Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Search Results

Collections Search Center
368 documents - page 1 of 19

Milch Gallery records, 1911-1995

Creator:
Milch Gallery  Search this
Subject:
Barmore, Charles  Search this
Barr, Charles H.  Search this
Ballin, Hugo  Search this
Barlow, Myron  Search this
Baer, Martin  Search this
Ascher, Mary G. (Mary Goldman)  Search this
Azzaretti, Faust  Search this
Biddle, George  Search this
Blackburn, Morris  Search this
Bellows, George  Search this
Benson, Frank Weston  Search this
Baumann, Gustave  Search this
Barr, Norman  Search this
Barrymore, Lionel  Search this
Acheson, Alice  Search this
Aiken, Charles Avery  Search this
Albee, Grace  Search this
Twachtman, John Henry  Search this
Tryon, Dwight William  Search this
Trebilcock, Paul  Search this
Thayer, Abbott Handerson  Search this
Anderson, Karl  Search this
Warneke, Heinz (Heinrich)  Search this
Varian, Dorothy  Search this
Ufer, Walter  Search this
Weir, Julian Alden  Search this
Weir, John F. (John Ferguson)  Search this
Watkins, Franklin Chenault  Search this
Wiles, Irving Ramsay  Search this
Laufman, Sidney  Search this
Wiggins, Carleton  Search this
Appel, Marianne  Search this
Wickey, Harry  Search this
White, Henry Cooke  Search this
Zucker, Jacques  Search this
Woodward, Robert Strong  Search this
Waugh, Frederick Judd  Search this
Gonzalez, Xavier  Search this
Bacon, Peggy  Search this
Arms, John Taylor  Search this
Moffett, Ross  Search this
Milch, Edward  Search this
Moran, Thomas  Search this
Mora, F. Luis (Francis Luis)  Search this
Meyerowitz, William  Search this
Milch, Albert  Search this
Manship, Paul  Search this
Archipenko, Alexander  Search this
MacRae, Emma Fordyce  Search this
Beal, Reynolds  Search this
Metcalf, Willard Leroy  Search this
Melchers, Gari  Search this
Low, Will Hicok  Search this
Linde, Ossip L.  Search this
Lutz, Dan  Search this
Lucioni, Luigi  Search this
Woodward, Stanley Wingate  Search this
Lawson, Ernest  Search this
Lever, Hayley  Search this
Lie, Jonas  Search this
Kingman, Dong  Search this
Kroll, Leon  Search this
Kronberg, Louis  Search this
Wyeth, Andrew  Search this
Kupferman, Lawrence Edward  Search this
Ireland, Leroy  Search this
Judson, Alice  Search this
Kalish, Max  Search this
Katz, A. Raymond (Alexander Raymond)  Search this
Sheets, Millard  Search this
Heinz, Charles  Search this
Hennings, E. Martin  Search this
Henri, Robert  Search this
Hopkinson, Charles  Search this
Tanner, Henry Ossawa  Search this
Sterner, Albert  Search this
Sterne, Maurice  Search this
Speight, Francis  Search this
Speicher, Eugene Edward  Search this
Shuster, Will  Search this
Sharp, Joseph Henry  Search this
Shapiro, David  Search this
Schofield, Walter Elmer  Search this
Sawyer, Wells  Search this
Sample, Paul  Search this
Ryerson, Margery  Search this
Ryder, Chauncey F.  Search this
Rungius, Carl  Search this
Romano, Umberto  Search this
Redfield, Edward Willis  Search this
Ritschel, William  Search this
Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel  Search this
Pugh, Mabel  Search this
Pleissner, Ogden M.  Search this
Pollet, Joseph C.  Search this
Perrine, Van Dearing  Search this
Pittman, Hobson Lafayette  Search this
Parshall, DeWitt  Search this
Pearson, Ralph M.  Search this
Oberteuffer, Karl A. (Karl Amiard)  Search this
Ochtman, Leonard  Search this
Myers, Jerome  Search this
Adams, Charles L.  Search this
Nagler, Edith Kroger  Search this
Adams, Wayman  Search this
Murphy, Hermann Dudley  Search this
Murphy, John Francis  Search this
Curran, Charles C. (Charles Courtney)  Search this
Crane, Bruce  Search this
Davey, Randall  Search this
Daingerfield, Elliott  Search this
DeCamp, Joseph  Search this
De Groot, Adelaide Milton  Search this
Dessar, Louis Paul  Search this
Dehn, Adolf  Search this
Calder, Alexander Stirling  Search this
Butler, Howard Russell  Search this
Chamberlain, Samuel  Search this
Carroll, John  Search this
Christy, Howard Chandler  Search this
Cheffetz, Asa  Search this
Congdon, William  Search this
Cole, Alphaeus Philemon  Search this
Breckenridge, Hugh H. (Hugh Henry)  Search this
Bridgman, Frederick Arthur  Search this
Browne, George Elmer  Search this
Bruce, Edward  Search this
Brush, George de Forest  Search this
Buck, Claude  Search this
Burlin, Paul  Search this
Burr, George Elbert  Search this
Blakelock, Ralph Albert  Search this
Blanch, Arnold  Search this
Blanch, Lucile  Search this
Bluemner, Oscar  Search this
Pène Du Bois, Guy  Search this
Blumenschein, Ernest Leonard  Search this
Bohm, Max  Search this
Bohrod, Aaron  Search this
Bosa, Louis  Search this
Hart, George Overbury  Search this
Halpert, Samuel  Search this
Grosz, George  Search this
Gregory, Waylande  Search this
Heerman, Norbert Leo  Search this
Hassam, Childe  Search this
Haskell, Ernest  Search this
Hartmann, Sadakichi  Search this
Gaspard, Leon  Search this
Ganso, Emil  Search this
Gallagher, Sears  Search this
Fuchs, Emil  Search this
Gregory, John  Search this
Greenwood, Marion  Search this
Genth, Lillian Mathilde  Search this
Feshin, Nikola? Ivanovich  Search this
Fenton, Beatrice  Search this
Etnier, Stephen  Search this
Farnsworth, Jerry  Search this
Fredenthal, David  Search this
French, Daniel Chester  Search this
FitzGerald, James  Search this
Flagg, James Montgomery  Search this
Dike, Phil  Search this
Donoho, Gaines Ruger  Search this
Dewing, Thomas Wilmer  Search this
Diederich, William Hunt  Search this
Eakins, Susan Macdowell  Search this
Duncan, Charles  Search this
Vonnoh, Robert William, 1858-1933  Search this
Milch Galleries  Search this
E. and A. Milch  Search this
Type:
Gallery records
Photographs
Citation:
Milch Gallery records, 1911-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Gallery owners  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Theme:
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)8207
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)210378
AAA_collcode_milcgall
Theme:
Art Gallery Records
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_210378
Online Media:

Macbeth Gallery records, 1947-1948, bulk 1892-1953

Creator:
Macbeth Gallery  Search this
Subject:
Stuart, Gilbert  Search this
Weir, Robert Walter  Search this
Macbeth, William  Search this
McIntyre, Robert G. (Robert George)  Search this
Macbeth, Robert W. (Robert Walker)  Search this
Hartley, Marsden  Search this
Homer, Winslow  Search this
Type:
Daguerreotypes
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Macbeth Gallery records, 1947-1948, bulk 1892-1953. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Eight (Group of American artists)  Search this
Artists -- United States  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Theme:
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9703
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211939
AAA_collcode_macbgall
Theme:
Art Gallery Records
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211939
Online Media:

Macbeth Gallery records

Creator:
Macbeth Gallery  Search this
Names:
Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this
Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this
Macbeth, Robert W. (Robert Walker), 1884-1940  Search this
Macbeth, William, 1851-1917  Search this
McIntyre, Robert G. (Robert George), b. 1885  Search this
Stuart, Gilbert, 1755-1828  Search this
Weir, Robert Walter, 1803-1889  Search this
Extent:
131.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Daguerreotypes
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Date:
1947-1948
1838-1968
bulk 1892-1953
Summary:
The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. Through extensive correspondence files, financial and inventory records, printed material, scrapbooks, reference and research material, and photographs of artists and works of art, the records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.
Scope and Content Note:
The Macbeth Gallery records provide almost complete coverage of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1892 to its closing in 1953. The records document all aspects of the gallery's activities, charting William Macbeth's initial intention to lease his store "for the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures" through over sixty years of success as a major New York firm devoted to American art. The collection measures 131.6 linear feet and dates from 1838 to 1968 with the bulk of the material dating from 1892 to 1953.

The gallery's correspondence files form the core of the collection and illuminate most aspects of American art history: the creation and sale of works of art, the development of reputations, the rise of museums and art societies, change and resistance to change in the art market, and the evolution of taste. Ninety-five feet of correspondence house substantial and informative letters from dozens of important American painters and sculptors, including older artists and younger contemporaries of the gallery in its later years. There are also letters from collectors, curators, other galleries, and critics.

The financial files found in the collection offer insight into the changing economic climate in which the gallery operated. They include information ranging from the details of individual sales and the market for individual artists, to consignment activities and artist commissions, to overviews of annual sales. This information is augmented by the firm's inventory records and the photographs of artwork with their accompanying records of paintings sold. The inventory records provide details of all works of art handled by the gallery, both sold and unsold, and the buyers who purchased them; the photographs of artwork include images of artwork sold with accompanying sales information.

The highlight of the gallery's printed material is the publication Art Notes. Although published only until 1930, Art Notes provides an excellent and detailed view of the gallery's exhibition schedule and the relationship of the gallery owners with many of the artists whose work they handled. It was a house organ that also provided a running commentary on events in the art world. The gallery's 19 fragile scrapbooks, maintained throughout the firm's history, provide further coverage of activities through exhibition catalogs and related news clippings. Printed material from other sources provides a frame of reference for activities in the art world from the mid-19th to the mid-20th-centuries and includes an almost complete run of the rare and important pre-Civil War art publication The Crayon.

Reference files record the interest which the gallery owners took in the work of early portrait painters and in later artists such as George Inness and Winslow Homer. Together with the immense volume of correspondence with buyers and sellers of paintings by the great portraitists and the Hudson River School found in the gallery's correspondence files, these records are still useful sources of information today and underscore the deep interest that the Macbeths and Robert McIntyre took in 18th and 19th-century American art.

The photographs of artists found here are a treasure trove of images of some of the major figures of the 19th and 20th-centuries. There are photographs of artists such as Chester Beach, Emil Carlsen, Charles Melville Dewey, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Maurice Prendergast, and Julian Alden Weir, many of them original prints and the majority of them autographed.

With the exception of the "The Eight" and a few of their contemporaries, an important aspect of art history, the modernist movement, is generally represented in the Macbeth Gallery records only in a negative form as the three successive proprietors of the gallery showed very little interest in this area. Nevertheless, the collection is a highly significant source of information on many of the major and minor figures in American art in the period after 1890.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1838-1968 (Box 1-95, 163-164, OV 165; 96.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Financial and Shipping Records, 1892-1956 (Box 96-110; 11.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Inventory Records, 1892-circa 1957 (Box 111-113; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1838-1963 (Box 114-119, 162; 5.0 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1892-1952 (Box 120-130; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Reference Files, 1839-1959 (Box 131-132; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1912-1956 (Box 133-134; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1880-circa 1968 (Box 135-161; 12.1 linear feet)
Historical Note:
The Macbeth Gallery was established in 1892 by William Macbeth, a Scotch-Irish immigrant who had spent ten years with the print dealer Frederick Keppel before he opened his doors to the art-buying public at 237 Fifth Avenue in New York. Despite the prevailing interest in foreign art at that time, particularly in that of the Barbizon and Dutch schools, Macbeth was determined to dedicate his gallery to "the permanent exhibition and sale of American pictures, both in oil and water colors."

Although some of the gallery's earliest exhibitions were of work by European artists, the business soon became the only gallery in continuous operation that kept American art permanently on display. In the January 1917 issue of Art Notes, Macbeth recounts those early days remembering that "The opening of my gallery......was a rash venture under the existing conditions, and disaster was freely predicted." Nevertheless, he struggled through the financial crisis of 1893 and persisted with his devotion to American art; slowly the market for his pictures grew more amenable.

Macbeth moved to more spacious quarters at 450 Fifth Avenue in 1906 and two years later undertook what was to become the major event in the gallery's early history: the 1908 exhibition of "The Eight," featuring work by Arthur B. Davies, Willam J. Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan. "The Eight" were an unlikely combination of social realists, visionaries and impressionists eager to challenge the dominating influence of the National Academy. The exhibition received an immense amount of publicity and instantly entered into art history as a successful assault on tradition.

Despite the splash that the exhibition made and its implications for the future of American art, nothing that the gallery did subsequently indicated that Macbeth intended to capitalize on its significance. It is true that Macbeth supported many artists later considered leaders in American art when the public would pay no attention to them because of their modernist tendencies; Arthur B. Davies, Paul Dougherty, Maurice Prendergast, Theodore Robinson, and F. Ballard Williams all held their first exhibitions at his gallery. Nevertheless, neither Macbeth nor the gallery's two successive proprietors, Robert G. McIntyre (William's nephew) and Robert Macbeth (William's son), who joined the gallery in 1903 and 1906 respectively, ever developed a true interest in modern art. The November 1930 issue of Art Notes summarizes their collective disdain for modernism, stating: "We believe that, by and large, modern art is amusing. We are heretical enough to believe that much of it was started for the amusement of its creators and that no one was more surprised than they when it was taken seriously by a certain audience to whom the bizarre and the unintelligible always makes an appeal." So while the Macbeths and McIntyre cetainly championed American artists and insisted they deserved as much recognition as the Europeans, their deepest and most abiding interest was undoubtedly the established artists of the 18th and 19th-centuries and those of the early 20th-century who continued in a more conservative style. Artists such as Emil Carlsen, Charles Harold Davis, Frederick C. Frieseke, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Chauncey F. Ryder, Abbot Handerson Thayer, J. Francis Murphy, A. H. Wyant were the gallery's bread and butter.

When William Macbeth died in 1917 Robert Macbeth took up the reins with the assistance of Robert G. McIntyre . Although they incorporated the business as William Macbeth, Inc., in 1918 the gallery continued to be known, as it always would be, simply as Macbeth Gallery. Macbeth and McIntyre continued to show work in the same vein as the elder Macbeth. They concentrated primarily on oil paintings at this time, having found by the 1920s that "oils are all that our gallery owners will buy," though they also exhibited an occasional group of watercolors and pastels in addition to bronzes and other sculpture by contemporary American artists such as Chester Beach and Janet Scudder.

Of the early American painters the Macbeths and McIntyre were particularly interested in colonial portraits and miniatures, especially those painted by prominent artists in the latter part of the eighteenth century such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully and John Trumbull. In its early years the gallery also handled the work of a few prominent American etchers including Frank W. Benson, Emil Fuchs, Daniel Garber, Childe Hassam and Chauncey F. Ryder. The print department was generally discontinued, however, in the late 1930s although the gallery continued to show prints by contemporaries such as Stow Wengenroth.

In 1924 relative prosperity allowed the gallery to move uptown to 15 East Fifty-seventh Street. When the 1930s brought new financial hardship for the gallery Macbeth and McIntyre took a variety of approaches to boosting sales. In 1930 they decided to hold only group exhibitions throughout the season to the exclusion of one-man shows, and also held some special exhibitions of paintings priced at a hundred dollars each in the hope that they could tempt those "willing to take advantage of a rare chance to secure representative examples of good art at a most attractive price." A move to smaller quarters at 15 East Fifty-seventh Street in 1935 was made with the intention of concentrating their efforts on the work of fewer contemporary artists, while continuing to handle the work of the older Americans they had long supported.

When Macbeth died suddenly and unexpectedly in August 1940 following an operation for appendicitis, McIntyre continued to run the gallery with the assistance of Hazel Lewis. During the 1940s McIntyre and Lewis showed primarily contemporary art in a wide range of media including oil, watercolor, pastel, drawing and sculpture, while continuing, as always, to show the occasional group of 19th-century Americans. The great success of the gallery's later years was undeniably Andrew Wyeth whose first exhibition, held at Macbeth Gallery in 1937, resulted in the sale of all twenty-two paintings cataloged.

Although subsequent Wyeth exhibitions were also successful, McIntyre struggled financially throughout the 1940s and periodically considered liquidating the company. Although "vitally interested" in contemporary art by people such as Robert Brackman, Jay Connaway, Carl Gaertner, James Lechay, Herbert Meyer and Ogden M. Pleissner he found that, for the most part, it did not pay. McIntyre continued operations until 1953 when he decided that doing so for profit was not only a financial burden but also ran contrary to his desire to spend more time devoted to his first love, early American art. When the lease expired on 11 East Fifty-seventh Street in April 1953 McIntyre did not renew it. After closing the gallery's doors he sold art from his New York apartment and from his home in Dorset, Vermont. He officially dissolved William Macbeth, Inc., in 1957.

The history of the Macbeth Gallery is a long and distinguished one with each successive proprietor making a significant contribution to art in America. William Macbeth helped establish an audience and a market for American art when few were willing to give it serious consideration. Robert Macbeth continued to cement the gallery's reputation as one of the leading firms in New York and was instrumental in organizing the American Art Dealers Association. Robert G. McIntyre claimed in a letter to Lloyd Goodrich, dated 22 June 1945, that the thing of which he was most proud was "the share I have had in the formation of the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art, at Andover, Massacusetts." McIntyre was widely respected in the art community as a dealer, as an adviser to curators, and as a scholar whose research and book on Martin Johnson Heade helped "rediscover" an important American artist. One of his most significant and lasting contributions to the history of art in America, however, was undoubtedly his gift of the gallery's historical records to the Archives of American Art.
Related Material:
Among the holdings of the Archives of American are a small collection of scattered Robert McIntyre's papers and 9 items of William Macbeth's papers. Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also available in the American Art Exhibition Catalog collection and the Brooklyn Museum Records, both loaned and microfilmed collections.

An extensive collection of Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs are also held by the Frick Art Reference Library and the Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Provenance:
The bulk of the Macbeth Gallery records were donated and microfilmed in several installments between 1955 and 1966 by Robert G. McIntyre and Estate. Additional Macbeth Gallery printed material was donated by Phoebe C. and William Macbeth II, grandchildren of William Macbeth, in 1974.
Restrictions:
Use of 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.
Topic:
Eight (Group of American artists)  Search this
Artists -- United States  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
Genre/Form:
Daguerreotypes
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk 1892 to 1953. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.macbgall
See more items in:
Macbeth Gallery records
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9755cec30-3318-4f15-a7b7-031c448a7a46
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-macbgall
Online Media:

Charles Lang Freer Papers

Creator:
Freer, Charles Lang, 1856-1919  Search this
Extent:
131 Linear feet (29 architectural drawings)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Financial records
Correspondence
Photographs
Place:
China
Syria
Egypt
India
London (England)
Japan
Boston (Mass.)
Detroit (Mich.)
Washington (D.C.)
Kandy (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka
Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)
Date:
1876-1931
Summary:
The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs.
Scope Content:
The personal papers of Charles Lang Freer, the industrialist and art collector who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. The papers include correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, financial material, architectural drawings, and photographs.

Correspondence, circa 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; letterpress books contain copies of Freer's outgoing letters, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler's mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer's letters from his associates, and regarding the settlement of his estate.

Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910. Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art.

Correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenollosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Organization of the Papers:
This collection is organized into twelve series.

Series 1: Genealogical and Biographical Data

Series 2: Correspondence

Series 3: Diaries

Series 4: Freer Colleague Materials

Series 5: Art Inventories

Series 6: Financial Materials

Series 7: Exhibition Loan Files

Series 8: Biblical Manuscripts and Gold Treasure Files

Series 9: American School of Archaeology in China

Series 10: Printed Material

Series 11: Outsize Material

Series 12: Photographs
Biographical Note:
1854 February 25 -- Born in Kingston, New York

1873 -- Appointed accountant and paymaster of New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad by Frank J. Hecker (1846-1927)

1876 -- Moves to Indiana to work, with Hecker, for the Detroit and Eel River and Illinois Railroad

1880 -- Moves to Detroit, participates in organization of the Peninsular Car Works with Hecker

1883 -- Becomes vice president and secretary of Peninsular Car Company when it succeeds Peninsular Car Works

1883 -- Begins collecting European prints

1884 -- Peninsular Car Company constructs plant on Ferry Avenue

1887 -- Meets Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)

1887 -- Acquires proofs of 26 etchings, Venice, Second Series(1886), by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

1887 -- Purchases a small Japanese fan attributed to Ogata Korin(1658-1715)

1887 -- Buys land on Ferry Avenue

1889 -- Meets Frederick Stuart Church (1826-1900) and Dwight William Tryon (1849-1925) in New York

1890 -- Commissions Wilson Eyre (1858-1944) to design house on Ferry Avenue, Detroit, Michigan

1890 -- On first trip to London, meets James McNeill Whistler(1834-1903)

1892 -- Moves to Ferry Avenue house

1892 -- Tryon and Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) undertake decoration of reception rooms

1893 -- Lends American paintings to World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago

1893 -- Purchases first piece of Chinese art, a small painting of white herons by an anonymous Ming dynasty (1368-1644) artist

1894 -- Begins yearlong trip around the world, which includes visit to the Whistlers in Paris and first trip to Asia, stopping in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, China, and Japan

1896 -- Meets Matsuki Bunkyo (1867-1940) in Boston

1899 -- Takes part in consolidation of railroad-car building companies then retires from active business

1900 -- Attends Exposition International Universelle in Paris

1900 -- Buys villa in Capri with Thomas S. Jerome

1901 -- Meets Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) in Paris and Ernest Fenollosa(1853-1908), who visits Freer in Detroit

1902 -- Meets Dikran Kelekian (1868-1951)

1902 -- Spends summer in Britain building Whistler collection

1902 -- Views Whistler's, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room

1904 -- Purchases Whistler's Peacock Room

1904 -- Offers his art collections and funds to build a museum in which to house them to the Smithsonian Institution

1905 -- Smithsonian committee visits Freer in Detroit

1906 -- United States government formally accepts Freer's gift on January 24

1906 -- Freer signs Deed of Gift to Smithsonian Institution on May 5

1907 -- On second tour of Asia, meets Hara Tomitaro 1868-1939) in Yokohama, Japan

1908 -- Takes third trip to Asia, specifically to West Asia to study Rakka ware

1909 -- Tours Europe to study art museums

1909 -- On fourth trip to Asia, attends memorial ceremony for Fenollosa (d.1908 September) at Miidera, Japan, and meets Duanfang (1861-1911) in China

1910 -- On last trip to Asia, visits Longmen Buddhist caves in China

1911 -- Suffers stroke

1912 -- Lends selection of objects for exhibition at Smithsonian Institution

1913 -- Meets Eugene (1875-1957) and Agnes E. (1887-1970) Meyer

1913 -- Commissions Charles Adams Platt (1861-1933) to design museum building in Washington

1914 -- Meets Katharine Nash Rhoades (1885-1965) in Detroit

1915 -- Settles in New York City

1915 -- Site of future Freer Gallery of Art is determined

1916 -- Platt's plans for Freer Gallery are approved by Smithsonian Regents and Commission of Fine Arts and ground is broken in September

1918 -- After falling ill in Detroit, Freer travels to New York for treatment

1918 -- Work on the museum building is delayed by the war

1919 -- Freer appends codicil to will permitting acquisitions of Asian, Egyptian, and Near Eastern (West Asian) art

1919 -- Dies in New York City on 25 September and is buried in Kingston, New York

1919 -- Construction of Freer Gallery completed

1920 -- John Ellerton Lodge (1876-1942) is appointed director of the Freer Gallery

1923 -- Freer Gallery opens to the public on May 9

1930 -- Memorial ceremony for Freer is held at Koetsuji, Kyoto

Charles Lang Freer was an American industrialist who founded the Freer Gallery of Art. He was a well-known collector of Asian art, and strongly supported the synthesis of Eastern art and Western art. One of his most famous acquisitions was James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room.
Index:
Index to cross-referenced correspondents in the series Charles Lang Freer correspondence

Beal, Junius E. -- See: -- Warring, Joseph Stephens

Black, George M. -- See: -- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus

Board of Education (Kingston, New York) See: Michael, M. J.

Bonner, Campbell See: University of Michigan

Boughton, George H. See: Yardley, F. C.

British Museum See: Binyon, Laurence; Hobson, R. L.

Brown, Harold H. See: Art Association of Indianapolis

Buchner, Evelyn B. See: Knoedler, M., and Company

Buckholder, C. H. See: Art Institute of Chicago

Butler, S. B. See: Unidentified correspondents

Carnegie Institute See: Balken, Edward Duff; Harshe, Robert B.

Carpenter, Newton H. See: Art Institute of Chicago

Caulkins, Horace James See: Pewabic Pottery

Chao, Shih-chin See: Gunn, Chu Su

Chicago & North Western Railway Co. See: Hughett, Marvin

Clark, Charles Upson See: Clark, Arthur B.

Cleveland Museum of Art See: Whiting, Frederic Allen

Columbia University See: Braun, W. A.; Gottheil, Richard; Hirth, Friederich

Commission of Fine Arts See: Moore, Charles

Corcoran Gallery of Art See: Minnigerode, C. Powell

Crocker, Anna B. See: Portland Art Association

Dannenberg, D. E. See: Karlbeck, Orvar

De Menoncal, Beatrice See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection

De Ricci, Seymour See: Ricci, Seymour de

Defnet, William A., Mrs., See: Franke, Ida M.

DeMotte See: Vigouroux, J.

Detroit Institute of Arts See: Detroit Museum of Art

Detroit Publishing Company See: Livingstone, W. A.

Detroit School of Design See: George Hamilton; Stevens, Henry

DeVinne Press See: Peters, Samuel T.; Witherspoon, A. S.

Dyrenforth, P. C. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Eddy, Arthur J. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Eggers, George Williams See: Art Institute of Chicago

Farr, Daniel H. See: Robinson and Farr

Farrand School (Detroit) See: Yendall, Edith

Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) See: Laufer, Berthold

Flagg, Frederick J. See: Allen, Horace N.

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University See: Forbes, Edward; Pope, Arthur Upham; Sachs, Paul J.

French, M. R. See: Art Institute of Chicago

Fu, Lan-ya See: Pang, Lai-ch'en

Fujii, Yoshio See: Yoshio, Fujii

Gerrity, Thomas See: Knoedler, M., and Company

Goupil Gallery See: Marchant, William

Gray, William J. See: Barr, Eva

Great Lakes Engineering Works See: Hoyt, H. W.

Grolier Club See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Heinemann, W. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Holden, Edward S. See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy

Hudson, J. L. See: Weber, William C.

Hutchins, Harry B. See: University of Michigan

Hutchins, Charles L. See: Art Institute of Chicago

Kelekian, H. G. See: Kelekian, Dikran G.

Kent, H. W. See: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lee, Kee Son See: Li, Chi-ch'un

Levy, John See: Schneider, A. K.

Library of Congress See: Rice, Richard A.; Wright, Helen

Louvre (Paris, France) See: Midgeon, Gaston

Matsuki, Z. See: Matsuki, Kihachiro

McKim, Mead and White See: White, Stanford

Mills, A. L., Colonel See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus

Miner, Luella See: Lien, Hui Ch'ing Collection

Minneapolis Institute of Arts See: Breck, Joseph; Van Derlip, John R.

Monif, R. Khan See: Rathbun, Richard

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston See: Lodge, John Ellerton

Naser, Katen & Nahass See: Katen, K.

Nordlinger, Marie, Miss See: Meyer-Riefstahl, Marie

Panama Pacific International Exposition See: Moore, Charles C.; Trask, John E. D.

Peabody Museum See: Morse, Edward Sylvester

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Trask, John E. D.

Perry, Mary Chase, Miss., See: Pewabic Pottery

Philip, Ronald M. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Pope, G. D. See: Barr, Eva

Reinhart, A. G. See: Gottschalk, E.

Reitz, Sigisbert Chrétien Bosch See: Bosch-Reitz, Sigisbert Chrétien

Rutgers College See: Van Dyke, John C.

Saint-Gaudens, Augusta H. See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus

Saint-Gaudens, Homer See: Saint-Gaudens, Augustus

Samurai Shokai See: Nomura, Yozo

San Francisco Art Association See: Laurvik, J. Nilsen

Scribner's, Charles, Sons See: Van Dyke, John C.

Shaw, Wilfred B. See: University of Michigan

Shirae, S. Z. See: Yamanaka and Company

Smith College See: Clark, Arthur B.

Smithsonian Institution See: Holmes, William Henry; Rathbun, Richard; Ravenel, Walcott, Charles D.

Society of Arts and Crafts (Detroit) See: Plumb, Helen

Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander

Stevens, George W. See: Toledo Museum of Art

Stratton, Mary Chase Perry See: Pewabic Pottery

Tanaka, Kichijiro See: Yamanaka and Company

Tuttle, William F. See: Art Institute of Chicago

Union Trust Company (Detroit) See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

United States Military Academy See: West Point, U. S. Military Academy

University of Chicago See: Zug, George Breed

University of Pennsylvania, Univ. Mus. See: Gordon, George Bryon

Ushikubo, D. J. R. See: Yamanaka and Company

Wallis & Son See: Barr, Eva; Thompson, C. Croal Ward, Clarence See: Oberlin College

Warren, Edward K. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Warring, Stephen See: Warring, Joseph Stephens

Watkin, Williams R. T. See: Philip, Rosalind Birnie

Watson, Margaret, Miss See: Parker, Margaret Watson

Whistler, Anna See: Stanton, Anna Whistler

Whiting, Almon C. See: Toledo Museum of Art

Williams College See: Rice, Richard A

Wright, F. G. See: Orbach and Company

Yatsuhashi, H. See: Yamanaka and Company
Index to cross-referenced correspondence in the series Whistler correspondence

Bell, William See: Unidentified correspondents

Brown, Ernest See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee

Cowen, John T. See subseries: Charles Lang Freer Correspondence

Ford, Sheridan See: Reid, Alexander

Haden, Francis Seymour See: Painter Etchers' Society, Committee

Haden, Francis Seymour, Lady See: Haden, Deborah Whistler

Leighton, Frederick, Baron See: Campbell, Lady Colin

Moore, Albert See: Reid, Alexander

Morley, Charles See: Pall Mall Gazette

Morris, Harrison S. See: Reid, Alexander

Pennell, Joseph See: Miscellaneous typescripts

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts See: Reid, Alexander

Prange, F. G. See: Reid, Alexander

Societe des Beaux-Arts See: Reid, Alexander

Society of Portrait Painters See: Reid, Alexander

Stevens Fine Art See: Reid, Alexander

Studd, Arthur See: Miscellaneous typescripts

[Vanderbilt?], George, Mrs. See: George, Mrs.

Whistler, William McNeill, Mrs. See: Whistler, Nellie

Whistler Memorial Committee See: Miscellaneous typescripts
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art microfilmed portions of the Freer papers in 1992. The microfilm is available at the Archives of American Art's Washington D.C. office, the Freer Gallery of Art Library, and through interlibrary loan.
Provenance:
Gift of the Estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Architecture -- Asia  Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Financial records
Correspondence
Photographs
Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Identifier:
FSA.A.01
See more items in:
Charles Lang Freer Papers
Archival Repository:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dc3f1a0e3e0-630c-48d4-ba28-485946b1d615
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-fsa-a-01
Online Media:

Marian Gore "Art Scene" interviews and papers, 1958-1969

Creator:
Gore, Marian L.  Search this
Subject:
Mallary, Robert  Search this
Lebrun, Rico  Search this
Kuntz, Roger  Search this
Luna, Mario  Search this
Leavitt, Thomas W.  Search this
Gerchik, Paul  Search this
Greene, Balcomb  Search this
Hopps, Walter  Search this
Hansen, Jurgen  Search this
Goeritz, Mathias  Search this
Elliot, James  Search this
Carter, Earl  Search this
Lipchitz, Jacques  Search this
Cremean, Robert  Search this
Brigante, Nicholas P.  Search this
Blair, Streeter  Search this
Ankrum, Joan  Search this
Albers, Josef  Search this
Siqueiros, David Alfaro  Search this
Albert, Michel (artist)  Search this
Wayne, June  Search this
Nevelson, Louise  Search this
Geoffrey, J. Iqbal  Search this
Vicente, Esteban  Search this
Wark, Robert R.  Search this
Schwaderer, Fritz (Fritz Karl)  Search this
Tamayo, Rufino  Search this
Robles, Esther  Search this
Schniede, Otto  Search this
Cuevas, José Luis  Search this
Ortiz, Emilio  Search this
Falkenstein, Claire  Search this
Comara Gallery  Search this
Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Silvan Simone Gallery  Search this
KPFK (Radio staion : Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Ankrum Gallery  Search this
Ceeje Gallery  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Photographs
Interviews
Transcripts
Citation:
Marian Gore "Art Scene" interviews and papers, 1958-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this
Curators -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this
Gallery owners -- California  Search this
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this
Theme:
Art organizations  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6118
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)216328
AAA_collcode_goremari
Theme:
Art organizations
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_216328
Online Media:

Aline and Eero Saarinen papers, 1906-1977

Creator:
Saarinen, Aline B. (Aline Bernstein), 1914-1972,  Search this
Subject:
White, Stanford  Search this
Saarinen, Eero  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Aline and Eero Saarinen papers, 1906-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Architecture -- United States  Search this
Architects -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Hills  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States  Search this
Women architectural critics  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Theme:
Architecture & Design  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5589
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211237
AAA_collcode_saaralin
Theme:
Architecture & Design
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211237
Online Media:

Aline and Eero Saarinen papers

Creator:
Saarinen, Aline B. (Aline Bernstein), 1914-1972  Search this
Names:
Saarinen, Eero, 1910-1961  Search this
White, Stanford, 1853-1906  Search this
Extent:
14.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1906-1977
Summary:
The Aline and Eero Saarinen papers measure approximately 14.2 linear feet and date from 1906 to 1977. The bulk of the collection consists of Aline Saarinen's papers which document her relationship with her husband Eero Saarinen and other aspects of their personal lives, as well as Aline's work as an art and architectural critic, author, and television correspondent. Papers include research files for published and planned books (in which can be found scattered original letters of Stanford White, John Quinn and Edward Root) and other projects, NBC correspondent files, writings, committee files, correspondence, photographs, printed material, and miscellaneous personal papers.
Scope and Content Note:
The Aline and Eero Saarinen papers measure approximately 14.2 linear feet and date from 1906 to 1977. The bulk of the collection consists of Aline Saarinen's papers which document her relationship with her husband Eero Saarinen and other aspects of their personal lives, as well as Aline's work as an art and architectural critic, author, and television correspondent. Papers include research files for published and planned books (in which can be found scattered original letters of Stanford White, John Quinn and Edward Root) and other projects, NBC correspondent files, writings, committee files, correspondence, photographs, printed material, and miscellaneous personal papers.

The portion of the collection relating to personal aspects of Aline and Eero Saarinen's lives consists of: Aline Saarinen's diary, guest book, notebooks, personal writings, biographical material, awards and honorary degrees; scattered papers of Eero Saarinen, including biographical material, drawings of furniture designs, various sketches and drawings, and some project timelines and notes; correspondence between Aline and Eero Saarinen (the bulk of which dates from the year they met and married), as well as general and family correspondence received by Aline Saarinen and some miscellaneous and personal correspondence of Eero Saarinen; printed material, mostly clippings, documenting aspects of the life, work, and achievements of both Aline and Eero Saarinen; and photographs, including ones of Aline Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Aline and Eero Saarinen together, and family members, as well as ones from various trips and of various residences, and various slides.

The bulk of the collection consists of material, including research and writing files, NBC correspondent files, and committee files, stemming from Aline Saarinen's various professional activities. Writings include manuscripts, typescripts, notes, notecards, and clippings of Aline Saarinen's various articles, lectures and speeches on art and architecture, scripts for television, creative and college writing. Research files include material for Saarinen's published book on art collectors, The Proud Possessors, and her planned, but never completed, biography of the architect, Stanford White. Research material for The Proud Possessors includes files of notes, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and printed material on art collectors, and related material such as scrapbooks of correspondence and clippings in response to the book. Files also include scattered original material, such as correspondence and photographs, belonging to the collectors, John Quinn and Edward Root. Research material on Stanford White includes correspondence, notebooks, writings, printed material, photographs, and copies of architectural drawings. Also found is scattered original material belonging to Bessie White, Stanford White, and the firm of McKim, Mead and White. NBC material consists of files, including correspondence, printed material, notes, scripts, motion picture films and video transfers, and photographs, kept by Aline Saarinen while working as a television correspondent. Also found are miscellaneous research files on artists that may relate to television or other projects and files stemming from her involvement in various arts-related and other committees.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Aline and Eero Saarinen Personal Papers, 1928-1977 (Boxes 1-4, 15, OV 16; 3.7 linear feet)

Series 2: Aline Saarinen Professional Papers, 1906-1969 (Boxes 4-15, OV 16, FC 17-18; 10 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Aline Bernstein Saarinen was born on March 25, 1914 in New York City. She attended Vassar College, where she took art courses and became interested in journalism, and graduated with a B.A. in 1935. She went on to receive her M.A. in the history of architecture from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 1941. She married Joseph H. Louchheim in 1935, and they had two sons, Donald and Harry (or Hal). They divorced in 1951.

Aline joined the staff of Art News Magazine in 1944 and served as managing editor from 1946 to 1948. She edited and provided commentary for the book, 5000 Years of Art in Western Civilization, which was published in 1946. She served as associate art editor and critic at The New York Times from 1948 to 1953 and then as associate art critic from 1954 to 1959. She received awards for her newspaper work, including the International Award for Best Foreign Criticism at the Venice Biennale in 1951, the Frank Jewett Mather Award for best newspaper art criticism in 1953, and the American Federation of Arts Award for best newspaper criticism in 1956.

In 1953, Aline interviewed the architect Eero Saarinen for an article. Eero was born in 1910 in Kirkkonummi, Finland, and received his B.F.A. in Architecture from Yale University in 1934. He began work as an architect in his father Eliel Saarinen's firm and went on to start his own firm, Eero Saarinen and Associates. Among his best-known works are the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, the Trans World Air Lines Terminal Building at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, and Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia.

Aline and Eero became romantically involved shortly after they met and were married in December 1953. The following year, they had a son, Eames (named after Eero's friend, the designer and architect Charles Eames). After their marriage, Aline relocated to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she continued to work as associate art critic for The New York Times and where she served as Director of Information Service in the office of Eero Saarinen and Associates (from 1954 to 1963).

In 1957, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on a book about major American art collectors, The Proud Possessors, which was published by Random House in 1958. Thereafter, she began work on a biography of the architect, Stanford White, also for Random House; this work continued for several years, but the book was never completed. Over the years, she wrote numerous freelance articles on art, architecture, socio-cultural history, travel, and theater for magazines such as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, Saturday Review of Literature, Reader's Digest, and Cosmopolitan.

After Eero's sudden death in 1961, Aline edited the book, Eero Saarinen on His Work (1962). She then embarked upon a new career in television, appearing on shows such as "Today" and "Sunday" where she reported on manners, morals, culture, and the arts, and eventually becoming, in 1964, an NBC News correspondent for such shows as "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" and "The Frank McGee Report" in addition to the shows on which she was already appearing. In 1971, she was appointed chief of the NBC News Paris Bureau, becoming the first woman to hold such a position in television.

In the 1960s, Aline served on various arts-related committees, including the Design Advisory Committee of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Fine Arts Commission, and the New York State Council of the Arts. She received honorary degrees from the University of Michigan in 1964 and Russell Sage College in 1967.

Aline Saarinen died from a brain tumor on July 13, 1972.

This biographical notes draws from the one on Aline Bernstein Saarinen by Seymour Brody in Jewish Heroes and Heroines of America: 150 True Stories of American Jewish Heroism, and from the one on Eero Saarinen in the Guide to the Eero Saarinen Collection at Yale University Library.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives are: the Museum of Modern Art exhibition correspondence concerning Eero Saarinen, 1958-1959; the Lily Swann Saarinen papers, 1924-1974; an oral history interview with Lily Swann Saarinen, 1979-1981; and an oral history interview on Aline Saarinen with Charles Alan, 1973 February 17.

Other related material includes: Eero Saarinen Collection, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
Separated Material:
Two exhibition catalogs and various clippings that were donated as part of the collection were transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library in 1981.
Provenance:
The Aline and Eero Saarinen papers were donated in 1973 by Charles Alan, Aline Saarinen's brother and executor of her estate, and microfilmed. In 1966 five photographs of Eliel Saarinen's home in Helsinki, Finland were donated by Florence Davis and were subsequently integrated into the collection. The NBC material was donated in 1974 by NBC Studios via Charles Alan. Additional material, which had originally been donated to the Parrish Museum by Aline Saarinen, was donated to the Archives in 1991 by the Museum.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.
Rights:
NBC TV scripts or film prepared for television: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from NBC Studios. 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:
Architectural historians -- Michigan  Search this
Topic:
Architecture -- United States  Search this
Architects -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Hills  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States  Search this
Women architectural critics  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Aline and Eero Saarinen Papers, 1906-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.saaralin
See more items in:
Aline and Eero Saarinen papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ab34d23d-c985-4fd3-a40e-682175cb4a4d
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-saaralin
Online Media:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Collector:
McCormick, Mack  Search this
Musician:
Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this
Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this
Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this
Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this
Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this
House, Son  Search this
Howling Wolf  Search this
James, Harry  Search this
Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this
Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this
Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this
Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this
Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this
Rinzler, Ralph  Search this
Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this
Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this
Wallace, Sippie  Search this
Historian:
Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this
Singer:
Spivey, Victoria  Search this
Producer:
Strachwitz, Chris  Search this
Extent:
60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)
Culture:
African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this
Arkansas  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps
Television scripts
Ephemera
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets
Color slides
Business records
Family papers
Resumes
Diaries
Journals (periodicals)
Financial records
Audio cassettes
Manuscripts
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings
Transcripts
Manuscripts for publication
Color negatives
Negatives
Articles
Place:
United States -- Race relations
Delta (Miss.)
Sugarland Prison (Tex.)
Greenwood (Miss.)
Robinsonville (Miss.)
Dallas (Tex.)
Houston (Tex.)
San Antonio (Tex.)
Tunica (La.)
Texarkana (Tex.)
Galveston (Texas)
Date:
1858-2015, undated
Summary:
Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.
Related Materials:
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055
Separated Materials:
National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
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.
Occupation:
African American musicians  Search this
Topic:
Drafts (documents)  Search this
Blues (Music)  Search this
Blues musicians  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Postcards -- 20th century  Search this
telephone -- Directories  Search this
Plays  Search this
African American music -- 20th century  Search this
Sharecropping  Search this
Plantations  Search this
Zydeco music  Search this
Commercial recordings  Search this
Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this
Genealogy  Search this
African Americans -- Texas  Search this
Songsters  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this
Rodeos -- United States  Search this
Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this
Street scenes  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this
African Americans -- Folklore  Search this
American South  Search this
African American -- Social life and customs  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Conjunto music  Search this
Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Folk music -- United States  Search this
Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this
Sound recordings  Search this
Sound recording and reproduction  Search this
Tejano music  Search this
Transcripts  Search this
Folklorists  Search this
Zydeco musicians  Search this
Musicians, Cajun  Search this
Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this
Music -- History and criticism  Search this
Festival of American Folklife  Search this
African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this
Guitar -- 20th century  Search this
Guitar music  Search this
Guitarists  Search this
Country musicians  Search this
Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this
Sound recording industry  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this
Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this
Hawaiian guitar  Search this
Hawaiian guitar music  Search this
African American farmers  Search this
Sharecroppers  Search this
Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this
manuscripts -- Editing  Search this
African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this
Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this
African American prisoners  Search this
Crafts  Search this
Museum outreach programs  Search this
Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Black people -- Race identity  Search this
Race discrimination -- United States  Search this
Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Genre/Form:
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps -- United States
Television scripts
Ephemera -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets -- 20th cenury
Color slides -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Family papers -- 20th century
Resumes
Diaries -- 20th century
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Audio cassettes -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings -- 20th century
Transcripts -- 20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Manuscripts -- 20th century
Color negatives
Negatives -- 20th century
Articles -- 20th century
Citation:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1485
See more items in:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485
Online Media:

Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records, circa 1920-1983, bulk 1949-1975

Creator:
Frank Perls Gallery  Search this
Subject:
Chuey, Robert  Search this
Brice, William  Search this
Lebrun, Rico  Search this
Lipchitz, Jacques  Search this
Matisse, Henri  Search this
McGarrell, James  Search this
Peake, Channing  Search this
Amato, Sam  Search this
Warsaw, Howard  Search this
Strombotne, James  Search this
Ray, Man  Search this
Picasso, Pablo  Search this
Perls, Klaus  Search this
Perls, Frank  Search this
Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Type:
Short stories
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Sales records
Gallery records
Citation:
Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records, circa 1920-1983, bulk 1949-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Beverly Hills  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Curators -- California  Search this
Art -- Forgeries  Search this
Theme:
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9601
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211805
AAA_collcode_perlfran
Theme:
Art Gallery Records
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211805
Online Media:

Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers, 1837-1984, bulk 1935-1979

Creator:
Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997,  Search this
Subject:
Sellers, Charles Coleman  Search this
Ryder, Albert Pinkham  Search this
Burchfield, Charles Ephraim  Search this
Rattner, Abraham  Search this
Richardson, Edgar Preston  Search this
Richardson, Constance  Search this
Pollack, Peter  Search this
Watkins, Franklin Chenault  Search this
Bailey, Grace  Search this
Arms, John Taylor  Search this
Allston, Washington  Search this
Evergood, Philip  Search this
Eakins, Thomas  Search this
Culver, Charles B. (Charles Beach)  Search this
Bohrod, Aaron  Search this
Bailey, Truman E.  Search this
Krentzin, Earl  Search this
Gentle, Esther  Search this
Fleischman, Barbara  Search this
Marin, John  Search this
University of Michigan. Museum of Art  Search this
United States Information Agency  Search this
Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this
Archives of American Art  Search this
Kraushaar Galleries  Search this
American Federation of Arts  Search this
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)  Search this
Detroit Institute of Arts  Search this
Corcoran Gallery of Art  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Kennedy Galleries  Search this
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum  Search this
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this
Philadelphia Museum of Art  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Midtown Galleries (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Milwaukee Art Center  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Type:
Typescripts
Photographs
Citation:
Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers, 1837-1984, bulk 1935-1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painting, American  Search this
Art patrons Michigan Detroit  Search this
Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this
Philanthropists  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States  Search this
Theme:
Patronage  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10245
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213339
AAA_collcode_fleilawr
Theme:
Patronage
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_213339
Online Media:

Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers

Creator:
Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997  Search this
Names:
American Federation of Arts  Search this
Archives of American Art  Search this
Corcoran Gallery of Art  Search this
Detroit Institute of Arts  Search this
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum  Search this
Kennedy Galleries  Search this
Kraushaar Galleries  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Midtown Galleries (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Milwaukee Art Center  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)  Search this
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this
Philadelphia Museum of Art  Search this
United States Information Agency  Search this
University of Michigan. Museum of Art  Search this
Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this
Allston, Washington, 1779-1843  Search this
Arms, John Taylor, 1887-1953  Search this
Bailey, Grace  Search this
Bailey, Truman E., 1902?-1959  Search this
Bohrod, Aaron  Search this
Burchfield, Charles Ephraim, 1893-1967  Search this
Culver, Charles B. (Charles Beach), 1908-1967  Search this
Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916  Search this
Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973  Search this
Fleischman, Barbara  Search this
Gentle, Esther, 1900-  Search this
Krentzin, Earl, 1929-  Search this
Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this
Pollack, Peter, 1909-1978  Search this
Rattner, Abraham  Search this
Richardson, Constance, 1905-  Search this
Richardson, Edgar Preston, 1902-1985  Search this
Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847-1917  Search this
Sellers, Charles Coleman, 1903-  Search this
Watkins, Franklin Chenault, 1894-1972  Search this
Extent:
4.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Typescripts
Photographs
Date:
1837-1984
bulk 1935-1979
Summary:
The papers of art collectors, art patrons, and philanthropists Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman measure 4.9 linear feet and date from 1837 to 1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1935-1979. The papers are comprised mostly of correspondence with artists, museums, and arts organizations. Also found are scattered biographical materials, artists' autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans, exhibition files, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art collectors, art patrons, and philanthropists Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman measure 4.9 linear feet and date from 1837 to 1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1935-1979. The papers are comprised mostly of correspondence with artists, museums, and arts organizations. Also found are scattered biographical materials, artists' autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans, exhibition files, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs.

One folder of biographical material includes a biographical account and a certificate of appreciation from the Common Council for the City of Detroit.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence documenting the Fleischman's art related activities and interests primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. Individual correspondents include Aaron Bohrod, Charles E. Burchfield, Charles B. Culver, Philip Evergood, Earl Krentzin, John Marin, Jr., Abraham Rattner and Esther Gentle, Peter Pollack, Edgar P. and Constance Richardson, Charles Coleman Sellers, and Franklin Watkins. One letter from Charles E. Burchfield includes four etching plates used to create the color print of Hot September Wind.

Arts organizations and galleries represented in the correspondence include the American Federation of Arts, the Archives of American Art, the Arts Commission of the City of Detroit, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, Kennedy Galleries, M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., Kraushaar Galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Midtown Galleries, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the School of the Society of Arts and Crafts, the United States Information Agency, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Winterthur Museum.

Autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans include letters written by artists Washington Allston (addressed to Thomas Sully), Albert Pinkham Ryder, and John Taylor Arms.

Exhibition files document the various exhibitions of art work from the Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman Collection at the University of Michigan Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Art; in Central and South America; in Greece, Israel and Russia; and at the Milwaukee Art Center. The files contain letters, notes, printed material, and photographs.

Three folders of notes and writings include "Introduction to Earl Krentzin Catalog" by Lawrence Fleischman and "Selection of Excerpts from the Soviet Press and Radio Attacking U. S. Culture" by unidentified authors.

Scattered printed material includes miscellaneous clippings and catalogs not connected with the Exhibition Files series. There is also a book John Marin: The Man and his Work by E. M. Benson that was autographed by Marin to the Fleischmans in 1953.

Photographs include portrait photographs of Lawrence Fleischman, photographs of Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman with colleagues, of art work from the Fleischman Collection, of Truman and Grace Bailey in their studio, and a copy photograph of Thomas Eakins as a boy.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1958 (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1949-1984 (Boxes 1-4, 7; 3.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Autograph Letters, 1837-1942 (Box 4; 4 folders)

Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1953-1960 (Boxes 4-5, 7; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1957-1962 (Box 5; 3 folders)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1935-1969 (Box 5-6; 6 folders)

Series 7: Photographs, 1953-1965 (Box 6; 13 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
Lawrence Fleischman (1925-1997) of New York City was an American art collector, patron, philanthropist, and benefactor. He and his wife, Barbara Greenberg Fleischman, assembled an impressive collection of art and artifacts that they shared with the public as part of their philanthropic activities aimed at fostering a wider appreciation of the arts around the world.

Lawrence Fleischman was born on February 14, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Stella and Arthur Fleischman, the owner of a large carpet business. He attended the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, and studied engineering at Purdue University. In 1942, he interrupted his studies to volunteer for service in the U.S. Army during World War II. While serving in France, he met a doctor who further fostered Fleischman's ever growing interest in American art. Following the war, he graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Detroit. Fleischman met Barbara Greenberg in Detroit and they were married in 1948.

Beginning in the late 1940s, Fleischman established a fledgling television station, developed holdings in real estate, and began purchasing art work. Initially the Fleischmans collected undervalued 20th century American art and were friends with several artists, including John Marin, Charles Burchfield, Stuart Davis, and Ben Shahn. They also expanded the scope of their collection to include 19th century American works.

During the 1950s, Lawrence Fleischman realized how there were few American art historians and college departments, as well as a lack of primary source material. Fleischman worked with Edgar P. Richardson, then director of the Detroit Institute of Art, to raise funds and they founded the Archives of American Art at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1954. The Archives of American Art was, and still is, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of primary source records that document the history of the visual arts in the United States. Lawrence A. Fleischman is a founding Trustee of the AAA and served as the Chairman of the Board from 1958 to 1966. His wife, Barbara joined the Board of Trustees in 1997 and served as Chair from 2003 to 2007. She is a Trustee Emerita.

Lawrence Fleischman's business and philanthropic interests included the Arthur Fleischman Carpet Company, the Lee Plaza Hotel-Motel in Detroit, Art Adventurers, the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit, the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Cultural Committee of the United States Information Agency, and the Art Commission of Detroit, which governed the Detroit Institute of Art. He also served as an officer of the Board for many of the arts-related organizations.

In 1996, the Fleischmans moved their family from Detroit to New York City, where Lawrence Fleischman became a partner in the Kennedy Galleries.

The Fleischmans philanthropic activities include generous support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Cleveland Museum, the British Museum, the Vatican Museum, and lifelong support of the Archives of American Art.

Lawrence Fleischman died on January 31, 1997 in London, England. Barbara Fleischman lives in New York City and continues to be an active supporter of the visual arts.
Related Materials:
Among the Archives holdings are two oral history interviews with Lawrence A. Fleischman. The first was conducted by Paul Cummings in 1970 and the second conducted by Gail Stavitsky in 1994 . Both interviews have transcripts available.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming, the majority of which was later donated, except for five letters on reel D197. These include one postcard from Constance Richardson, 1956; one letter from Constance Richardson, 1957; one letter from Franklin Watkins, 1955; one letter from Lawrence Fleischman to Wilbur H. Hunter, 1960; and one letter from Richard D. Tucker, 1960. This material remains with lender and is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers were donated in several accretions by Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman from 1954 to 2007. Letters were also loaned for microfilming in 1965, but nearly all of them were subsequently donated.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- United States  Search this
Topic:
Painting, American  Search this
Art patrons Michigan Detroit  Search this
Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this
Philanthropists  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Typescripts
Photographs
Citation:
Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman Papers, 1837-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.fleilawr
See more items in:
Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw92905ad60-9c85-493f-90b7-272f1486ef69
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-fleilawr
Online Media:

Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records

Creator:
Frank Perls Gallery  Search this
Names:
Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Amato, Sam, 1924-  Search this
Brice, William, 1921-  Search this
Chuey, Robert  Search this
Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964  Search this
Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this
Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954  Search this
McGarrell, James, 1930-  Search this
Peake, Channing, 1910-  Search this
Perls, Frank, 1910-1975  Search this
Perls, Klaus  Search this
Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this
Ray, Man, 1890-1976  Search this
Strombotne, James  Search this
Warsaw, Howard  Search this
Extent:
23.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Short stories
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Sales records
Gallery records
Date:
circa 1920-1983
bulk 1949-1975
Summary:
The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records measure 23.8 linear feet and date from 1920-1983, with the bulk dating from 1949-1975. Personal papers include writings, military records, appointment calendars, and photographs. Gallery records date from its opening in 1939 until its closure in 1981 and consist of financial, sales, and legal records; exhibition files; exhibition catalogs and announcements; subject files that contain a variety of correspondence with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and friends and family, as well as reference materials and photographs; and scrapbooks.
Scope and Content Note:
The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records measure 23.8 linear feet and date from 1920-1983, with the bulk dating from 1949-1975. Personal papers include writings, military records, appointment calendars, and photographs. Gallery records date from its opening in 1939 until its closure in 1981 and consist of financial, sales, and legal records; exhibition files; exhibition catalogs and announcements; subject files that contain a variety of correspondence with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and friends and family, as well as reference materials and photographs; and scrapbooks.

Personal papers contain biographical materials, including military records from Perls' service in the army during World War II, personal photographs, documentation on his estate settlement, and numerous short stories. Of particular interest are Perl's stories about his interactions with Pablo Picasso and his work to uncover fraud, fakes, and corruption in the art world. There are also many photographs of Picasso, photographs of family, the war, and Perls, including two original photographs of Perls by Man Ray.

Gallery sales, purchases, consignments, insurance appraisals, loans, provenance research, and general business expenses are well documented in the General Business and Financial Records. Perls jointly owned artwork with several galleries in New York, including the Curt Valentine Gallery and M. Knoedler Gallery, and these consignment and joint sales are documented in the invoices. A complete accounting of the Gallery's income and expense reports from 1950-1971 is also be found in this series. Artists extensively documented through financial transactions are William Brice, James Strombotne, and Howard Warsaw.

Extensive exhibition files document the gallery's exhibitions and Perl's curatorial work. Files contain varied documentation, such as photographs, catalogs, announcements, and publicity for Frank Perls Gallery shows from 1939 through 1971. Artists represented in this series include Sam Amato, Robert Chuey, Jaques Lipchitz, Pablo Picasso, James McGarrell, and James Strombotne. Files are also found for the two major retrospective exhibitions Perls organized and curated, Matisse Retrospective at University of California, Los Angeles and Sixty Years of Picasso Prints at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, both in 1966. Additional information about these exhibitions is also found in the Subject Files.

Subject Files are extensive and varied in name, content, and topic. They consist mostly of correspondence with friends, family, colleagues, artists, critics, galleries and dealers, clients, arts organizations and associations, publications, and others. There are also reference files and exhibition files for exhibitions held at other galleries and museums in which Perls was interested, guest curated, or loaned artwork. The contents of each file unit varies, but many include correspondence, photographs, appraisal records, sales records, invoices, reports, and membership records. The files highlight his close personal relationship with many artists, including William Brice, Rico Lebrun, James McGarrell, Channing Peake, Pablo Picasso, and James Strombotne. Subject Files also contain abundant correspondence with colleagues and family members, including his brother Klaus, who owned and operated the Perls Gallery in New York. Many of the files concern Perl's work with art documentation and authentication. Subject Files have been arranged according to Frank Perls original order.

Finally, scrapbooks contain newspaper articles, catalogs, and announcements about exhibitions at the Perls Gallery in New York during the late 1930s and the Frank Perls Gallery in Los Angeles during the 1950s.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 5 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Frank Perls papers, circa 1920-1981 (Box 1-2, 28; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 2: General Financial and Business Records, 1949-1975 (Box 2-4, 23-27; 3.4 linear feet)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1937-1975 (Box 5-6; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Subject Files, circa 1939-1983 (Box 6-22; 16.5 linear feet)

Series 5. Scrapbooks, 1937-1957 (Box 28; 0.3 linear feet)
Historical Note:
Frank Perls (1910-1975) was founder and sole owner of the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills, California.

Frank Perls was born in Germany on October 23, 1910. His parents, Hugo and Kaethe Perls, owned one of the leading art galleries in Berlin, and sold the work of many well-known artists. Artists works included in the gallery inventory were pieces by Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, among others. His parents enjoyed a close friendship with Picasso, a relationship Perls maintained until Picasso's death in 1973. After his parents divorce in 1931, his mother left Germany and eventually opened the Galerie Kaethe in Paris.Frank Perls studied art history at the Universities of Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt and joined his mother at the Galerie Kaethe in 1932.

Frank Perls immigrated to the United States in 1937 and partnered with his brother, Klaus Perls, to open the Perls Galleries in New York. Two years later he moved to California and opened the Frank Perls Gallery on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. During those first years, the Gallery hosted exhibitions by Man Ray, Eugene Berman, and John Decker.

Perls closed his gallery in 1942 when he enlisted in the United States Army. Because he was fluent in both French and German, Perls served as an interpreter at the Military Intelligence Service, European Theater of Operations. He landed in Normandy with the 30th Infantry Division and was awarded the Bronze Star in 1944. In 1945, Perls was assigned to the Arts and Monuments Section of Allied Military Government in Germany. He was honorably discharged in September, 1945.

After the war, Perls returned to Los Angeles and managed the recently opened Associated American Artists Gallery in Beverly Hills. The gallery was organized in 1934 and marketed art to the middle classes with the opportunity to purchase prints at affordable prices. Perls made significant contacts during his tenure at the gallery and eventually opened his own Beverly Hills gallery in 1950.

The Frank Perls Gallery on Camden Drive was closely associated with the Pierre Matisse Gallery and the Curt Valentin Gallery in New York, both major sources of exhibition materials for the early years. Perls introduced southern California to artists he believed represented the best modern art of America and Europe - Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Ben Shahn, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, and Jean Dubuffet. Between 1950 to 1954, Frank Perls Gallery organized the first West coast exhibitions of Joan Miro, Marino Marini, and Alberto Giacometti. Perls also gave exhibitions to newly emerging artists of Southern California artists, including William Brice, Robert Chuey, Rico Lebrun, James McGarrell, Channing Peake, and Howard Warsaw.

Perls moved his gallery to Wilshire Boulevard in 1965 and stopped representing California artists at that time to focus primarily on major exhibitions of Henri Matisse and Picasso. In 1966, he helped organize an extensive traveling Henri Matisse exhibition at UCLA called Matisse Retrospective. Perls worked with Matisse's children, Pierre, Jean, and Marguerite Duthuit, to identify 345 prints and sculptures and attach family inventory numbers to them.

Frank Perls also organized several large Picasso exhibitions, including the Bonne Fete Monsieur Picasso exhibit at UCLA in 1961 and the 45 Selected Picasso Graphics exhibition at Frank Perls Gallery in 1971. For his work in preparing these major exhibitions in California of Matisse and Picasso, Perls was made a life fellow of the Los Angeles County Museum.

Perls was a member of the Art Dealers of America, serving for several years on the Board of Directors and as director. He was also dedicated to exposing art fakes and forgeries, earning a reputation for discovering, exposing, and pursuing disreputable art appraisers and dealers. Perls wrote extensively about modern art and artists, as well as his experiences in short stories that often appeared in print.

Frank Perls died on February 8, 1975 from complications following open-heart surgery. The Gallery remained open until 1981 while his executor and family distributed the gallery inventory.
Provenance:
The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records were donated by Joan Hazlitt, one of the executors of the Perls' estate, from 1976-1988.
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.
Occupation:
Gallery owners -- California  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Beverly Hills  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Curators -- California  Search this
Art -- Forgeries  Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- California
Genre/Form:
Short stories
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Sales records
Gallery records
Citation:
Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records, circa 1920-1983, bulk 1949-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.perlfran
See more items in:
Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9163380a7-6151-44d0-b553-a17e8aae42a0
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-perlfran
Online Media:

King W. Vidor papers, 1936-1982

Creator:
Vidor, King, 1894-1982  Search this
Subject:
Sheets, Millard  Search this
Wood, Grant  Search this
Wyeth, Andrew  Search this
Benton, Thomas Hart  Search this
Rivera, Diego  Search this
Associated American Artists  Search this
Big parade (Motion picture)  Search this
Metaphor: King Vidor meets with Andrew Wyeth (motion picture)  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Video recordings
Typescripts
Citation:
King W. Vidor papers, 1936-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Filmmakers -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7150
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209284
AAA_collcode_vidoking
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209284
Online Media:

Harriet Collins Allen papers relating to Solon Borglum, 1897-1925

Creator:
Allen, Harriet Collins  Search this
Subject:
Borglum, Gutzon  Search this
Borglum, Emma Vignal  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Citation:
Harriet Collins Allen papers relating to Solon Borglum, 1897-1925. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art patrons -- Ohio -- Cincinnati  Search this
Sculpture, American  Search this
Theme:
Patronage  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9928
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212475
AAA_collcode_alleharr
Theme:
Patronage
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_212475
Online Media:

Downtown Gallery records, 1824-1974, bulk 1926-1969

Creator:
Downtown Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Subject:
Stella, Joseph  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred  Search this
Storrs, John Henry Bradley  Search this
Sunami, Soichi  Search this
Spencer, Niles  Search this
Stasack, Edward  Search this
Steichen, Edward  Search this
Steig, William  Search this
Van Vechten, Carl  Search this
Varian, Dorothy  Search this
Walters, Carl  Search this
Webb, Electra Havemeyer  Search this
Tam, Reuben  Search this
Tannahill, Robert Hudson  Search this
Tseng, Yu-ho  Search this
Valente, Alfredo  Search this
Pippin, Horace  Search this
Pattison, Abbott L. (Abbott Lawrence)  Search this
Rattner, Abraham  Search this
Pollet, Joseph C.  Search this
Osborn, Robert Chesley  Search this
Pascin, Jules  Search this
Crawford, Ralston  Search this
Shahn, Ben  Search this
Sheeler, Charles  Search this
Siporin, Mitchell  Search this
Siegel, Adrian  Search this
Reynal, Kay Bell  Search this
Ray, Man  Search this
Saklatwalla, Beram K.  Search this
Rockefeller, Abby Aldrich  Search this
O'Keeffe, Georgia  Search this
Zorach, William  Search this
Zorach, Marguerite  Search this
Zerbe, Karl  Search this
Zajac, Jack  Search this
Yavno, Max  Search this
Wilde, Isabel Carleton  Search this
Weber, Max  Search this
Adams, Ansel  Search this
Breinin, Raymond  Search this
Broderson, Morris  Search this
Laurent, Robert  Search this
Brook, Alexander  Search this
Bry, Doris  Search this
Burlin, Paul  Search this
Carlen, Robert  Search this
Cikovsky, Nicolai  Search this
Coleman, Glenn O.  Search this
Klein, Carl  Search this
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo  Search this
Karfiol, George  Search this
Karolik, Maxim  Search this
Lawrence, Jacob  Search this
Lea, Wesley  Search this
Lane, William H.  Search this
Lewandowski, Edmund  Search this
Marin, John  Search this
Levi, Julian E. (Julian Edwin)  Search this
Levine, Jack  Search this
Nakian, Reuben  Search this
Newman, Arnold  Search this
Maya, Otto  Search this
Morris, George L. K.  Search this
Dove, Arthur Garfield  Search this
Dole, William  Search this
Doi, Isami  Search this
Davis, Stuart  Search this
Fredenthal, David  Search this
Felix Landau Gallery  Search this
Halpert, Samuel  Search this
Halpert, Edith Gregor  Search this
Guglielmi, Louis  Search this
Garbisch, Edgar  Search this
Karfiol, Bernard  Search this
Demuth, Charles  Search this
Hartley, Marsden  Search this
Cahill, Holger  Search this
Hart, George Overbury  Search this
Harnett, William Michael  Search this
Our Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
American Folk Art Gallery  Search this
Boris Mirski Gallery (Boston, Mass.)  Search this
Ernest Brown & Phillips  Search this
Type:
Video recordings
Photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Citation:
Downtown Gallery records, 1824-1974, bulk 1926-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Fraktur art  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Printmakers -- United States  Search this
Sculptors -- United States  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Artists -- United States  Search this
Weather vanes  Search this
Chalkware  Search this
Figureheads of ships  Search this
Folk art  Search this
Theme:
African American  Search this
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6293
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)221206
AAA_collcode_downgall
Theme:
African American
Art Gallery Records
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_221206
Online Media:

Betty Carpenter papers, circa 1867-1971, bulk 1927-1963

Creator:
Carpenter, Betty  Search this
Subject:
Frost, J. O. J. (John Orne Johnson)  Search this
Lothrop, George E., Jr.  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Betty Carpenter papers, circa 1867-1971, bulk 1927-1963. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Marine painting  Search this
Folk art  Search this
Primitivism in art -- United States  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7345
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209498
AAA_collcode_carpbett
Theme:
Women
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209498
Online Media:

Betty Carpenter papers

Creator:
Carpenter, Betty  Search this
Names:
Frost, J. O. J. (John Orne Johnson), 1852-1928  Search this
Lothrop, George E., Jr.  Search this
Extent:
2.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
circa 1867-1971
bulk 1927-1963
Summary:
The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson (J.O.J) Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Included are: drafts, notes and manuscripts of Carpenter's unpublished book on Frost; primary source material including letters from Frost to his grandchildren, copies of articles by Frost; photographs of Frost, his family and paintings; scrapbooks compiled by Carpenter and Frost, respectively; exhibition catalogs; printed material such as newspaper clippings on Frost and his hometown Marblehead, Massachusetts; notes on George E. Lothrop and photographs of his paintings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Materials included are correspondence related to Carpenter as well as the Frost Family. Betty Carpenter's letters are with museums, historical societies, publishers, and writers regarding the selling, loaning, book planning and exhibitioning of art work by J.O.J Frost and George Lothrop. There are also letters from the Frost family to Carpenter discussing both J.O.J Frost's life as well as matters of Carpenter's personal friendship with the family. The Frost Family correspondence is comprised of letters from J.O.J Frost to his granddaughters Ethelyn Frost Flagg and Irena Frost Greatorex as well as letters from J.O.J Frost's son Frank A. Frost to his daughter Ethelyn; and miscellaneous letters to J.O.J Frost. Writings primarily consist of manscripts and notes related to catalogs and an unpublished biography on Frost that Carpenter was working on. Additional writings include essays and notes by J.O.J Frost, biographical notes on George Lothrop and notes on American folk art. Also found are exhibition files; personal business records such as expense receipts and documenation of a probate court trial related to the ownership of some of Frost's work; scrapbooks respectively complied by Carpenter and Frost. Printed material such as newspaper clippings and exhibition ephemera, photographs and negatives of Frost, his home and artwork as well as photographs and negatives of Lothrop's paintings. Additionally, there is an artwork series which contains 35 figurative pencil sketches signed "IL Prado", an unidenfied pen and ink sketch and a pen sketch sent to Carpenter on an unsigned postcard.
Arrangement:
The Collection is arranged as eight series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1912-1968 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Writings, circa 1868-1966 (1.1 Linear feet: Box 1-2)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1948-1949 (1 Folder: Box 2)

Series 4: Personal Business, 1943-1964 (6 Folders: Box 2)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1902-1971 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 2)

Series 6: Scrapbooks, circa 1868-1954 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 3)

Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1852-1965 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 3-4, MGP4)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1939-1950 (2 Folders: Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Betty Carpenter, was an art historian, biographer and collector from Massachusetts. Her collection comprised the work of Massachusetts folk artists John Orne Johnson and George E. Lothrop. In 1943 Carpenter and her husband began collecting Frost's work from his son Frank Frost. From there Mrs. Carpenter developed friendships with Frost's family and in 1948 she helped arrange an exhibition of Frost's work (along with George Lothrop's) at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

In addition to collecting the work of these two artists, Carpenter gathered primary source material, such as Frost's scrapbooks and diaries, as well as utilizing secondary sources; this, exclusively, in the case of George E. Lothrop on whom information was rather more limited; for the purpose of compiling biographies of the two. After both Carpenter and her husband had died, the art collection was sold at auction and the reposit of the source materials facilitated by an agent of the auction house. The source material, through Parke-Bernet, was eventually given to the Archives.

John Orne Johnson Frost (1852-1928), also known and self referred to as J.O.J Frost, was a self taught artist from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Originally a fisherman and restaurant owner, Frost only began to paint and sculpt at after his first wife Annie Frost's death in 1919. His naive style paintings depict scenes from his youth at sea, and the history of Marblehead and how it developed from its early wilderness beginnings through the American Revolution and the Civil War. George Lothrop (1967-1939), was from Dighton, Massachusetts and also began painting later in life. Lothrop was highly interested in poetry and theater, but by trade worked as a wood carpenter at a piano factory where he would carve frames for many of his paintings. He held a second job as a night security guard at the Howard Watch Company, which is where he did most of his painting. Many of his works are of fanciful or mythical scenes in oil.
Provenance:
Donated 1972 by Peter Carpenter.
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. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Massachusetts  Search this
Biographers -- Massachusetts  Search this
Collectors -- Massachusetts  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Marine painting  Search this
Folk art  Search this
Primitivism in art -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks
Citation:
Betty Carpenter Papers, 1867-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.carpbett
See more items in:
Betty Carpenter papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw95f2ec241-5030-43bc-9368-99ce160867d9
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-carpbett

Erle Loran papers

Creator:
Loran, Erle, 1905-1999  Search this
Names:
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco  Search this
Friends of Ethnic Art  Search this
San Francisco Art Institute  Search this
University of California, Berkeley -- Faculty  Search this
Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988  Search this
Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906  Search this
Dasburg, Andrew, 1887-1979  Search this
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this
Haley, John, 1905-1991  Search this
Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this
Hatfield, Dalzell, 1893-1963  Search this
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this
Levinson, Harry  Search this
Sabean, Samuel  Search this
Schaefer, Bertha, 1895-1971  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-  Search this
Wilke, Ulfert, 1907-1987  Search this
Extent:
12.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Watercolors
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Date:
1912-1999
Summary:
The papers of California painter, writer, and teacher Erle Loran measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1912 to 1991. Found are biographical materials; two linear feet of personal and professional correspondence; personal business records; writings which include extensive drafts and notes for Loran's book Cezanne's Composition; over 400 items of artwork that include watercolors, drawings, charcoal, and pastel studies; printed materials; photographs of Loran, family, and friends, and artwork; and one audio recording of a lecture by Loran on Cezanne.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of California painter and teacher Erle Loran measure 12.6 linear feet and date from 1912 to 1991. Found are biographical materials; two linear feet of personal and professional correspondence; personal business records; writings which include extensive drafts and notes for Loran's book Cezanne's Composition; over 400 items of artwork that include watercolors, drawings, charcoal, and pastel studies; printed materials; photographs of Loran, family, and friends, and artwork; and one audio recording of a lecture by Loran on Cezanne.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches, curriculum vita, a will, notes and a notebook, and an appointment book for 1987. Also found is an anniversary invitation, a certificate from the University of California, and the Pepsi-Cola award for 1948.

Two linear feet of correspondence is with artists, critics, galleries, and universities. Correspondents inlcude Romare Bearden, Andrew Dasburg, Clement Greenberg, John Haley, Dalzell Hatfield, Hans Hofmann, Harry Levinson (president of Permanent Pigments), Sam Sabean, Bertha Schaefer, Clyfford Still, and Ulfert Wilke. There is also correspondence with the University of California.

Personal business records include exhibition files, price and consignment lists, teaching materials, University of California Press records, and records relating to the publication of his book on Cézanne. Some of these records also document Loran's involvement with the Fine Arts Museum, Friends of Ethnic Arts, and the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition, there are records related to Loran's role in a donation of forty-five paintings by Hans Hofmann to the University Art Center. Also found are materials related to Loran's activities as an art collector including sales receipts, auction catalogs, and photographs of artwork owned by Loran.

Writings by Loran include a complete manuscript version of Cézanne's Composition along with additional notes and drafts, and numerous other short essays on Cézanne's life and art. Loran's other writings include essays about Hans Hofmann, Marsden Hartley, symbology in abstract art, and contemporary art.

Loran's career as an artist is extensively documented by four linear feet of original artwork, mostly preliminary sketches. The work demonstrates a variety of techniques including watercolor, pastel, pencil, pen, gouache, and oil sketches. Content includes landscapes, portraits, fantasy scenes, urban scenes, and rural scenes.

Printed materials include extensive newsclippings from seven decades, exhibition announcements, and exhibition catalogs. Photographs are of Loran, his second wife Clyta, the Loran family, friends and colleagues, artwork, and source materials. Also found within the papers is an audio recording on cassette of a lecture by Loran on Cézanne.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 8 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930s-1990s (Box 1; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1912-1992 (Boxes 1-3; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1930s-1992 (Box 3; 0.25 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1921-1999 (Boxes 3-4; 1.25 linear feet)

Series 5: Artwork, 1920s-1980s (Boxes 4-8, 13-14; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1925-1999 (Boxes 8-10, 14; 2.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, 1910s-1990s (Boxes 10-12, 14; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Audio Recording, 1982 (Box 12; 1 folder)
Biographical Note:
California painter, writer, and teacher Erle Loran was born on October 2, 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended the Minneapolis School of Art and graduated in 1926. That same year, Loran won the Paris Prize from the Chaloner Foundation which enabled him to study in France for the next three years. Here, he immersed himself into the world of Paul Cezanne. He lived for two years in Cézanne's studio, meeting many who knew Cezanne, including painter Emile Bernard, and art dealer Ambroise Vollard. This experience was critical to the development of Loran's artistic vision and his later writings and lectures about Cézanne.

In 1929, Loran returned to the United States, and published the article "Cézanne's Country" in The Arts in 1930. He then spent the early 1930s in Minnesota, after returning to Minneapolis to be treated for tuberculosis. There, Loran began to paint in a regionalist style, producing landscapes and scenes of life in rural Minnesota. In 1931, Loran was given his first one-man show at the Kraushaar Gallery in New York. During the depression, Loran began teaching art and was given painting commissions as part of the federal arts programs of the WPA.

Loran moved to California in 1937 and accepted a position as professor in the art department at the University of California, Berkeley. There he taught until retiring in 1973, serving as the department's chair in the 1950s. He established a program to invite east coast artists to teach at the university, and participants included Conrad Marca-Relli and Milton Resnick. Loran's students included Jay DeFeo, Richard Diebenkorn, and Sam Francis. In 1941 Loran began to write the synthesis of his research and interpretations about Cézanne's work, culminating in his pioneering book Cézanne's Composition published in 1943 by the University of California Press.

During this period Loran associated himself with modernist Hans Hofmann. Loran's early paintings were lyrical abstractions in primary colors; however, his style constantly changed with the times. Watercolor was Loran's medium of choice because it lent itself to his often-remote plein air locations, such as the ghost towns of California and Nevada. With John Haley and Worth Ryder he formed the "Berkeley Group," whose paintings consisted of scenes of the California and southwestern landscape painted in flat, open areas of color. During the war, painting in the open became increasingly difficult and Loran transitioned from plein-air painting to studio work. Shortly thereafter he began to focus his painting on abstraction.

Loran's artwork during the 1950s consisted primarily of abstractions based on natural forms like crystal and driftwood. In 1955, he spent six weeks studying with Hans Hofmann, whom he later called, along with Cézanne, a second "great father figure." In 1960, he was instrumental in securing a gift of forty-five paintings by Hans Hofmann for Berkeley's University Art Center. In the late 1960s, his work became a fusing of Op, Pop, and Hard Edge. From this he moved to figurative painting and later to geometric designs and symbols.

Loran continued to paint throughout the rest of his life in a variety of styles, including nudes, abstractions, and landscapes. Besides being an artist and a teacher, Loran was also a lifelong collector of ethnic art who specialized in African, Asian, Native American, and pre-Columbian tribal art. Many works from his collection are presently housed at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Loran died in 1999 in Berkeley, at the age of 93.
Related Material:
Found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Erle Loran conducted by Herschel Chipp, June 18, 1981, and a 1981 interview with Erle and Clyta Loran in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Interviews With Artists collection. Also found is a letter from Loran to Richard Wattenmaker, 1975.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 906) including photographs of artwork by Erle Loran and two clippings of reproductions of Loran's artwork. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Erle Loran lent the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming and donated papers in 1975. In 1999 Mrs. Ruth Schora-Loran, Loran's widow, donated additional material, including artworks.
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 teachers -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Painters -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Topic:
Art, Abstract  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area  Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Berkeley  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Genre/Form:
Watercolors
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Citation:
Erle Loran Papers, 1912-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.loraerle
See more items in:
Erle Loran papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw925cee8b4-a8f7-4f7f-b704-bf23331c4f25
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-loraerle
Online Media:

Dorothea Gilder papers regarding Cecilia Beaux, 1897-1920

Creator:
Gilder, Dorothea, 1882-1920  Search this
Subject:
Beaux, Cecilia  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Citation:
Dorothea Gilder papers regarding Cecilia Beaux, 1897-1920. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Painting  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5883
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208723
AAA_collcode_gilddoro
Theme:
Women
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208723
Online Media:

Walter and Louise Arensberg papers, 1912-1982, bulk 1917-1982

Creator:
Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954  Search this
Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson), 1879-1953  Search this
Subject:
Apollinaire, Guillaume  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
Sheeler, Charles  Search this
Wood, Beatrice  Search this
Citation:
Walter and Louise Arensberg papers, 1912-1982, bulk 1917-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Theme:
Patronage  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5962
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208807
AAA_collcode_arenwalt
Theme:
Patronage
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208807

Modify Your Search







or


Narrow By