960, 1963-1971, 1974-1975, 1980)
Clark, Ronald W. (1956)
Clark, Susan (1975)
Clark, Willene B. (1976)
Clarke, M. L. (1962)
Clarke, Marian (1947-1948, 1950)
Clarke, Peter (1946)
Clausen, Meredith (1987)
Clayton, B. D. (1971-1972)
Clayton, Barry (1965)
Clerehan, Neil (1953)
Clews, Mrs. Henry (1955)
Clifton-Raymond Associates (1968)
Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1984)
Clinton [Conn.] Historical Society (1947)
Close, Elizabeth (1960)
Clough, R. T. (1959)
Club of Odd Volumes (1948-1950, 1952-1957, 1961-1965, 1968-1970)
Coddington, John (1945-1949, 1951, 1956-1957, 1959, 1961-1962, 1968-1970, 1977, undated)
Coe, Bill (1958)
Coe, R. E. (Ted) (1962)
Coe, Ralph T. (1953, 1955, 1974)
Coffin, David R. (1965, 1968, 1973)
Cogswell, Dorothy (1951, 1959, 1962)
Cohen, Alfred (1946)
Cohen, Joan L. (1954-1957, 1960, 1963-1965)
Cohn, David N. (1984)
Cohn, Suzanne (1968)
Colby College (1968)
Cole, Dorothy (1958)
Cole, Harry (1957)
Coletti, Joseph (1961)
Coletti, Paul (1957)
Colgate University (1976, 1978)
Colibris Editora Ltda. (1962, 1964-1965, 1967)
Colin, Mrs. Ralph F. ( 1955)
Collaborazione Culturale, Instituto per la (1962)
College Art Association (1940, 1946-1953, 1955-1959, 1961-1964, 1966, 1969-1971, 1973-1979)
Colliers Encyclopedia -- (1947-1949, 1958-1959)
Collins, Cecil (1956)
Collins, Colin (1955)
Collins, Elizabeth (1959)
Collins, George R. (1960-1961, 1964, 1968, 1975-1976, 1979, 1983)
Collins, Peter (1964-1965, 1967-1968)
Colonial Travel Bureau (1955)
Columbia Historical Society (1982)
Columbia University 1937, 1939-1941, 1945, 1947-1948, 1954-1956, 1958-1959, 1961, 1964-1969, 1971, 1973-1977, 1979-1983, 1985-1986 ( -- see also -- : Avery Library; Avery Study Center, Columbia University)
Columbia University, Temple Hoyle Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture (1984)
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (1948-1949)
Colvin, Howard M. (1959)
Colwell, Miriam (1976)
Combs, Tom (1975)
Comite Francais D'Historie de L'Art (1967)
Commercial Credit Corporation (1947)
Committee for the Centennial Exhibition of New England Architecture (1957)
Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records (1979)
Committee on Education and Labor, U. S. Congress (1954)
Committee on Government and Art (see: Government and Art, Committee on)
Community Arts Center (1945)
Community Chest (1958)
Comparative Studies in Society and History -- (1958)
Conant, Kenneth G. (1946-1947, 1952, 1973)
Concrete Quarterly -- (1955)
Condit, Carl W. (1963)
Condolence Letters [on death of mother] (1952)
Conference Board of Associated Research Councils (1948, 1951)
Congress on the History of Art, Twentieth International (1960-1961)
Conlon, Kathleen M. (1969)
Connaissance des Artes -- (1959)
Connecticut Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (1946-1947)
Connecticut College (1938-1942, 1944, 1947, 1953, 1956, 1963, undated)
Connecticut Commission on the Arts (1968)
Connecticut, Department of Agriculture (1937)
Connecticut State Department of Consumer Protection (1986)
Haskell, Douglas (1945, 1951-1952, 1954-1955, 1958)
Haskell, Henry C. (1946)
Haskell, Rosamund (1966)
Hasler, Charles (1962)
Hasselmann, Dorothy S. (1945)
Hatch, J. D. (1948-1949)
Hatchards Booksellers (1963-1964)
Hatje, Gerd (1959-1965, 1980)
Hattis, Phyllis (1966)
Hauf, Harold (1951)
Haupt, Otto (1963)
Hausen, Marika (1965-1966)
Haverkamp-Bergman, Egbert (1971, 1973)
Havinden, Ashley (1948, 1952, 1961)
Havinden, Margaret 1946, 1953
Havinden, Margaret and Ashley (1950)
Hawksmoor Committee (1962)
Hawthorne Books (1979)
Haydon, Harold (1961)
Hayes, Bartlett (1954)
Hayes, Marian (1954-1955, 1959, 1962, 1968, 1970)
Heath and Co. (1961)
Heaton, E. W. (1959)
Hecht, Jean (1956)
Hecht, Lynn S. (1962-1964, 1966)
Heckel, Louise (1960)
Hecksher, Morrison (1970, 1973-1974)
Hedge, Alice Payne (1948, 1953-1954, 1956, undated)
Hedge, E. Russell (1959-1963)
Hedge, Henry R. (1954, 1956-1958)
Hedge, Mrs. Henry R. (1953)
Hedge, Mrs. William R. (1947, 1953)
Hedrich, E. T. (1956)
Hedrich, J. O. (1969)
Heil, Bernard (1958)
Heilkamp, Detlef (1971)
Heimsath, Clovis B. (1952)
Heine, Georgette (1970)
Heintzelman, Arthur W. (1956)
Heinz, Thomas A. (1978-1981)
Heinzel, Brigitte (1967, 1969)
Heiser, Bruce E. (1953-1954)
Heisner, Beverly F. (1967)
Held, Mr. and Mrs. Julius (1965)
Heleniak, Kathryn Moore (1975)
Helm, Francis and Mary (1948)
Hemmenway, Mary (1948-1950, 1954)
Henderson, Pat Milne (1957, 1964) ( -- see also -- : Milne-Henderson, Pat)
Henderson, M. (1958)
Hendricks, Gordon (1967)
Henley, Helen B. (1941)
Hennessey, William J. (1975-1977)
Hennings, John (1955)
Henry (1973)
Henry, Anne Wythe (1972, 1975)
Henry, Barklie [Buzz] (1959)
Hentrich, Helmut (1957, 1959-1960, 1963-1976, 1978-1981, 1985)
Hentschel, Walter (1969)
Herald Tribune -- (1945)
Herbert, Gilbert (1970)
Herget, John T. (1960)
Hergert, Elizabeth (1963)
Heron, Patrick (1952-1954, 1956, 1979)
Herrmann, George (1960)
Herschman, Judith (1979)
Hersey, George L. (1959-1963, 1967-1968, 1971-1972, 1975
Hershberger, Howard (1960, 1961, 1963)
Herve, Lucien (1956-1957)
Herzog, Marion Rawles (1967, 1970)
Hesketh, Peter Fleetwood (1969)
Hesse (1956)
Hessler, Herman (1971)
Heyl, Bernard (1959-1963)
Hibbard, Don J. (1976)
Hibbard, Howard (1962, 1968)
Highest, Gilbert (1954)
Hill, Draper (1960)
Hill, Frederick and May (1968)
Hill, Oliver (1946, 1949, 1955)
Hiner, Walter (1946)
Hines, Thomas S. (1967, 1972, 1981)
Hirschl and Adler Galleries (1968)
Historic American Buildings Survey (1973)
Historical Society of Pennsylvania ( -- see -- : Pennsylvania, Historical Society of) -- History News -- (1963)
Hitchcock, Alice Davis [mother, Mrs. Henry Russell] (1925, 1940, 1942-1943, 1946-1950)
Hitchcock, Mr. and Mrs. Carl (1955)
Hitchcock, Charles D. (1940, 1971)
Hitchcock, Harriet (1963)
Hitchcock, Dr. and Mrs. Henry Russell [parents] (1928-1929, undated)
Hitchcock, June (1979-1980)
Hitchcock, Mrs. Peter S. (1964)
Hoag, John D. (1952, 1955-1956, 1959, 1961-1965, 1967-1968, 1970-1971, 1976)
Hochman, Elaine S. (1973, 1976)
Hodge, Alan (1957)
Hodge, Philip G. (1951)
Hodgkinson, Ianthe (1966)
Hofer, Philip (1945-1947, 1949, 1951-1952, 1959, 1961, 1968)
Hoffman, Donald L. (1964, 1969-1970, 1978)
Hoffmann, Werner (1956)
Hofstra College (1952)
Hogan, Austin (1940)
Hojer, Gerhard (1967, 1970, 1973)
Holcomb, Donald M. 1956
Holderbaum, James (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968)
Holdet, L. A. (1946)
Holdin, Harrison (1976)
Holiday Inn (1972)
Holland (1964, 1967)
Holland-America Line (1958, 1971)
Holman, William G. (1981)
Holmegaards Glasvaerk (1960)
Holmes, J. P. (1953)
Holser, Clifford B. (1952)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1972)
Holzbog, Tom (1967)
Homolka, Larry J. (1965-1967)
Hooker, Arthur (1952)
Honour, Hugh (1966)
Hood, Graham (1971)
Hooker, John (1953)
Hooper, S. C. (1954)
Hoover, Donald (1952)
Hoover, Kathleen O'Donnell (1948-1949, 1951)
Hope, Henry R. (1943, 1945-1950, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1962)
Hopping, D.M.C. (1955-1956)
Hordczak, Theodore (1956)
Horn, Estelle (1950)
Horn, Milton (1946, 1949, 1951-1952)
Horn, Walter (1958)
Horne, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard S. (1955)
Hornsey, Borough of (1946)
Horsburgh, Patrick (1952-1955)
Horta Committee (1960)
Hosken, Franziska Porges (1963)
Hotel Grande Bretagne (1961)
Hotel Inghilterra (1961)
Housend, Brian (1956)
House Beautiful -- (1928)
Housing (1945)
Houston (1959, 1967)
Houston, University of (1953-1954)
Howard, Charles (1956)
Howard, Tom (1945)
Howard University (1961-1962)
Howarth, Thomas (1953-1957, 1959-1960, 1962-1963, 1966)
Howe, George (1945, 1949, 1951, 1953)
Howe, Hester (1954, 1956)
Howe, Lawrence (1955)
Howe, Mrs. Lawrence (1945)
Howe, Stewart S. (1954)
Howe, Thomas C. (1953, 1954)
Howlett, D. Roger (1965)
Howland, Richard H. (1952-1954, 1959, 1961)
Hoyle, Henry D. (1969)
Hoyt, Deming (1960)
Hoyt, Natalie (1947, 1949-1951, 1956, 1959, 1963)
Hoyt, Nelly (1968)
Hubbard, L. Kent (1937)
Hubbard, R. J. (1959)
Hubbard, Ray (1978)
Hubbard, Russell (1949)
Huber, Erna (1963-1964, 1966, 1970-1971)
Huber, Erna and Charlie (1983)
Hudnut, Claire (1948)
Hudnut, Helen (1947-1948)
Hudnut, Joseph (1945, 1951)
Hudson River Conservancy Society, Inc. (1945)
Huemer, Frances (1955)
Huff, William S. (1958, 1965)
Hughenden Manor (1950)
Hughes, Richard (1953-1954)
Hughes, Talmadge C. (1945)
[Hugnet?], Georges (undated)
Hulst, Roger d' (1973)
Hulton Press (1957)
Hundertmark, Dieter (1960)
Hunn, Robert (1970)
Hunter, Anna C. (1955)
Hunter, Bob (1954)
Huntington, C. (1955)
Huntington, Constant (1952)
Huntington, David C. (1961, 1963-1965, 1967-1968, 1971)
Huntington, J. D. (1951)
Huntington, James L. (1954-1955, 1957-1959, 1963-1965)
Huntington, John (1955)
Huntington, Trudy (1952)
Huse, Norbert (1975)
Hussey, Alfred R. (1949)
Hussey, Mary (1954, 1962)
Huxley Brothers (1951, 1954)
Huxtable, Ada Louise (1947, 1950, 1957-1958, 1961-1962, 1969, 1971, 1982-1983)
Hyams, N. (1948)
Hyde Hall, Inc., Friends of (1965)
Hyman, Isabelle (1977)
Iber, Howard John (1972, 1974)
Illinois Institute of Technology (1950, 1954)
Illinois, University of (1947, 1949, 1965, 1979)
Ilmanen, William (1954, 1956)
Imperial Institute (1956)
Inaya, Beata (1956)
In the Nature of Materials -- (1968-1969) ( -- see also -- : Wright, Frank Lloyd)
Income Tax (1956-1957, 1972)
India International Center (1964-1965)
Indiana University (1948, 1953, 1966)
Indiana, University of (1945, 1961)
Indianapolis, Art Association of (1948)
Information Agency, U.S. (1955)
Information Service, U.S. (1961)
Inghilterra Hotel (1960)
Inglis, F. C. (1954)
Ingraham, David (1941)
Ingraham, Henry A. (1945, 1947)
Innendekoration (1963)
Inspector of Foreign Dividends (1956)
Inscoe, Eva Jane (1983)
Institute for Advanced Studies (1963)
Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (1975)
Institute of Contemporary Art (1948-1949, 1953-1954, 1956, 1961, 1963-1964, 1976)
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (1949, 1956-1957, 1960, 1967) ( -- see also -- : New York University)
Institute of International Education (1955)
Institute of Landscape Architects (1952)
Instituto di Storia dell'Arte (1961)
Instituto Italiano di Cultura (1958)
Instituto per la Collaborazione Culturale (1965) ( -- see also -- : Collaborazione Culturale, Instituto per la)
Insurance (1970)
Insurance Company of America (1963)
Intercultural Publications, Inc. (1953)
International Architecture Students Conference (1949)
International Congress of African Studies (see: African Studies, International Congress of)
International Encyclopedia of Architecture, Engineering, and Urban Planning -- (1976-1977)
International Design Conference (1955)
International Information Administration (1952)
International Publications, Inc. (1954)
International Union of Architects, Sixth Congress (1960)
International University of Art (1970)
Ireland, Royal Institute of Architects of (1962)
Irving, Robert Grant (1968)
Irvy, Benjamin (1981)
Isham, Gyles (1954)
Isis -- (1961, 1964)
Isley, Natelle (1956)
Italian Institute (1956)
Ivins, William M. (1936)
Jack, William A. Park (1936)
Jackson, Esther (1953)
Jacobi, Frank (1952)
Jacobs Antiques (1948-1949)
Jacobs, Robert A. (1965)
Jacobs, Stephen (1966)
Jacobus, John [Jake] (1957-1962, 1964-1966, 1969-1971, 1980-1981)
Jacobus, John [Jake] and Marion (1963)
Jaffe, Michael (1952-1956, 1958-1964, 1966, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1986)
Jaffe, Ronald (1952)
James, Evan (1946)
James, George (1952)
James, Philip (1952, 1958)
Jamieson, K. I. (1953)
Janis Gallery (1949)
Janis, Sidney (1950)
Jansen, Dick (1953-1954, 1961-1962)
Jansen, Dick and Ellen (1955)
Janson, H. W. (1959-1962, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1983)
Janson, Peter (1978, 1982)
Jarrett, James (1958-1959, 1981)
Jeannert, Marie-Louise (1982)
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (1947)
Jemma, Manuela (1965)
Jenkins, Frank I. (1955-1956, 1958, 1960-1961, 1964-1967)
Jennings, Nancy Gillespie (1970)
Jerome Hotel (1955)
Jerome, T. T. (1947)
Jersey City, N. J. (1981)
Jewell, Jim (1953, 1956)
Joedicke, Jurgen (1963)
Johanneson, Eric (1969)
John, Dorothy (1954)
Johns Hopkins University (1952, 1965, 1967-1971, 1973-1975)
Johnson Art Collection (1926-1927)
Johnson, Buffie (1948)
Johnson, Donald Leslie (1977)
Johnson Gallery, Museum of Modern Art (1984)
Johnson, J. R. (1969)
Johnson, J. Stewart (1968, 1976)
Johnson, James R. (1946-1951, 1953-1954, 1958-1959, 1966, 1978, 1983)
Johnson, Laura (1945)
Johnson, Margaret (1952)
Johnson, Peter 1977, 1979
Johnson, Philip C. (1934, 1945-1967, 1969, 1973, 1975, 1978-1979, 1981-1983, undated) ( -- see also -- : -- Nineteenth Century American Architects -- [with Philip Johnson])
Neutra, Richard (1928, 1940-1941, 1954, 1969, undated)
Neville, Elizabeth (1964)
Neville, Richard G. (1958)
Neville, Harriett Elizabeth (1966)
New American Library (1952)
New Amsterdam Casualty Co. (1948)
New England Antiquities, Society for the Preservation of (1972-1973) ( -- see also -- : Preservation of New England Antiquities, Society for the; Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities)
New England Architecture, Committee for the Centennial Exhibition of (1957)
New England Quarterly -- (1955)
New Gallery (1963)
New Haven Festival of Arts (1959)
New Haven Preservation Trust (1964, 1966-1969)
New Jersey Historical Society (1962)
New Jersey Society of Architects (1957)
New Liberty (1952)
New London (1976)
New Mexico, University of (1957)
New Watson Hotel (1955)
New York Central Railway (1956)
New York City (1972)
New York City, Art Commission of (1983)
New York City Planning Commission (1972)
New York Graphic Society (1970
New York Herald Tribune -- (1947)
New-York Historical Society (1950-1951, 1961-1962, 1969)
New York State Association of Architects (1949)
New York State, Temporary Commission on the Restoration of the Capitol (1980-1981)
New York, State University of (1952)
New York Times -- (1947-1948, 1957, 1960-1961)
New York University (1945-1949, 1951-1954, 1958, 1960-1961, 1968-1986) ( -- see also -- : Gray Art Gallery; Institute of Fine Arts) New York University Seminar (1977, 1980)
Porter-Phelps-Huntington House, Inc. (1953, 1955-1957)
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation (1962-1964, 1967)
Portnoy, Martin (1986)
Portsmouth Priory (1949)
Posener, Julius (1964-1966, 1968-1969)
Postmaster, Western District, London (1956)
Potter, Brooks ( 1956)
Potter, Inc. (1969)
Powell, Herbert ( 1963)
Powell, Philip (1952)
Powell, Philip and Moya (1954)
Praeger, Inc. (1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973)
Prairie School Press (1963, 1966, 1968, 1970)
Prakapas, Eugene J. (1974, 1985)
Prats, Joan (1956)
Pratt and Whitney Aircraft (1945)
Praz, Mario (1955-1956)
Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1962)
Pre-Raphaelite Decorative Arts Exhibition (1971)
Preservation League of New York (1981)
Preservation of New England Antiquities, Society for the (1956, 1963, 1966) ( -- see also -- : New England Antiquities, Society for the Preservation of; Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities)
Preservation Society of Newport Co. [Rhode Island] (1948, 1955) ( -- see also -- : Newport Co. [Rhode Island], Preservation Society of)
Prestel Verlag (1975)
Preston, James (1963)
Preusser, Robert (1957)
Prey, Pierre du (1968-1969)
Preziosi, Donald (1981)
Price, Eric J. (1946)
Price, Paton (1949)
Priest, Allen (undated)
Primex Trading Co. (1950)
Prince, Charlotte (1969)
Princeton University (1945-1947, 1951-1952, 1955, 1957-1958, 1963, 1972, 1974-1978, 1985)
Prior, Harris K. (1947-1949, 1951, 1954-1956, 1962)
Reinhardt, Phyllis A. (1953-1955, 1960-1961, 1967-1968)
Reinhold Books (1957, 1959)
Reinhold Publishing Co. (1954)
Reinink, A. W. (1964, 1966-1967, 1969-1972)
Renaissance Conference (1945)
Renaissance Quarterly -- (1970)
Renaissance Society of America (1954, 1956-1958, 1961)
Renascence (1955)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1947, 1986)
Research Publications (1970-1971)
Residenz Verlag (1968)
Revista de Occidente Argentinia -- (1949)
Rewald, John (1977)
Rewald, S. (1976)
Rheinisches Museum (1958)
Rheinland Landschaftsverband (1956)
Rhode Island (1968)
Rhode Island Architecture -- (1939, 1968)
Rhode Island School of Design (1949-1950, 1952, 1956, 1982-1983)
Rhoads, William B. (1969)
Ribner, Jonathan (1979)
Rice, Davis and and Daley (1946-1949)
Rice Institute (1958)
Rice, Norman (1966)
Rich, Daniel Catton (1981)
Rich, Frances (1966)
Richards, Brian (1955)
Richards, Charles R. (1928)
Richards, Jim (1950, 1956)
Richards, Jim and Kit (1955)
Richards, John M. (1946, 1947, 1952, 1954, 1965)
Richardson (1956)
Richardson, A. E. (1945, 1954)
Richardson, Douglas (1971-1972, 1974-1976)
Richardson, Douglas Scott (1966)
Richardson, E. P. (Ted) (1953, 1955)
Richardson, H. H. (1974, 1978, 1982)
Richardson, Joseph P. (1973)
Richmond (1947, 1965)
Ricketson, John H. (1963)
Rickey, George W. (1961)
Rider, Fremont (1950)
Rietveld (1963)
Rijksmuseum (1956)
Rindge, Agnes (1930, 1945, 1947) ( -- see also -- : Claflin, Agnes Rindge)
Ringling Museum of Art (1948-1949, 1952)
Riopelle, Chris (1979-1982, 1984)
Ripley, Dillon (1958)
Ritter, John C. (1962)
Riverside, University of California at (1966)
Robb, David M. (1945, 1953, 1959)
Roberts, Abby B. (1941)
Roberts, Laurance (1959)
Robertson, Jacques (1955)
Robertson, Nancy (1959)
Robie House, Committee for the Preservation of the (1962-1965, 1967)
Robinson and Cleaver (1960-1961)
Robinson, Cervin (1962)
Robinson, Franklin W. (1981)
Roche, Kevin (1966, 1974-1975)
Rochester (1967)
Rochester Memorial Art Gallery (1949)
Rochester, Print Club of (1949-1950)
Rochester, University of (1970)
Rockefeller, Mr. and Mrs. David (1967)
Rockefeller, Mr. and Mrs. John D., 3rd (1955)
Rockefeller, Winston (1957)
Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany -- (1967-1968)
Rodman, Selden (1949)
Roe, Albert S. (1961)
Rollins, Clara B. (1950)
Romaine, Lawrence B. (1941, 1946-1953, 1955, 1958, 1961)
Rome (1959)
Roop, Ellen (1967)
Roos, Frank J. (1938, 1947)
Roosevelt University (1957-1958)
Rorimer, James J. (1955)
Roscoe, Field (1952)
Rose, Francis (1947, 1949-1954, 1956, 1964, undated)
Rose, Frederica (1955)
Rose, Laura (1976)
Rosebery, Earl of (1952)
Rosenberg, Arthur M. (1951)
Rosenberg, Eugene (1956)
Rosenberg, George (1976)
Rosenberg, Jim (1954)
Rosenblum, Robert H. (1952-1953, 1956-1969, 1972, 1982)
Rosenthal, Julius (1948)
Rosenwald, Lessing J. (1948)
Rosett, Francis (1957-1958)
Rosever, Kenneth M. (1952)
Ross, Marian Dean (1941, 1947, 1952-1954, 1956, 1960-1962, undated)
Ross, Marvin C. (1957, 1962)
Ross, Robert W. (1925, undated)
Roth, Leland (1970, 1973-1974, 1976, 1978, 1982)
Rothenberg, Jacob (1952)
Rowaan, H. (1963)
Rowe, Barbara C. (1958)
Rowe, Brian and Colin (1952)
Rowe, Colin (1953-1956, 1960-1961, 1964, 1977)
Rowland, Browse and Delbanco (1952)
Rox, Henry (1953, 1945)
Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1955)
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada ( -- see -- : Canada, Royal Architectural Institute of)
Royal Automobile Club (1956)
Royal College of Art (1953)
Royal Institute of British Architects (1936, 1946-1957, 1959, 1962, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1981,1986)
Royal Society of Arts (1950, 1953, 1955-1956, 1959-1962, 1964, 1966-1967, 1969-1970, 1972, 1975-1976, 1978-1980, 1983, 1985-1986)
Royal Vangorcum Ltd. 1965
Rub, Timothy (1978-1982, 1986-1987)
Rubin, Don (1970)
Rubin, Joan Carpenter (1980)
Rudd, J. William (1961, 1963, 1966)
Rudisill, Richard (1964)
Rudolph, Paul (1950, 1952-1954, 1963-1964, undated)
Rueger, Charles (1954)
Rufford Travel (1954-1955)
Ruggie Agency (1949-1950, 1952-1955, 1961)
Rusch, Basil (1955)
Rusk, W. S. (1935)
Ruskin Society of America (1951, 1953)
Russell, A. LeBaron (1947)
Russell, Beverly (1975)
Russell, Christopher A. (1953)
Russell, Gordon (1956)
Russell, Mr. and Mrs. William G. (1954)
Russian Review -- (1955)
Rutgers University (1955, 1972-1973, 1982, 1985)
Rutledge, Anna Wells (1951, 1955, 1957, 1962, 1966)
Ryan Studios (1958)
Ryder, Arthur (1949)
Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago (1949) ( -- see also -- : Burnham Library; Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, Art Institute of)
Saarinen, Aline B. (1962)
Saarinen, Eero (1957, 1963-1964)
Sabin Coal Co. (1954-1955)
Sachs, Paul J. (1925-1926, 1928, 1951-1952, 1955)
Saint, Andrew (1982, 1986)
St. George's Gallery Books (1959, 1964-1965, 1968, 1970, 1977-1978)
St. James Press (1978)
St. John's University (1961)
St. Louis, City Art Museum of (1961, 1966)
Salmon and Son (1954)
Salto Liberia (1962)
Saltonstall, Gladys (1928)
Saltonstall, Leverett (1953)
Salzberg Seminar in American Studies (1959)
Salzburg (1953)
Samoset Garage (1946)
Samson, Miles D. (1984)
Samuel, Godfrey (1948, 1952, 1956, 1959)
San Antonio Fine Arts Forum (1958)
Sanborn, Herbert J. (1960)
San Jose State University ( -- see -- : California, San Jose State University)
Smith, Alexander Mackay (1949) ( -- see also -- : Mackay-Smith, Alexander)
Smith and Sons (1953)
Smith, Anna L. (undated)
Smith, Betty (1928-1929)
Smith College (1946-1964, 1966-1973, 1975-1976, 1978, 1981-1982) ( -- see also -- : Department; Kennedy Fund)
Smith College Alumnae Association (1954) ( -- see also -- : Alumnae Association)
Smith, E. Baldwin (1946-1947, 1953)
Smtih, Edith (1928-1929)
Smith, Fred S. (1928)
Smith, Mrs. Frederick (1945)
Smith, G. E. Kidder (1957, 1961, 1963, 1965)
Smith, George Walter Vincent Museum (1961)
Smith, Gertrude D. (1972)
Smith, Hinchman and Grulls Associates, Inc. (1976)
Smith, Kathryn (1976-1980, 1983, 1986)
Smith, Linn (1947)
Smith, Meg (1972, 1974)
Smith, Patricia Anne (1950)
Smith, Peter van der Meulen (1927-1928)
Smith, Robert C. (1950-1952, 1956)
Smith, Sidney (1947)
Smith, Vincent (1971)
Smith, William and Son (1949)
Smithson, Peter (1966)
Smithsonian Associates (1975)
Smithsonian Institution (1967, 1976, 1979)
Smyser, H. M. (1965)
Smyth, Craig Hugh (1951-1952, 1956, 1983)
Snow, Florence (1955)
Snow, Wilbert (1945)
Snowden, Ernest (1927-1928)
Snyder, John (1974)
Soby, James Thrall (1945-1950, 1954-1955, 1957-1958, 1960-1961, 1968, 1977, 1979)
Soby, Nellie (1951-1953)
Societe Editions de France (1958)
Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities ( -- see -- : Long Island Antiquities, Society for the Preservation of)
Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (1948, 1972, 1975) ( -- see also -- : New England Antiquities, Society for the Preservation of; Preservation of New England Antiquities, Society for the)
Society of Architectural Historians (1949-1985, 1987)
Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (1958-1980, 1983-1986)
Society of Mayflower Descendants ( -- see -- : Mayflower Descendants, Society of)
Solomon, Arthur and Marny (1975)
Solomon, Pringle (1948)
Somerset Co. [N.J.] Park Commission (1970)
Somerwil, J. (1962)
Sommer, Clifford C. (1958)
Sommer, Frank (1970)
Sonne, Fi (1955-1956)
Sonnenberg, Benjamin (1972)
Sorem, Lucia (1961)
Soria, Martin (1958)
Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. (1971, 1982)
Southern California, University of (1966, 1968)
Southern Regional Education Board (1966)
Spaeth, John W. (1945-1946)
Spark, Victor (1948, 1971)
Spear, Dorothea (1955)
Speed Art Museum ( -- see -- : Louisville, J. B. Speed Art Museum)
Speed, Herbert (1946)
Speirs, Bruce (1982)
Spence, Basil (1963-1964)
Spence, Eleanor (1954)
Spencer, Brian (1973-1974)
Spencer, Stephen (1956)
Spencer, Walter L. (1975-1976, 1978)
Sperling, Harry G. (1955)
Speyer, Darthea (1952)
Spokes, P. S. (1955)
Sprague, Joan Forrester (1960)
Sprague, Paul (1973, 1980, 1983)
Springarn, J. E. (1938)
Springfield [Mass.] (1980-1981)
Springfield [Mass.] City Planning Department (1971)
Springfield [Mass.] Museum of Fine Arts (1949, 1954)
Springfield [Mass.] Republican (1944-1945)
Springfield [Miss.] Art Museum (1949)
Staatsarchiv (1966)
Stabile, Elizabeth (1963)
Stadt Koln (1957)
Stahl, Frederick A. (Tod) (1969-1970)
Staib, Hermann (1966, 1968-1969, 1974)
Staley, Karl A. (1953)
Stamm, Gunther (1979)
Stamp, Gavin (1978, 1985)
Stanford University (1985)
Stanton, Phoebe B. (1952-1954, 1958, 1965, 1968, 1970)
Staples Press (1950)
Starr, Mrs. Nathan C. (1952)
State Department, U. S. (1955, 1956, 1958) ( -- see also -- : Department of State; United States Department of State)
State Department, U.S. Information Agency (1957)
State Historical Society of Wisconsin ( -- see -- : Wisconsin, State Historical Society of)
Stebbins, Theodore E. (1965-1969, 1972-1973, 1977-1978)
Wright, Frank Lloyd, Home and Studio Foundation (1977, 1984)
Wright, Frank Lloyd, and -- In the Nature of Materials -- (1941)
Wright, John Lloyd (1968)
Wriston, Barbara (1952-1953, 1956, 1960, 1962, 1967)
Wurm, Heinrich (1966)
Wurster, William W. (1943-1944, 1946,-1948, 1950, 1951-1957, 1959, 1961)
Wurster, William W. and Catherine 1945
Wyoming, University of (1975)
Xenakis, Jason (1958)
Yale Review -- (1966-1968, 1970)
Yale University (1947-1960, 1962-1963, 1965-1979, 1982, 1986)
Yardley, Michael (1975-1978)
Yeon, John (1954)
York City Art Gallery (1958)
York Institute of Architectural Study (1957-1959, 1961)
York, University of (1962, 1970)
Yorke, R.F.S. (1952)
Youell, William (1948)
Young, E. A. (1947)
Young, Elaine (1962)
Young, Elizabeth (1961)
Young, Paul E. (1949)
Young, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred B. (1954-1955)
Youritzin, Glenda Green (1974)
Zacchwatowicz, Jim (1963)
Zador, Anna (1970, 1972)
Zarnecki, George (1953)
Zaroff, Anne T. (1975)
Zawisa, Bernard J. (1952-1953, 1956)
Zenith Corp. (1969-1970)
Zenobi Sarto (1963)
Zerkowitz, A. (1957)
Zevi, Bruno (1952)
Zewicher, Mrs. Victor K. (1950)
Zimmerman Brothers (1963-1966, 1969)
Zimmerman, Mrs. Isadore (1952)
Zodiac Revue -- (1959-1969)
Zorn, Kate (1979)
Zubarec, Michael (1956-1957)
Zwemmer, A. (1946-1948, 1955, 1959)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
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:
Henry-Russell Hitchcock papers, 1919-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
The records of Jacques Seligmann & Co. measure approximately 203.1 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1978, with bulk dates from 1913 to 1974. The collection includes extensive correspondence files, reference material on American and European collectors and their collections, inventory and stock records, financial records, exhibition files, auction files, and the records of subsidiary companies. The collection is an invaluable resource in tracing the provenance of particular works of art and provides a comprehensive view of the activities of collectors and art dealers in the years leading up to and following World War II.
Scope and Contents note:
The Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., records measure approximately 203.1 linear feet and date from between 1904 and 1978, with bulk dates of 1913-1974. The records include extensive correspondence files, reference material on American and European collectors and their collections, inventory and stock records, financial records, exhibition files, auction files, and the records of subsidiary companies, including de Hauke & Co., Inc., and Modern Paintings, Inc.
Historians and researchers will find the collection an invaluable resource in tracing the provenance of particular works of art. Although in the early 1940s many records in the Paris office were destroyed by Seligmann staff to keep them from falling into the hands of the occupying German military forces, many records survive, as much of the firm's business had previously come to center in the New York office. In all, the remaining records provide a comprehensive view of the activities and transactions of collectors and art dealers in the years leading up to and following World War II.
Correspondence (Series 1) is the largest series of the collection (80 linear feet) and is comprised of extensive correspondence files, primarily between Germain Seligman and his New York office staff with domestic and foreign private clients, collectors, dealers, individuals representing public museums and collections, and international scholars. The New York Office Correspondence (Series 1.1) concerns a wide variety of topics, including routine business matters, but focuses primarily on potential and realized sales and purchases and provenance documentation. Also found is detailed information on financial transactions, commissions, stock inventory, and the travel of Germain Seligman and other staff. Paris Office Correspondence (Series 1.2) is separated into a small subseries and contains correspondence written primarily by Jacques Seligmann from Paris. The subseries General Correspondence (Series 1.3) is the largest subsection of the Correspondence series and contains letters written to and received from clients and other business associates concerning business transactions and inquiries. The subseries Museum Correspondence (Series 1.4) contains letters between the firm and art institutions and museums. The subseries Germain Seligman's Correspondence (Series 1.5), contains not only personal letters but a wealth of information concerning the affairs of the firm. Much personal correspondence was marked "private."
Also of note in the Correspondence series are the Legal Correspondence Files (Series 1.6) and the Inter-Office Correspondence (Series 1.9) and Inter-Office Memoranda (Series 1.13). The Legal Correspondence Files subseries houses correspondence with both U.S. and Paris attorneys and concerns legal affairs and specific lawsuits. Of particular interest are Germain Seligman's attempts to recover Seligmann family and Paris gallery artwork and other assets stolen or confiscated by the Germans in World War II. This small subseries also contains limited information on the stock and inventory holdings of several of the firm's and Germain Seligman's subsidiary corporations, family legal affairs and lawsuits, and other related legal matters. The subseries Inter-Office Correspondence and Inter-Office Memoranda (called fiches by Seligmann staff) include memos between Germain Seligman and his staff about clients, collectors, sales, acquisitions, and other matters. These offer interesting commentary clearly intended to be read by staff only.
Also prominent is Collectors Files (Series 2), which contains numerous reference files documenting the collections of existing and potential clients with whom Seligmann & Co. maintained contacts. The files are arranged by either individual name or institution and reflect the wide scope of collector references maintained by the firm throughout its operating years. The files contain a variety of reference materials, such as photographs, provenance notes, and sales, purchase, and inventory information in cases where the collector purchased from the firm or the firm purchased from the collector. Researchers will find that many of the private and public names that appear in General Correspondence (Series 1.3) appear in the Collectors Files as well. Also found in this series are specific files relating to the Duc d'Arenberg Collection, the Clarence H. Mackay Collection, the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection, and the Prince of Liechtenstein Collection. The firm either handled substantial estate sales for these collections or purchased and sold important pieces from these collections.
Auction Files (Series 3) and Exhibition files (Series 4) trace the sales and exhibition activities undertaken by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. In the Auction files, researchers will find documentation of auctions of individual works of art owned by the firm and handled by Christie's, Parke-Bernet, and other auction houses. Of particular interest is the 1948-1949 Parke-Bernet auction of the C. S. Wadsworth Trust, a "dummy" trust set up by the firm to dispose of a portion of its unsold inventory. The Exhibition Files house a variety of documentation, such as catalogs and correspondence, concerning the firm's active exhibition history. Many of the exhibitions featured works of art recently acquired by the firm, such as the 1937 exhibition, Twenty Years in the Evolution of Picasso, which included a number of Picassos the firm acquired from Madame Jacques Doucet that year.
Reference Files (Series 5) includes a card catalog to books and catalogs in the library maintained by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., and a photograph reference index of works of art. Inventory and Stock Files (Series 6) tracks the firm's inventory through a series of stock books and supporting documentation that include sales and provenance information.
Financial Files and Shipping Records (Series 7) consists primarily of records of the New York office, but some Paris office documents can be found scattered throughout. Found in this series is a wide variety of financial records including purchase receipt files, credit notes, invoices, consignment invoices and books, invoices, consular invoices, sales and purchase account books, ledgers, and tax records. The records appear to be quite complete and date from 1910 to 1977. Of particular interest are the purchase receipts and credit notes and memoranda that contain detailed documentation on acquisitions and sales. The consignment invoices provide information about works of art sold on behalf of other galleries and dealers, as well as which galleries and dealers were handling works of art for Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. Although quite large and complex, the financial records offer a comprehensive overview of the firm's business and financial transactions.
The records of subsidiary companies that were part of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., such as Contemporary American Department, de Hauke & Co., Inc., Modern Paintings, Inc., and Gersel Corp. are arranged in their own series. In 1935, the firm established the Contemporary American Department to represent young American artists. Under the direction of Theresa D. Parker, a longtime gallery employee, the department initiated an exhibition and loan program. Contemporary American Department (Series 8) includes mostly correspondence files and exhibition files.
The largest subsidiary company to operate under Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., was de Hauke & Co., Inc. De Hauke & Co., Inc., Records (Series 9) dates from 1925 through 1949 and contains domestic and foreign correspondence with clients, collectors, and dealers; inter-office correspondence and memoranda with Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc.; administrative and legal files; and financial records. Modern Paintings, Inc., records (Series 10) contains the legal and financial files of this subsidiary company, which was established in 1930 to incorporate most of the stock of the liquidated de Hauke & Co., Inc. Gersel Corp. Records (Series 11) contains a small amount of material from this company.
Researchers should note that a scattering of records from most of the subsidiary companies may also be found throughout additional series, particularly Inventory and Stock Files (Series 6) and Financial Files and Shipping Records (Series 7). Records for the firms Tessa Corp. and Georges Haardt & Co., which were also owned by Germain Seligman, are not part of the Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., Records, although scattered references to these two firms may be encountered throughout the collection.
German Seligman's Personal papers (Series 12) includes scattered family and biographical materials, his research and writings files, and documentation of his personal art collection. Found in Family and Biographical Material (Series 12.1) are photographs of family members, including Jacques Seligmann, and of the Paris gallery. Also found is a limited amount of correspondence concerning Germain Seligman's residency status and his desire to obtain an army commission during World War II. Germain Seligman's research and writing files are found in this series and include material for his books: Roger de La Fresnaye, with a Catalogue Raisonné (1969); Merchants of Art, 1880-1960: Eighty Years of Professional Collecting (1961); The Drawings of Georges Seurat (1947); and Oh! Fickle Taste; or, Objectivity in Art (1952). Documentation of Germain Seligman's private art collection is arranged in this series and includes provenance and research files and correspondence concerning his art collection.
Overall, the historical records of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., offer researchers a comprehensive and detailed resource for studying one of the most active dealers in decorative arts, Renaissance, and European contemporary art. The records clearly document the firm's numerous acquisitions and sales of important works of art to well-known European and American collectors and museums as well as Germain Seligman's extensive client contacts and references. The collection offers an insightful, intriguing, and often fascinating view into the complex field of art sales, trading, and acquisition during the first half of the twentieth century, when many major collections in the United States were formed.
Researchers interested in tracing the provenance of individual works of art should carefully check each series of the collection for information to obtain a complete history for any work. Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., staff set up many different files to cross-reference works of art from various angles, such as artist or creator; collector or collection; most recent owner or repository location; stock inventory number, if owned by Seligmann & Co.; and photographic reference files. The task is made somewhat more difficult by the number of commission sales and joint ownership of works of art, often documented solely in the Inventory and Stock Files (Series 6) or the Financial Files and Shipping Records (Series 7). Only by tracing a name or date through the various series can one find all of the information relating to a particular work of art and its provenance.
Arrangement note:
Following is an outline of the arrangement of the collection by series and corresponding box numbers and extent. More detailed information for each series and subseries, along with a box and folder inventory, is found in the Series Descriptions/Container Listings, which can be found by following the series links below. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1913-1978 (1-174, 80 linear feet)
Series 2: Collectors Files, 1875, 1892-1977, undated (Boxes 175-252, 35 linear feet)
Series 3: Auction Files, 1948-1975, undated (Boxes 253-259, 2.75 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1925-1977, undated (Boxes 260-272, 5.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Reference Files, 1877-1977, undated (Boxes 273-278, 2.25 linear feet)
Series 6: Inventory and Stock Files, 1923-1971, undated (Boxes 279-289, 4.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Financial Files and Shipping Records, 1910-1977 (Boxes 290-357, 30.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Contemporary American Department, 1932-1978 (Boxes 358-381, 10 linear feet)
Series 9: De Hauke & Co., Inc., Records, 1925-1949, undated (Boxes 382-416; 16 linear feet)
Series 10: Modern Paintings, Inc., Records, 1927-1950 (Boxes 417-420, 1.25 linear feet)
Series 11: Gersel Corp. Records, 1946-1969 (Box 421, 0.25 linear feet)
Series 12: Germain Seligman's Personal Papers, 1882, circa 1905-1984, undated (Boxes 422-459, OV 460, 17 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., was counted among the foremost French and American art dealers in antiquities and decorative arts and was among the first to foster and support the growth and appreciation for collecting in the field of contemporary European art. The company's clients included most of the major American and European art collectors of the era, and the art that passed through its galleries often ended up in the collections of prominent American and European museums through the donations of the wealthy benefactors who purchased them from the company. Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., took an active part in promoting such donations as well as providing its own donations and selling paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts directly to many museums.
The company was first established as Jacques Seligmann & Cie. in 1880 on the Rue des Mathurins in Paris by Jacques Seligmann (1858-1923), a German émigré who came to France in 1874 and soon thereafter became a French citizen. The company experienced so much success that in 1900 a new, larger Galerie Seligmann was opened on the Place Vendôme, and Jacques's two brothers, Simon and Arnold, joined the business as partners. Simon served as the company's accountant, and Arnold was in charge of correspondence with the firm's many clients. Jacques remained as the manager and was in charge of all purchases for the firm.
Prominent clients of the company included Baron Edmond de Rothschild of France, the Stroganoff family of Russia, Sir Philip Sassoon of England, and American collectors Benjamin Altman, William Randolph Hearst, J. P. Morgan, Henry Walters, and Joseph Widener. As American clients increasingly came to dominate the company's sales activities, a New York office at 7 West Thirty-sixth Street was opened in 1904. Five years later, Jacques purchased the Hôtel de Sagan (also called the Palais de Sagan by the Seligmann family) in Paris as a location where Jacques Seligmann & Cie. could stage larger exhibitions and receive its most distinguished clients.
In 1912 a family quarrel resulted in a lawsuit that split the company. Arnold remained at the Place Vendôme location, reorganized under the name Arnold Seligmann & Cie., while Jacques consolidated his operations and moved the headquarters for Jacques Seligmann & Cie. to the Hôtel de Sagan. Jacques also opened an additional gallery at 17 Place Vendôme to retain a presence near the company's original location, but this branch soon relocated to 9 Rue de la Paix. The New York office, which formerly had operated out of a single room, was upgraded to larger office space and a gallery at 705 Fifth Avenue.
Jacques's son, Germain Seligman (1893-1978), showed an interest in art connoisseurship from his early years and often accompanied his father to work in the galleries. (In 1943, when Germain Seligman became an American citizen, he dropped the second "n" from his surname, and for clarity his name appears with this spelling throughout this finding aid.) His father taught him how to deal with clients and often assigned him tasks to help in the completion of sales. Germain accompanied Jacques on many business trips and in 1910 was sent to St. Peterburg, Russia, to secure information about the selling price of the Swenigorodskoi enamels owned by the Russian collector M. P. Botkine.
Germain continued to work informally in the firm's galleries until the outbreak of World War I. Within hours of the mobilization order in 1914, Germain joined the French army as a second lieutenant in the 132nd Infantry Regiment of Rheims. By 1916 he was promoted to first lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Infantry Brigade and in the following year achieved the rank of captain in the Fifty-sixth Infantry Division. Also in the same year, he was assigned as the first French liaison officer to the First Division of the American Expeditionary Force in France, serving as translator for Major George C. Marshall. Seligman was discharged from the French army in 1919 and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with six citations. (In 1938 Seligman also was awarded the Office of the Legion of Honor from France, and in 1939 he was decorated by General John Joseph Pershing with the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States, in recognition for his service during World War I.)
After his discharge from military service, Germain Seligman actively joined his father's company as a partner in 1920. Jacques Seligmann & Cie. was changed to Jacques Seligmann et Fils, and Germain was placed in charge as the president of the New York office. The strong American art market necessitated Germain's making numerous cross-Atlantic trips each year. Upon the death of his father in 1923, Germain took over as president of both the Paris and New York offices, and the company was once again renamed Jacques Seligmann & Cie.
In the early years of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., the firm carried few paintings, as collectors focused their interest mostly on small objects, enamels, ivories, and other decorative pieces from the Byzantine to the Renaissance eras. Stone and bronze sculptures, medieval and Renaissance tapestries, and eighteenth-century French furniture were the most avidly collected pieces of the era. The galleries of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., reflected its clients' tastes, but soon after the turn of the century art trends began to change.
The 1913 Armory Show introduced many Americans to contemporary European art, and collectors in the United States began to show marked interest in it. The advent of World War I brought much of the art market to a standstill in Europe, but interest in the Impressionists continued in the United States, and it quickly resumed in Europe, as well, after the war. Both collectors and dealers began buying modern art, led by such progressive American collectors as Walter Arensberg, Albert C. Barnes, A. E. Gallatin, Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Duncan Phillips, and John Quinn, among others.
Under Germain's leadership, Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., began acquiring works by Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, Honoré Daumier, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, and Vincent van Gogh. While Germain promoted this trend for modern art in the New York gallery, other family partners did not approve as this was a new direction for the firm. For this reason Germain Seligman looked to establish a new, independent business venture in the evolving field of modern art. He selected as his partner César Mange de Hauke.
César Mange de Hauke was born on March 8, 1900, the son of a French engineer and a Polish mother. After completing academic and art studies in England and France in the years following World War I, de Hauke arrived in the United States in 1926. While in New York City, he was introduced to Germain Seligman by Germain's cousin, René Seligmann, and by 1927 de Hauke had joined Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., as a sales representative.
With their shared interest in modern French painting, Seligman and de Hauke decided to explore the feasibility of sales in this area by forming a subsidiary to Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., that would specialize in contemporary European artists. In 1926 Seligman personally financed the fledgling company, first called International Contemporary Art Company, Inc., and he appointed de Hauke its director, but even before the legal documents setting up the company were completed the name was changed to de Hauke & Co., Inc. Although the bulk of the new company's art purchases took place in Paris and London, the majority of its sales occurred in the United States.
Seligman and de Hauke worked out an agreement allowing de Hauke to purchase works of art that could then be sold as stock inventory of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., or privately under de Hauke's own name. Ownership of paintings was often shared among various art dealers, involving complicated commission transactions upon completion of sale. Seligman provided display space for de Hauke & Co., Inc., at the new, larger gallery of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., now located at 3 East Fifty-first Street. The two businesses were deeply intertwined, as evidenced by the facts that Seligman's financial records include a great deal of de Hauke material and many of de Hauke's records are written on the stationery of Jacques Seligmann Co., Inc.
During the second half of the 1920s, de Hauke showed the work of modern French School artists in New York City. He exhibited works by Pierre Bonnard, Amedeo Modigliani, Odilon Redon, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Edouard Vuillard, and many others. De Hauke was equally interested in French School drawings and watercolors, and the scope of his exhibitions also included works by nineteenth-century masters such as Paul Cézanne, Jacques-Louis David, Eugè00E8;ne Delacroix, Jean Ingres, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Georges Seurat.
Among the exhibitions held at the New York gallery were two highly successful shows featuring the works of Pablo Picasso. The first one, held in 1936, displayed paintings from the Blue and Rose Periods and was soon followed by the 1937 exhibition, Twenty Years in the Evolution of Picasso. The star of this exhibition was Les Demoiselles d'Avignon which Germain had recently acquired from the Jacques Doucet Estate sale.
Despite the bleak economic conditions of the 1930s, the new business venture proved so successful that the other family members of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., withdrew their opposition to expanding into the field of modern art, and de Hauke & Co., Inc., was dissolved and re-formed under the new name, Modern Paintings, Inc. César M. de Hauke was appointed its director, but tensions had crept into the relationship between the former partners, and by 1931, de Hauke had resigned and returned to Paris.
The mid-1930s appear to have been a period of reorganization for the company. By 1934 Modern Paintings, Inc., was also dissolved, and it assets were assumed by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., and by Tessa Corp., another subsidiary of the firm. In 1935, however, the firm established a new subsidiary, the Contemporary American Department, to represent young American artists. Theresa D. Parker, a longtime gallery employee, was selected to head the department, and she initiated an exhibition and loan program. Soon thereafter, the City of Paris offered to buy the company's building at the Hôtel de Sagan as part of a complicated negotiation for a site for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la vie Modern 1937. The Paris office of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., reestablished itself at 9 Rue de la Paix, but Germain selected the New York office as the headquarters for Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. Subsequently he filed his legal residence as New York City. Germain's half-brother, François-Gerard, was left in charge of the Paris office operations, although Germain continued to commute between the two offices until the summer of 1939.
During the New York World's Fair of 1939, Germain served as a member of the Exhibition Committee, which coordinated the art section. When the fair was extended for an additional year, Seligman was asked to take responsibility for planning the French art section. World political events intruded, however, and rumors of impending war affected both the European and American economies as well as the international art world. Speculative sales, particularly in Europe, made for a chaotic and unpredictable market. In June 1940 German forces invaded France and occupied Paris. Business for Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., took a dramatic downturn. In the summer of 1940 the Seligmann galleries and family holdings were seized by the Vichy government, along with Germain's private art collection. The family house and its contents, along with almost the entire stock of the Paris firm, was sold at public auction. Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., staff burned the Paris office archives in an effort to keep the records relating to works of art from falling into the hands of the Nazi occupiers, who were looting and shipping art to Germany.
Family members also experienced the pains and changes brought on by the war. Jean Seligmann, a cousin of Germain and the head of Arnold Seligmann & Cie., was captured and shot in Vincennes, France. François-Gerard, a half-brother, was drafted into the army and subsequently joined the French Resistance. Another brother, André, fled France in September 1940 and arrived in New York City, where he opened his own gallery. (He would later return to Paris after the war, but died shortly thereafter from a heart attack.)
Germain applied for a commission in the United States Army in 1942, but his application was initially turned down due to his noncitizen status. Soon thereafter, however, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the second War Power Act, which stipulated that naturalization could be expedited if the individual served in the military during the war. This act prompted Germain to further press his application for a post overseas, citing his citizenship status as fairly inconsequential or at least no longer a grave hindrance. Despite numerous letters exchanged with the War Department, however, his application was eventually rejected due to changes in military personnel policy.
During the war years, the Seligmann company in New York moved from its 3 East Fifty-first Street location to smaller quarters at 5 East Fifty-seventh Street. The first exhibition in this space was held in the spring of 1944. By 1945 the Contemporary American Department was reactivated, with Theresa D. Parker as its head.
In the years following the war, a rapprochement occurred among the family members who had been split since the family quarrel between Jacques and Arnold Seligmann. With the death of Jean Seligmann during the war, Arnold Seligmann & Co. had been left without a director. Germain consolidated the two family businesses, but made separate financial and administrative entities of the Paris and New York offices. Henceforth they were affiliated "only by ties of affection."
During the early to mid-1950s, many of the activities involving Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., centered upon the recovery of looted artwork and property as well as resolving outstanding issues from the consolidation of the various family businesses. The firm was also involved in the sale of several significant collections.
In 1951 Germain was commissioned by the family of the Duc d'Arenberg to sell the family's collection of important illuminated manuscripts, engravings, and select paintings. Jan Vermeer's Portrait of a Young Girl was purchased for over a quarter million dollars.
Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., also handled the 1953 sale of works from the Prince of Liechtenstein's collection and negotiated the purchase of seven Italian marble sculptures that were eventually sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1954. From the late 1950s up until the closing of the company in 1977-1978, the exhibitions mounted by the firm seem to indicate a gradual focus back toward drawings and more traditional art. Contemporary American artists continued to be shown as well, but the firm no longer maintained its leading edge in the art market.
Germain, who during the 1940s had written several works, among them a monograph on Roger de La Fresnaye in 1945 and The Drawings of Georges Seurat in 1947, devoted himself more and more to writing. In Oh! Fickle Taste; or, Objectivity in Art, published in 1952, Seligman addressed the importance of political and social climates in understanding the evolution of art collecting in the United States. He followed this book with the 1961 publication of Merchants of Art, 1880-1960: Eighty Years of Professional Collecting which memorialized his father and traced the history of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. Germain's most significant work, Roger de La Fresnaye, with a Catalogue Raisonné (1969), was lauded by art critics and listed among the 1969 "Best Ten Books of the Year" by the New York Times.
With the death of Germain Seligman in 1978, the firm doors closed, leaving behind a legacy of collecting that helped to establish American collectors and museums in the forefront of the international art world. A survey of the major art museums and collections in the United States reveals the significant number of works that were acquired either by sales or through donation from Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. The influence the company wielded is also demonstrated through the network of relationships it built with collectors, art museums and institutions, and other dealers, such as Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Bernheim-Jeune, George Blumenthal, Sen. William A. Clark, the Detroit Institute of Arts, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Henry Walters, and Wildenstein & Co., among others.
Missing Title
1858, September 18 -- Jacques Seligmann born in Frankfurt, Germany.
1874 -- Jacques Seligmann leaves Germany to work in Paris, France, as an assistant at Maître Paul Chevallier, a leading Paris auctioneer. Soon after he leaves to work for Charles Mannheim, an expert in medieval art.
1880 -- Jacques Seligmann opens his own shop at the Rue des Mathurins. An early client is Baron Edmond de Rothschild.
1893, February 25 -- Germain Seligman is born in Paris, France. His mother's maiden name is Blanche Falkenberg (d. 1902).
1900 -- Jacques Seligmann & Cie. is formed when Jacques's brothers, Arnold and Simon, join him as partners and the business moves to the Place Vendôme.
1904 -- The New York City office of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., is established, with Eugene Glaenzer as the manager. Beginning in 1905, Seligmann begins yearly visits to the New York office.
1907 -- Jacques Seligmann is elected a Fellow for Life of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1909 -- Jacques Seligmann & Cie. acquires the Hôtel de Sagan on the Rue Saint Dominique. Jacques moves the headquarters for the company to this location and reserves its use for the most exclusive and important clients, but his brother Arnold continues to oversee the general operations of the company at the Place Vendôme.
1912 -- A lawsuit between Jacques Seligmann and his brother, Arnold, results in a split in the family company. Arnold remains at Place Vendôme under the name Arnold Seligmann & Cie. Jacques consolidates his activities at the Hôtel de Sagan. He also opens another gallery at 17 Place Vendôme, but this is soon moved to 9 Rue de la Paix.
1914 -- As a result of the split in the family business, a new office and gallery are opened at 705 Fifth Avenue, and Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., is incorporated within the State of New York.
1914-1919 -- Germain Seligmann serves in the French army as a second lieutenant in the 132nd Infantry Regiment of Rheims. Later he is assigned as the first French liaison officer to the First Division of the American Expeditionary Force in France. He is discharged from active service in 1919.
1920 -- Germain Seligman becomes a partner with his father and formally joins Jacques Seligmann & Fils as the president of the New York office.
1923, October -- Jacques Seligman dies.
1924 -- Germain Seligman becomes the president of both the Paris and New York offices. Several of his brothers and sisters become partners in the firm. Theresa D. Parker joins the New York office.
1926 -- The New York office moves to 3 East Fifty-first Street. Germain Seligman, with César Mange de Hauke, sets up de Hauke & Co., Inc., to sell modern European paintings to American clients.
1930 -- De Hauke & Co., Inc., becomes Modern Paintings, Inc.
1931 -- De Hauke resigns as head of Modern Paintings, Inc., and returns to Paris.
1934 -- Modern Paintings, Inc., is dissolved, and its assets are assumed by Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., and by Tessa Corp., another subsidiary of the parent company.
1935 -- The Contemporary American Department is created as a part of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., and Theresa D. Parker directs its operations.
1936-1937 -- Jacques Seligmann et Fils moves out of its gallery space at the Hôtel de Sagan and briefly reestablishes its headquarters at 9 Rue de la Paix. By 1937, however, the company headquarters moves to New York City. Germain Seligman establishes his legal residence there.
1939 -- World War II begins.
1940 -- During the summer, the Seligmann family house and its contents (at Rue de Constantine) are seized and sold by order of the Vichy government, along with Germain's private art collection and the gallery's stock. The Paris archives of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., is destroyed by the Seligmann staff in order to keep the records from falling into the hands of the Nazis. René Seligmann dies in a New York hospital in June; François-Gerard, Germain's half-brother, is called up to serve in the army and joins the French Resistance. Another brother, André, escapes to the United States and opens a gallery in New York. Jean Seligmann, a cousin of Germain and the head of Arnold Seligmann & Cie., is captured and shot at Vincennes, France.
1943 -- Germain Seligman becomes an American citizen (and drops the second "n" from his original surname).
1944, Spring -- The New York gallery holds its first exhibition in the new 5 East Fifty-seventh Street location in New York City. During the war years, the firm had moved from its Fifty-first Street location to smaller quarters.
1945 -- The Contemporary American Department is reactivated.
1946 -- After the war, Arnold Seligmann & Cie. is left without a director, although it remains at the Rue de la Paix location. Germain consolidates the two firms but organizes the Paris and New York offices as separate financial and administrative entities.
1969 -- Germain Seligman publishes Roger de La Fresnaye, with a Catalogue Raisonné. The book receives acclaim and is listed on the 1969 New York Times "Ten Best Books of the Year."
1978, March 27 -- Germain Seligman dies.
Provenance:
The records of the Paris and New York art dealer Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1978 by Mrs. Ethlyne Seligman, widow of Germain Seligman. A small addition of 19 linear feet was donated in 1994.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and 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.
