The papers of museum director Perry Townsend Rathbone measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1985. The papers document Rathbone's career as museum director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and his later work with Christie's New York office. Found within the papers are biographical materials, correspondence with friends and colleagues, writings, professional and project files, printed materials, and photographs, mostly of exhibitions.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of museum director Perry Townsend Rathbone measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1985. The papers document Rathbone's career as museum director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and his later work with Christie's New York office. Found within the papers are biographical materials, correspondence with friends and colleagues, writings, professional and project files, printed materials, and photographs, mostly of exhibitions.
Biographical materials contain curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, citations for honorary degrees and for Rathbone's appointment as Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, a passport, a transcript of an interview with Rathbone and articles written by others about Rathbone, including one by S. Lane Faison.
Correspondence is with Rathbone's friends and colleagues. Notable correspondents include Max Beckmann, Xavier Gonzalez, Hanns Swarzenski, Curt Valentin, Jane Sabersky, William R. Valentiner, and Marian Willard, among others. Rathbone knew several art historians and conservators who served in the U.S. Army as members of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, also known as the Monuments Men. Correspondence with these colleagues is arranged together as a subseries and includes correspondence with S. Lane Faison, Thomas Carr Howe, Lamont Moore, Charles Parkhurst, Andrew Ritchie, George Leslie Stout, and Otto Wittman. Most of the correspondence with other Monuments Men is post World War II.
Writings by Rathbone consist of student papers, typescript drafts of articles and entries for exhibition catalogs, notes and notebooks from European trips, and lectures.
Professional files encompass a range of documents related to Rathbone's museum directorships, projects, travels and professional affiliations. The folders about his work at the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston include correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, press releases and notes. There are also folders on specific projects such as the renovation of the historic Dederer-Blodgett House and Rathbone's membership on various art commissions and committees. Also found within this series are correspondence, notebooks, receipts, itineraries and vouchers for Rathbone's business trips to Europe and other locations while working for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Printed materials include news clippings, articles, press releases, a few art magazines and exhibition catalogues, and invitations to events. There are also black and white photographs of exhibitions, including a Max Beckmann exhibit, and a few images of Rathbone.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930-1982 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1940-1985 (1.1 linear feet; Box 1-2)
Series 3: Writings, 1929-1967 (0.8 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1938-1984 (2 linear feet; Box 2-4, OV 6)
Series 5: Printed Materials, 1954-1975 (0.2 linear feet; Box 4-5, OV 6)
Series 6: Photographs, 1936-1972 (0.1 linear feet; Box 5)
Biographical / Historical:
Perry Townsend Rathbone (1911-2000) was a prominent museum director who worked primarily in Boston and New York City. He was an early supporter of German Expressionism in America.
Rathbone was director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis from 1940-1955, moving on to direct the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1954-1972, where he led a period of extensive reform. After retiring from the museum, he worked for one year for the Chase Manhattan Bank as an art consultant. Rathbone worked as director and senior vice president of Christies USA auction house from 1973-1987. After 1987, he continued working at Christies as a consultant.
Rathbone was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1911 and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Harvard College, majoring in Art History and graduating in 1933. He then completed the graduate "museum course" taught by Professor Paul Sachs in 1934. The Paul Sachs museum course was famous for cultivating future directors at some of this country's most prestigious museums. After Harvard, Rathbone was appointed as curator of Alger House (later renamed the Grosse Pointe War Memorial), a branch of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rathbone directed the ''Masterpieces of Art'' exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The success of the exhibit led to his appointment as director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri in 1940 at the age of 29, making him the youngest American museum director at the time.
During World War II, Rathbone served in the U.S. Navy from late 1942-1945. He was a commissioned officer in charge of the Navy Art and Poster Section, Office of Public Relations in Washington, D.C. He supervised five Navy "combat artists," who painted naval battles and depicted the daily lives of soldiers. He also served as an officer in New Calcedonia. He separated from service as a Lieutenant Commander in late 1945. This collection does not contain records directly related to his military service. In 1945 Rathbone married Euretta de Cosson while on leave in Washington, D.C. They had three children together: Peter, Eliza, and Belinda.
Rathbone resumed his position as the director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis after the war. The Detroit Institute of Arts director William R. Valentiner introduced Rathbone to German Expressionism. Rathbone helped the German Expressionist painter Max Beckmann, labeled a ''degenerate artist'' by Hitler, and his wife immigrate to America and then arranged a teaching position for Beckmann at Washington University. Rathbone and Beckmann became close, and in 1948, Rathbone organized a Beckmann retrospective at the City Art Museum. Beckmann made a portrait of Rathbone and one of his wife Euretta. Rathbone gave the eulogy at Beckmann's funeral in 1950.
In 1955 Rathbone became the director of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. During his tenure there he expanded the museum by 80,000 square feet, doubled the staff, and oversaw the renovations of 57 of the Museum's 189 galleries. He mounted exhibitions of Rembrandt, Matisse, Modigliani, Cezanne, van Gogh and Courbet. The Boston Museum's first acquisitions of Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Constantine Brancusi, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and other works by 20th-century artists occurred under Rathbone's directorship. Rathbone also served as curator of paintings and wrote the catalog essays for many of the museum's exhibitions. Working with Frances Weeks Hallowell, he established the first "Ladies Committee" for the museum, which substantially increased membership. He was appointed as Chevalier de Légion d'Honneur by the French government in 1964.
In 1969, the Museum of Fine Arts purchased what was believed to be a Raphael portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga, 1505, from a Genoa art dealer. The work was meant to be the highlight of the museum's centennial celebration. However controversy arose when the Italian government alleged that the work was smuggled out of the country and the museum was forced to return the painting to the Italian government. The situation caused Rathbone to resign in 1972.
At the request of David Rockefeller, Rathbone became an art consultant to Chase Manhattan Bank for one year. In 1973, he became director of Christie's auction house in New York and senior vice president in 1977, working there until 1987, when he retired but still worked as a consultant.
Perry Townsend Rathbone died on January 22, 2000 at the age of 88.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an oral history interview of Perry Townsend Rathbone conducted in 1975-1976 by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art's oral history program.
Provenance:
Perry Townsend Rathbone donated his paper to the Archives of American Art in 1977 and 1988.
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.
Topic:
Museum directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Genre/Form:
Transcripts
Photographs
Interviews
Citation:
Perry Townsend Rathbone papers, 1929-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
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:
Perry Townsend Rathbone papers, 1929-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of this collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. research center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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:
American Academy in Rome records, 1855-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
(includes letter of appointment, report on activities of fellows and staff)
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. research center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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:
American Academy in Rome records, 1855-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
(letter requesting Moore to see about maintenance of Mead's grave in the Rome Cemetery)
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. research center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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:
American Academy in Rome records, 1855-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
A tape recording of a lecture delivered by Lamont Moore entitled "Salt Mines and Castles" and 51 accompanying slides. Moore speaks of the history of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Historic Monuments in War Areas, and its efforts toward recovery of art looted during World War II. The lecture was given at the Belmont Memorial Library, Belmont, Massachusetts for the Belmont Historical Society.
Biographical / Historical:
Lamont Moore (1909-1998) was a historian from New London, N.H. who was involved in the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Historic Monuments in War Areas.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Lamont Moore.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of conservator and museum director George Leslie Stout measure 6.4 linear feet and date from 1855, 1897-1978. Stout was head of the conservation department at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum, director of the Worcester Art Museum and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Massachusetts, and a member of the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence with family, friends, colleagues and professional associations. There are letters from fellow Monuments Men who served in the MFAA section such as Thomas Carr Howe, Ardelia Hall, Lamont Moore, Theodore Sizer, Langdon Warner and several other prominent arts administrators. The papers also contain biographical materials, writings, sketches and one sketchbook, military records, printed materials, and photographs.
There is a 0.2 linear foot addition to this collection acquired in 2020 that includes four diaries, 1944-1946, kept by George Stout as a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section (MFAA) of the U.S. Army (known as the Monuments Men). The diaries describe Stout's experiences surveying war-caused damages in France, Germany, and Japan, and the recovery of Nazi impounded art works. Also included is a hand-made booklet that includes a "Glossary of Cha-no-yu Terms," which consists of quotes about Japanese art and tea drinking.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of conservator and museum director George Leslie Stout measure 6.4 linear feet and date from 1855, 1897-1978. Stout was head of the conservation department at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum, director of the Worcester Art Museum and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Massachusetts, and a member of the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence with family, friends, colleagues and professional associations. There are letters from fellow Monuments Men who served in the MFAA section such as Thomas Carr Howe, Ardelia Hall, Lamont Moore, Theodore Sizer, Langdon Warner and several other prominent arts administrators. The papers also contain biographical materials, writings, sketches and one sketchbook, military records, printed materials, and photographs.
There is a 0.2 linear foot addition to this collection acquired in 2020 that includes four diaries, 1944-1946, kept by George Stout as a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section (MFAA) of the U.S. Army (known as the Monuments Men). The diaries describe Stout's experiences surveying war-caused damages in France, Germany, and Japan, and the recovery of Nazi impounded art works. Also included is a hand-made booklet that includes a "Glossary of Cha-no-yu Terms," which consists of quotes about Japanese art and tea drinking.
Biographical materials include college and graduate school transcripts, various certificates, four small appointment books and passports.
Correspondence is between George Leslie Stout and family, friends, colleagues, professional associations and fellow Monuments Men. Family correspondence is with Stout's immediate and extended family, the bulk of which is from Stout to his wife Margaret and his son Thomas. Correspondents in the Monuments Men correspondence include Thomas Carr Howe, Ardelia Hall, Lamont Moore, Theodore Sizer, Langdon Warner, and many others. There is also substantial correspondence with friends and professional colleagues in the museum and art world, such as Walter Beck, Richard D. Buck, William George Constable, Earl of Crawford, George Peabody Gardner, Jr., William Ivins, Jr., Henri Marceau, and Paul Sachs, among many others.
Writings by Stout consist of typescript drafts and published articles, speeches, and miscellaneous notes. Most of the writings concern art conservation and the speeches are memorials for two of Stout's colleagues. Notes consists of drafts for the texts of holiday cards Stout designed, biographical notes, and images and captions for The Care of Pictures. There are also three conference papers on art conservation written by other people.
Subject files document Stout's conservation projects as a consultant for museums, universities, galleries and other organizations. Also found in this series are documents relating to Stout's work after retiring from the Isabella Gardner Museum and his membership or participation in various arts programs and organizations.
A separate series contains files relating to Stout's World War II service in the Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives (MFAA) Section. Found here are official military records, publications by Monuments Men, and a few scattered photographs. Military records include directives, reports, certificates and a bronze star medal. There are articles and books written by various Monuments Men such as Langdon Warner, Lincoln Kirstein and Theodore Sizer. There are also scattered photographs, only two of which depict tout (including one group photograph with Lamont Moore, Walker Hancock and other Monuments Men.) There are also 12 negatives with 4 prints depicting La Gleize Church and the town of Ambleve, Belgium in 1945. There are also four diaries documenting Stout's experiences in the MFAA Section in Europe and Japan from 1944-1946.
Personal business records include assorted legal and estate papers as well as financial papers such as receipts, travel expenses and donations.
Printed materials consists of news clippings, bulletins, brochures, press releases, conference papers, and magazine and journal articles, most of it related to art conservation.
Artwork includes pencil and ink drawings and sketches, mostly of travel scenes, people, and animals. There is one sketchbook of the human figure. Many sketches were loosely grouped together by Stout with titles such as "Pool Doodles" or "Park and Zoo." The is also one caricature of Eric Brown by Murray Pease.
The papers include photographs and negatives, mostly personal photographs of friends, family, relatives and colleagues. There are also photographs of art conservation conferences and travel photographs. Additional scattered photographs are located in the series containing the Monuments Men files.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1919-1977 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1978 (2.5 linear feet; Box 1-3, OV 8)
Series 3: Writings, 1927-1978 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3-4)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1918, 1943-1978 (1 linear feet; Box 4, OV 8-9)
Series 5: Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Section Files, 1918, 1942-1955, 1972-1975 (0.5 linear feet; Box 5, 10)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1938-1978 (0.1 linear feet; Box 5)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1926-1977 (0.8 linear feet; Box 5-6, OV 9)
Series 8: Sketchbooks, circa 1924-circa 1938, 1970-1977 (0.1 linear feet; Box 6)
Series 9: Photographic Materials, circa 1855, 1897-1978 (0.2 linear feet; Box 6-7)
Biographical / Historical:
George Leslie Stout (1897-1978) was a museum director and prominent art conservator in Massachusetts. Stout was head of the conservation department at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum, and director of the Worcester Art Museum and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Massachusetts. During World War II, Stout served in the U.S. Army Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) and played a leading role in the protection, location, and recovery of art work stolen by the Nazis.
Born in Winterset, Iowa in 1897, George Leslie Stout was the oldest of six children and attended Winterset High School and served in the U.S. army during World War I. Following the war, Stout studied at the State University of Iowa, received his B.A. in 1921, worked for a few years, and married Margaret Hayes in 1924 with whom he had two sons, Robert and Thomas. He attended Harvard graduate school in 1926 and graduated with a Master of Art in 1929. Stout began working as a lecturer and conservator at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, later becoming the head of the conservation department in 1933, a position he held until 1947.
During World War II, Stout re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy, having served in the reserves since World War I. Stout was one of the first members of the Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. army. He was appointed to the MFAA Section for the Twelfth Army Group in 1944 and was one of the first Monuments Men to arrive at Normandy, France. He was later appointed Lieutenant Commander of the MFAA Section. Many of the Monuments Men's stolen art recovery achievements were directed by George Leslie Stout. Stout supervised the inventory and removal of looted art hidden by the Nazis in the salt mines of Merkers and Ransbach in Thuringia, Germany. Stout oversaw the organization, packing, and shipping of several thousand objects including paintings by Rubens and Goya, along with precious antiquities. At the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, he was in charge of the unit that recovered a large cache of stolen artwork that included Michelangelo's Madonna and Child and the Ghent Altarpiece or The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. There, he also worked very closely with fellow Monuments Men Thomas Carr Howe. Stout went on to locate and recover looted artwork in other repositories in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. He maintained a relationship with many of his fellow Monuments Men after the war.
Stout left Europe in the latter half of 1945, then went to Japan where he served as the Chief of the Arts and Monuments Division at Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Tokyo until the middle of 1946. After the war Stout received the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal for his army service and work as a Monuments Man in Europe.
Stout resumed his position as the head of the conservation department at the Fogg Art Museum when he returned to America. In 1947 he became the director of the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts where he stayed until 1955, when he became the director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston where he worked until his retirement in 1970. Stout wrote numerous articles about art conservation and wrote two books: Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia (1942), co-authored with Harvard colleage R. J. Gettens, and Care of Pictures (1948). Stout died in Menlo Park, California in 1978 and was widely recognized as a distinguished art conservator.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with George Stout conducted by Paul Karlstrom in 1978.
Provenance:
George Leslie Stout donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in 1978. In that same year, Robert Stout, son of George Leslie Stout, loaned four diaries to the Archives of American Art for microfilming. The four diaries were acquired at auction by the Archives in 2020 with generous donations from Paul Neely, David Copperfield in memory of Kelly Asbury, Deborah Lehr and John Rogers, Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman, The Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Foundation, Jeffrey P. Cunard and Mariko Ikehara; The Elbrun and Peter Kimmelman Family Foundation, Inc.; Peter and Paula Lunder; William and Christine Ragland in memory of William McKenzie Ragland Lt. JG, U.S. Navy, Pacific Theater, WWII; The Kurin Family in honor of WWII Veteran Saul Kurin, Paul and Corine Wegener, and Judy and Bob Huret.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. For more information, please contact Reference Services.
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.
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. For more information, please contact Reference Services.
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:
George Leslie Stout papers, 1855, 1897-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section Search this
Type:
Photographs
Date:
1945 July 25
Citation:
Stephen Kovalyak, Lamont Moore and Thomas Carr Howe in Berchtesgaden, 1945 July 25. Thomas Carr Howe papers, 1932-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section Search this
Type:
Sound Recording
Date:
1983 October 14
Citation:
Lamont Moore. Lamont Moore lecture, "Salt mines and castles", 1983 October 14. Salt Mines and Castles : lecture, by Lamont Moore, 1983 October 11/. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section Search this
Type:
Photographs
Date:
1945 June
Citation:
Walker Hancock, Lamont Moore, George Stout and two unidentified soldiers in Marburg, Germany, 1945 June. George Leslie Stout papers, 1855, 1897-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Officers standing by an army plane loaded with the Ghent Altarpiece, 1945. Thomas Carr Howe papers, 1932-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Walker Hancock, Lamont Moore, George Stout and two unidentified soldiers in Marburg, Germany, 1945 June. Thomas Carr Howe papers, 1932-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Stephen Kovalyak, Lamont Moore and Thomas Carr Howe in Berchtesgaden, 1945. Thomas Carr Howe papers, 1932-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Stephen Kovalyak, Lamont Moore and Thomas Carr Howe in Berchtesgaden, 1945. Thomas Carr Howe papers, 1932-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Thomas Carr Howe papers measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1932 to 1984. Howe was director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and he served as one of the Monuments Men in the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The collection documents Howe's MFAA work in Germany and Austria locating and recovering cultural artifacts and artwork stolen by the Nazis. There is significant correspondence with friends and colleagues, as well as fellow Monuments Men such as Samson Lane Faison, Edith Standen, and George Stout. The papers also includes reports, inventories of stolen artwork, maps, annotated photographs, a scrapbook, and photographs. The papers also document Howe's later work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.
Scope and Content Note:
The Thomas Carr Howe papers measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1932 to 1984. Howe was director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and he served as one of the Monuments Men in the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The collection documents Howe's MFAA work in Germany and Austria locating and recovering cultural artifacts and artwork stolen by the Nazis. There is significant correspondence with friends and colleagues, as well as fellow Monuments Men such as Samson Lane Faison, Edith Standen, and George Stout. The papers also includes reports, inventories of stolen artwork, maps, annotated photographs, a scrapbook, and photographs. The papers also document Howe's later work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.
Biographical materials include articles and memorial tributes for Howe's father and grandfather, a short autobiography and resume, and the certificate for the copyright to his book.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, the most voluminous of which are letters from Monuments Men S. Lane Faison, Patrick J. Kelleher, Andrew C. Ritchie, Edith Standen, George Stout, Marcelle Minet, Rose Valland, James Rorimer, and others. Additional correspondents include friends and colleagues such as Bernard Berenson, Hume Cronyn, Paul Mills, Christopher Forbes, Margaret Mallory, William A. McGonagle, and Otto Wittman, among many others
Writings include a brief summary of Howe's book Salt Mines and Castles and a sound cassette of his lecture about the book. Project, membership and travel files are primarily associated with his professional work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and include documentation of member art trips, a feasibility study for merging the California Palace of the Legion of Honor with the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, and a membership list of the Bohemian Club.
The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) Records and Looted Inventories series contain many records relating to Howe's military service as a Monuments Man. There are several inventory records which contain lists of the contents of Hermann Göring's collection of looted artwork, artwork destroyed in the Flak towers fire in Berlin, and artwork held at several of the central collecting points, though mostly at Weisbaden. There is also a small fold out map of the Altausse salt mines; a U.S. government issued manual of maps marking important cultural monuments and artwork in Germany; a book of U.S. government regulations pertaining to the MFAA section; a government information bulletin; and several official status reports and published U.S. government reports about art looting investigations and safeguarding cultural property.
Professional files consist of papers relating to Howe's job as the director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and art trips he organized. Documents include a survey of Los Angeles museum curator salaries, a questionnaire about Howe's work as a museum director, and a membership list of Bohemian Club artists. The bulk of the travel papers are itineraries.
The photographs are divided into two subseries: MFAA Section images and personal photographs. The Monuments Men subseries includes photographs documenting bomb damage to cultural monuments in various countries, though mainly Germany; U.S. soldiers transporting recovered artwork such as Michelangelo's Madonna and Child from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, and other looted art repositories such as Neuschwanstein Castle and Berchtesgaden in Germany; Weisbaden and Munich collecting points; and art recovery of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. There are many photographs of the Monuments Men including Thomas Carr Howe, George Stout, Stephen Kovalyak, Lamont Moore, Patrick J. Kelleher, Edith Standen, and Rose Valland. Personal photographs consists of portraits of Howe and photographs of events, mostly formal dinners and parties.
Printed materials are clippings, postcards, fundraising pamphlets, essays, and memorial tributes for colleagues.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1934-1955, 1974 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1932-1984 (Box 1-3; 2.1 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1946 (Box 3; 2 folders)
Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1945-1975 (Box 3, 5; 0.3 linear feet folders)
Series 5: Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Records and Looted Inventories, circa 1942-1950 (Box 3, 5, OV 6; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1938-1970 (Box 3-5; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbook, 1936-1948 (Box 4; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 8: Printed Materials, 1934-1980 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Thomas Carr Howe, Jr. (1904-1994) served as the director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly four decades and, during World War II, as an officer in the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit assisting with locating, recovering, and restituting cultural objects and artwork stolen by the Nazis.
Howe was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1904. He studied at Harvard University where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Howe was the assistant director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from 1931-1939 and director from 1939-1968. Howe was also the art commissioner for the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940) for which he organized an exhibition showcasing Mexican muralists.
During World War II, Howe joined the U.S. army and served from 1945 to 1946 in Germany and Austria. He began as a naval lieutenant but was soon assigned to serve in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) section. Howe reported to Lieutenant Commander George Stout at Wiesbaden, and was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Deputy Chief of the MFAA at Frankfurt. During his service as one of the "Monuments Men" Howe located hidden and recovered large repositories of cultural objects and works of art stolen by the Nazis. He also helped with the restitution effort. At the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, Howe helped salvage a large cache of stolen artwork that included Michelangelo's Madonna and Child and the Ghent Altarpiece or The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Vermeer's The Artists Studio, and the Rothschild family jewels. Howe later described his wartime work in his book Salt Mines and Castles: The Discovery and Restitution of Looted European Art (1946).
Howe resumed his position as the director of the California Palace of the Legion on Honor after the war, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. Through his career as a prominent art director, Howe was close with many American and international museum professionals, collectors and socialites. Friends and colleagues include Agnes Mongan and Paul Sachs (both former directors of Harvard's Fogg Museum), Whitney Warren, and Gerda and Hans-Erich Von Schmidt auf Altenstadt.
For his wartime service as a Monuments Men, Howe was honored with the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and the Officier of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau in 1946. At the request of the federal government, Howe also later served as the Cultural Affairs Advisor to the High Commissioner of Germany from 1950-1951, during which time he returned to Germany with S. Lane Faison, another MFAA official, to assist with closing the central collecting points where the recovered artworks has been held for restitution. From 1960-1968, Howe was a member of the Fine Arts Committee for The White House and he continued to serve on numerous panels and commissions as an art advisor.
Howe married Francesca Deering. Together they had one daughter Francesca.
Related Material:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American are the papers of several additional members of the U. S. Army MFAA section. There is an oral history interview with Thomas Carr Howe and Robert Neuhaus conducted by Paul Karlstrom and Peter Fairbanks on September 26, 1987 and another with Howe conducted by Paul Karlstrom on June 2-3, 1976.
Provenance:
Thomas Carr Howe donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in multiple installments from 1979 to 1982.
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:
Arts administrators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Topic:
Cultural property -- Protection -- Europe -- History -- 20th century Search this
Art thefts -- Germany -- History -- 20th century Search this
Museum directors -- California -- San Francisco Search this
