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Creator:

Vanderbilt, Paul, 1905-1992  Search this

Subject:

Conniff, Gregory  Search this

Blake, William  Search this

Allen, Mary North  Search this

Talbot, George  Search this

Vanderbilt, Julia  Search this

Lange, Dorothea  Search this

Lesy, Michael  Search this

Pilling, Arnold R.  Search this

Plunkett, Jane  Search this

Crane, Barbara  Search this

Guthrie, Woody  Search this

Haywood, Carl  Search this

Holzhueter, Jack  Search this

Shera, Jesse Hauk  Search this

Newhall, Beaumont  Search this

Stryker, Roy Emerson  Search this

State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Division of Archives and Manuscripts  Search this

Union Library Catalogue of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area  Search this

United States. Farm Security Administration. Historical Section  Search this

Graphic History Society of America  Search this

Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division  Search this

Philadelphia Museum of Art  Search this

Type:

Diaries

Interviews

Photographs

Sound recordings

Citation:

Paul Vanderbilt papers, 1854-1992, bulk 1945-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Curators -- United States  Search this

Documentary photography -- United States  Search this

Photography  Search this

Photomicrography  Search this

Graphic arts -- Historiography  Search this

Graphic arts -- Iran  Search this

Librarians  Search this

Photographers  Search this

Theme:

Photography  Search this

Research and writing about art  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6911

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209040

AAA_collcode_vandpaul

Theme:

Photography

Research and writing about art

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209040

Creator:

Vanderbilt, Paul  Search this

Names:

Graphic History Society of America  Search this

Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division  Search this

Philadelphia Museum of Art  Search this

State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Division of Archives and Manuscripts  Search this

Union Library Catalogue of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area  Search this

United States. Farm Security Administration. Historical Section  Search this

Allen, Mary North  Search this

Blake, William  Search this

Conniff, Gregory, 1944-  Search this

Crane, Barbara, 1928-  Search this

Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967  Search this

Haywood, Carl  Search this

Holzhueter, Jack  Search this

Lange, Dorothea  Search this

Lesy, Michael, 1945-  Search this

Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993  Search this

Pilling, Arnold R.  Search this

Plunkett, Jane  Search this

Shera, Jesse Hauk, 1903-1982  Search this

Stryker, Roy Emerson, 1893-1975  Search this

Talbot, George  Search this

Vanderbilt, Julia  Search this

Extent:

25.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Diaries

Interviews

Photographs

Sound recordings

Date:

1854-1992

bulk 1945-1992

Summary:

The papers of librarian, curator, and photographer Paul Vanderbilt (1905-1992) measure 25.2 linear feet and date from 1854 to 1992 with the bulk of the material dating from 1945 to 1992. The papers are comprised of biographical materials, personal and business correspondence, interviews, writings and notes, fourteen diaries and two diary fragments, reference and project files, photographic materials, sound recordings, and professional files.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of librarian, curator, and photographer Paul Vanderbilt (1905-1992) measure 25.2 linear feet and date from 1854 to 1992 with the bulk of the material dating from 1945 to 1992. The papers are comprised of biographical materials, personal and business correspondence, interviews, writings and notes, fourteen diaries and two diary fragments, reference and project files, photographic materials, sound recordings, and professional files.

Biographical materials include seven appointment books, family letters and documents, and an honorary degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Vanderbilt's correspondence is with colleagues, and organizations including Dorothea Lange, Beaumont Newhall, Roy Stryker, and Julia Vanderbilt.

Sound recordings of interviews of Vanderbilt conducted by Mary North Allen, Barbara Crane, Carl Haywood, Jack Holzhueter, and Jane Plunkett. Other recordings are of Vanderbilt discussing his personal and professional life.

Writings by Paul Vanderbilt include drafts of Between the Landscape and its Other, poems, lectures, student papers, and notes on a variety of subjects. Writings by others are found for William Blake, Gregory Conniff, Woody Guthrie, Michael Lesy, Arnold R. Pilling, Jesse H. Shera, and Roy Stryker.

Fourteen of Vanderbilt's personal diaries and two diary fragments date from 1926 to 1990.

Reference files consist of printed materials on art, art historians, book reviews, library and information studies, photography and microphotography techniques, and other themes of interest to Vanderbilt. Project files include material from Vanderbilt's various projects, including a guide to the iconography of Iran, the reclassification of FSA photographs, and the Union Library Catalog of Philadelphia.

Included in professional files are administrative records, correspondence, exhibition files, project files, printed material, and research files created during Vanderbilt's career at the Library of Congress, Graphic History Society, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Farm Security Administration. Also found are materials for Vanderbilt's work as a consultant for several organizations, lecture documents, and art-related workshops.

Photographs are by and of Paul Vanderbilt, the staff of the Library of Congress, and George Talbot. Negatives include images for the Farm Security Administration. Bibliography cards and photographs of artwork from the Library of Congress can be found on microfilm reels within the collection.

Also found are fourteen unidentified sound recordings.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 10 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1894-1992 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1933-1992 (1.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)

Series 3: Interviews, 1967-1992 (1.5 linear feet; Box 2-4)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1887-1992 (4.0 linear feet; Box 4-8)

Series 5: Diaries, 1926-1990 (0.5 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 6: Reference Files, 1877-1992 (2.5 linear feet; Box 8-10, 26)

Series 7: Project Files, 1935-1990 (3.0 linear feet; Box 10-13)

Series 8: Professional Files, 1854-1991 (11.7 linear feet; Box 13-24)

Series 9: Photographic Materials, 1912-1980s (0.5 linear feet; Box 24)

Series 10: Sound Recordings, circa 1980s (0.5 linear feet; Box 24-25)

Biographical / Historical:

Paul Vanderbilt (1905-1992) was a librarian, curator, and photographer active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and Madison, Wisconsin.

Paul Vanderbilt was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and educated in Germany, Switzerland, and Massachusetts. He attended Amherst College from 1923 to 1925 before transferring to Harvard where he graduated with a BA in art history in 1927. After graduation, Vanderbilt traveled to Europe where he studied at the American School of Librarianship in Paris and the Institut de Psychologie Bibliogique in Lausanne. In 1929, he returned to the United States and became a librarian at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and director of the Union Library Catalog project for the Philadelphia area.

In 1941 Vanderbilt began working under Roy Stryker cataloging the extensive photographic survey collection of the Farm Security Administration and U.S. Office of War Information. The collection is a rich resource of images of American life between 1935 and 1944. In 1943, the FSA photograph collection was transferred to the Library of Congress and Vanderbilt went with it as the curator of the newly formed Prints and Photographs Division, eventually becoming the Division chief of fine arts.

During the early 1950s, Vanderbilt also served as the director of the Graphic History Society of America. There he published a quarterly bulletin Eye to Eye and developed a guide to iconography in Iran. In 1954, he became the Curator of Iconographic Collections at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and worked there until he retired in 1972.

Vanderbilt remained active after retirement. He became an artist-in-residence at the Apeiron Workshops, worked as a photographer for the Seagram courthouse project and the George Eastman House, and was a presenter at multiple conferences. Vanderbilt devoted much of his later life to working on his book titled Between the Landscape and its Other which was published posthumously after Vanderbilt's death in 1992.

Related Materials:

Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Paul Vanderbilt conducted by Richard Doud on November 10, 1964.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in 1981 by Paul Vanderbilt and in 1993 by his estate through John W. Winn, executor.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center. 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.

Occupation:

Art historians -- United States  Search this

Topic:

Curators -- United States  Search this

Documentary photography -- United States  Search this

Photography  Search this

Photomicrography  Search this

Graphic arts -- Historiography  Search this

Graphic arts -- Iran  Search this

Librarians  Search this

Photographers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Diaries

Interviews

Photographs

Sound recordings

Citation:

Paul Vanderbilt papers, 1854-1992, bulk 1945-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund

Identifier:

AAA.vandpaul

See more items in:

Paul Vanderbilt papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f5292a20-c4ee-4b9e-95fe-8eb16871962c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-vandpaul

Editor:

Lothes, Scott  Search this

Author:

Holzhueter, Jack  Search this

Author:

Radke, Jordan  Search this

Photographer:

Abbey, Wallace W. 1927-2014  Search this

Bjorklund, John F. 1939-2005  Search this

Burbach, Ken 1937-  Search this

Johnson, Perry Frank 1913-2007  Search this

King, Leo 1938-2011  Search this

Lewis, Harold O. 1932-  Search this

Oestreich, Glenn 1952-2009  Search this

Plowden, David  Search this

Springer, Fred M. 1928-2012  Search this

Issuing body:

Center for Railroad Photography and Art  Search this

Subject:

Abbey, Wallace W. 1927-2014-  Search this

Bjorklund, John F. 1939-2005  Search this

Burbach, Ken 1937-  Search this

Johnson, Perry Frank 1913-2007  Search this

King, Leo 1938-2011  Search this

Lewis, Harold O. 1932-  Search this

Oestreich, Glenn 1952-2009  Search this

Plowden, David  Search this

Springer, Fred M. 1928-2012  Search this

Center for Railroad Photography and Art  Search this

Physical description:

77 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm

Type:

Pictorial works

Place:

United States

Date:

2015

Topic:

Photography of railroads  Search this

Railroads  Search this

Railroads--Photograph collections  Search this

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_1066634