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:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Brown Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
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:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Brown Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
14.5 cu. ft. (14 record storage boxes) (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Books
Brochures
Manuscripts
Date:
1991-1995
Descriptive Entry:
These records concern budgeting and financial planning concerns of the Smithsonian in all its bureaus and offices. Records include both federal and trust budget planning
documents covering regular operating needs of the Institution and special requirements such as those posed by the Columbus Quincentenary, capital funds drives for the trust
endowment, and the Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution.
These records document the meetings of the Committee. From them are taken the printed versions which appear in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.
Historical Note:
An Executive Committee of the Board of Regents was provided by the Act of August 10, 1846, creating the Smithsonian Institution. In the early years this body discharged
many responsibilities for the Board, which met only twice a year and could scarcely be assembled with any speed, given the state of transportation. Thus, many of the early
members were Regents already residing or stationed in Washington. The Permanent Committee, created in 1894 by the Regents, was responsible for detailed management of bequests
and gifts to the Institution. In practice the Permanent and Executive Committees frequently merged in their functions. While some of the Executive Committee's more routine
duties, such as auditing Smithsonian accounts, have been delegated to professional administrators, the Committee remains a central agenda body for the Regents.
This accession consists of records documenting budget planning for the Smithsonian Institution from 1963 to 1973. The records primarily consist of correspondence, memoranda,
statistics, and reports pertaining to employment; funding and operating costs for Museums, offices, and special programs; personnel salaries and expenses; Congressional hearings
regarding fiscal allotments and obligations; budget estimates; and analysis of base resources.
39.88 cu. ft. (39 record storage boxes) (1 document box) (1 film box) (12 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Architectural drawings
Floor plans
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Drawings
Date:
1969-1992, with related records from 1948
Descriptive Entry:
These records contain the Director's correspondence files from 1975 to 1991, as well as smaller files created by Rohlfing, Pfister, and Scherer. In addition, the records
include administrative and subject files from 1970 to 1988. These files document museum functions such as acquisitions, collections management, and budgeting, as well as larger
initiatives such as the Museum Mile street festival, which was conceived by the Cooper-Hewitt and inaugurated in June 1979. They also contain a complete collection of the
Museum's newsletter from its first issue in the fall of 1977 through the spring 1990 issue; and photographs, plans, and drawings of proposed renovations to the Carnegie Mansion.
The records contain exhibition files dating from 1972 to 1992, with some gaps. The files include exhibition designs; publicity and press reviews; visitor comments; correspondence
with other institutions and museums regarding the loan of objects; label copy; budgets and funding materials; lists of objects; and contracts. Also documented are Museum publications
such as Cities (1982); The Phenomenon of Change (1984); and the Smithsonian Illustrated Library of Antiques, a twelve-part series begun in 1979 and published in association
with the Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC). Publication files consist of correspondence with authors, contributors, subscribers, and publishers; progress reports; photographs
of artwork; requests for reproduction permission; background research files; publicity and advertising files; production files; and contracts. Some materials are in electronic
format.
Historical Note:
These records document the administration of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (CHM) under directors Lisa Suter Taylor and Dianne H. Pilgrim. Taylor's appointment in October
1969 marked the first appointment of a woman as director of a Smithsonian museum. Previously, she had been a program director with the Smithsonian Associates. Taylor was made
Director Emeritus after her retirement in June 1987. Pilgrim became Director in November 1988 after serving as Curator and Chair of the Department of Decorative Arts at the
Brooklyn Museum.
Other staff also created some of the records. H. Christian Rohlfing joined the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in 1954 and, as Acting Administrator, oversaw its transition to a Smithsonian
bureau. He then served as Assistant Director for Collections Management from 1979 until his retirement in 1982. Harold F. Pfister joined the Museum in 1982 as Assistant Director.
He became Acting Director upon Taylor's retirement and resigned in 1988. Peter M. Scherer became Administrative Assistant to the Director in 1979 and rose to Special Assistant
to the Director before leaving the Museum in 1983.
56 cu. ft. (56 record storage boxes) (1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1881, 1895-1976
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These records document the administration of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum from its establishment until its reopening in 1976 in the Carnegie Mansion. Although there is
some material concerning the activities of Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Sarah Cooper Hewitt, the majority of the records deal with the management of the Museum following Sarah
Cooper Hewitt's death in 1930. Records of Mary S. M. Gibson, curator, 1904-1945; Calvin S. Hathaway, curator, 1946-1951, and director, 1951-1963; H. Christian Rohlfing, acting
administrator, 1963-1968; Richard P. Wunder, director, 1968-1969; and Lisa Taylor, director, 1969- , are included.
The records include correspondence, memoranda, reports, publications, notes, photographs, and forms concerning the administrative operation of the Museum, including financial,
personnel, buildings and equipment, and fund-raising activities; the acquisition, care, and use of the Museum's collections; exhibits, programs, and activities sponsored by
the Museum; research activities of the staff and outside researchers; and Museum publications. Correspondents include staff of the parent organizations, the Cooper Union and
the Smithsonian Institution; museums; art historians; donors; contributors; and the general public. A small amount of material documents the activities and history of the
Cooper and Hewitt families, and of the Cooper Union. Some materials date to when the Museum was part of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Historical Note:
The Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design was established in 1896 as the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. Its parent organization, the Cooper
Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper as a free school for the working classes of New York City. In his original plans for Cooper
Union, Peter Cooper made provisions for a museum, but these plans were not immediately carried out.
In 1895, Peter Cooper's granddaughters, Eleanor Garnier Hewitt, Sarah Cooper Hewitt, and Amy Hewitt Green, asked the trustees of the Cooper Union for room in which to install
a Museum for Arts of Decoration, modeled after the Musee des Arts Decoratifs of Paris. The purpose of the museum was to provide the art students of Cooper Union, students
of design, and working designers with study collections of the decorative arts. The trustees assigned the fourth floor of the Cooper Union's Foundation Building to the sisters,
and the Museum was opened to the public in 1897.
Until the death of Sarah Cooper Hewitt, the management of the Museum was essentially in the hands of the Hewitt sisters as directors. Following Sarah's death in 1930, the
trustees of the Cooper Union appointed a board of four directors, with Constance P. Hare as chairman, to administer the Museum. When Edwin S. Burdell became director of the
Cooper Union in 1938, the Museum was made part of his administrative responsibility, the Board of Directors was abolished, and an Advisory Council on the Museum, responsible
for matters relating to the Museum's collections, was set up. Curators and custodians of the Museum included Mary A. Peoli, 1898-1904; Mary S. M. Gibson, 1904-1945; and Calvin
S. Hathaway, 1946-1963 (curator, 1946-1951, and director, 1951-1963).
In 1963, the Cooper Union began consideration of plans to discontinue the Museum because of the financial demands of the other divisions of the Union and the absence of
a close relationship between the programs of the Museum and the Art School. The announcement of the plans led to a considerable public outcry, and a Committee to Save the
Cooper Union Museum, headed by Henry F. duPont, was established. Negotiations among the Committee, the Cooper Union, and the Smithsonian Institution led to the Museum's transfer
to the Smithsonian on July 1, 1968. The Museum was renamed the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design and in 1969 acquired its present name. In 1970, the Museum moved into its present
home, the Carnegie Mansion, which was renovated and reopened to the public in 1976. Heads of the Museum since 1963 have been H. Christian Rohlfing, acting administrator, 1963-1968;
Richard P. Wunder, director 1968-1969; and Lisa Taylor, director, 1969- .
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
This accession consists of 1996 fiscal year budget files, organized by Smithsonian Institution office or bureau. Materials include budget calls, justifications, and
other working papers.
10 cu. ft. (9 record storage boxes) (2 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1971-1986
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of trust fund budget records, including summary reports, work papers, correspondence and memoranda. Records were produced over several years,
under several filing systems. Records are arranged alphabetically, but certain bureaus/offices/museums may be filed under different headings (e.g., Museum of History and Technology
filed under "M" in one filing system, and National Museum of History and Technology filed under "N" in another filing system).
This accession consists of fiscal year budget records documenting the formulation and execution of the Smithsonian's federal and trust budgets. Materials include budget
submissions, Congressional hearings and justifications, allotments and allocations, apportionments, and reports.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 98-183, Smithsonian Institution. Office of Planning, Management and Budget, Miscellaneous Fiscal, Work, Unit and Topic Files
This accession consists of fiscal year budget files, organized by Smithsonian Institution office or bureau. Materials include budget calls, justifications, and other
working papers.
This accession consists of records documenting budget planning for museums and offices at the Smithsonian Institution. Materials include the correspondence, memoranda,
and notes of Nancy D. Suttenfield, Director of the Office of Planning and Budget; working files pertaining to building restoration and renovation projects; reports; meeting
minutes; allotments and allocations information; budget schedules; Congressional hearing actions and resolutions concerning fiscal appropriations to the Institution; and budget
proposals.
