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Ella Fitzgerald Papers

Creator:
Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996  Search this
Producer:
Decca (recording company).  Search this
Verve Records (Firm)  Search this
Granz, Norman  Search this
Performer:
Jazz at the Philharmonic (Musical group)  Search this
Musician:
Betts, Keter, 1928-  Search this
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this
Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993  Search this
Pass, Joe, 1929-1994  Search this
Peterson, Oscar, 1925-  Search this
Names:
Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986  Search this
Arranger:
Riddle, Nelson  Search this
Extent:
50 Cubic feet (92 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Awards
Videocassettes
Audiotapes
Programs
Sound recordings
Manuscripts
Phonograph records
Photographs
Posters
16mm motion picture film
Clippings
Contracts
Greeting cards
Date:
circa 1935-1996
Summary:
Ella Fitzgerald, often called the "First Lady of Song," was one of the 20th century's most important musical performers. The collection reflects her career and personal life through photographs, audio recordings, and manuscript materials.
Scope and Contents:
The Ella Fitzgerald Papers document the performing and personal life of the "First Lady of Song." The collection contains music manuscripts, sheet music, photographs, scripts, correspondence, clippings, business records, sound recordings and video. The bulk of the materials reflect Fitzgerald's career as a singer and performer. The collection comprises materials found in Ella Fitzgerald's home at the time of her death.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 10 series.

Series 1: Music Manuscripts and Sheet Music, 1919-1973

Suberies 1.1: Television Shows

Series 2: Photographs, 1939-1990

Subseries 2.1: Ella Fitzgerald Performing Alone

Subseries 2.2: Ella Fitzgerald Performing With Others

Subseries 2.3: Publicity

Subseries 2.4: Ella Fitzgerald With Family, Colleagues, and Friends

Subseries 2.5: Ella Fitzgerald Candid Photographs

Subseries 2.6: Performing Venues

Subseries 2.7: Photographs From Friends and Fans

Series 3: Scripts, 1957-1981

Series 4: Correspondence, circa 1960-1996

Series 5: Business Records, 1954-1990

Series 6: Honorary Degrees and Awards, 1960-1996

Series 7: Concert Programs and Announcements, 1957-1992, undated

Series 8: Clippings, 1949-1997

Subseries 8.1: Magazine Articles, 1949-1997

Subseries 8.2: Newspapers, circa 19650-circa 1990

Series 9: Emphemera, 1950-1996

Subseries 9.1: Album Jackets

Subseries 9.2: Miscellaneous

Series 10: Audiovisual, 1939-1995

Subseries 10.1: Sound Discs: Test Pressings, Transcription Discs, and Performer Copies, 1939-1979

Subseries 10.2: Commercial Sound Recordings, 1956-1961

Subseries 10.3: Demonstration Sound Discs: Other Artists

Subseries 10.4: Sound Tapes, 1938-1996

Subseries 10.5: Videotapes, 1967-1999

Subseries 10.6: Reference Tape Cassettes (for 1/4" open reel originals)
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25th, 1918, Ella Fitzgerald was sent to an orphanage in Yonkers, New York at the age of six. In 1934, she was discovered as a singer in New York's famed Apollo Theater Amateur Contest. This led to a stint with drummer Chick Webb's Band, with whom she recorded her first big hit, "A -tisket A-tasket" in 1938.

After Webb died in 1939, Fitzgerald took over leadership of the band for three years, during which time they were featured on a live radio series. She then embarked upon a solo career, which included recording for Decca Records, and in 1946, she began a pivotal association with producer Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic series, which brought her a large international following.

In 1956, Fitzgerald left Decca Records to join Granz's newly formed Verve label. Among her notable Verve recordings were a series of "songbooks" featuring the work of major American composers such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Harold Arlen as well as classic collaborations with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Fitzgerald's toured and performed extensively and her immense popularity also led to appearances on television, in movies, and in commercials and magazine ads.

Despite increasing health problems, Fitzgerald continued to tour, perform and record into her seventies with musicians such as guitarist Joe Pass, arranger-producer Quincy Jones, and pianist Oscar Peterson. Throughout her life, Fitzgerald was active in charitable work with particular emphasis on the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the Ella Fitzgerald and Harriette E. Shields Child Care Centers.

Ella Fitzgerald was admired and honored world-wide. In addition to receiving more than a dozen Grammy awards, she was awarded numerous honorary degrees and many states and cities had commemorative Ella Fitzgerald days. Fitzgerald was a Kennedy Center honoree in 1979 and Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Club named her "Woman of the Year" in 1982.

The "First Lady of Song" died on June 17, 1996, of complications from diabetes.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center

Benny Carter Collection, 1928-2000 (AC0757)

Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie, 1940s-1993 (AC0979)

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2012 (AC0808)

Milt Gabler Papers, 1927-2001 (AC0849)

Tad Hershorn Collection, 1956-1991 (AC0680)

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, circa 1910- circa 1970 (AC0491)
Separated Materials:
"The National Museum of American History, Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds Ella Fitzgerald artifacts including costumes and clothing.

"
Provenance:
The collection was donated by the Fitzgerald 1989 Trust, Richard Rosman, trustee on April 14, 1997. The Ella Fitzgeral Charitable Foundation is the successor to the Fitzgerald 1989 Trust.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials can be used.
Rights:
The Archives Center can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Jazz  Search this
Genre/Form:
Awards
Videocassettes
Audiotapes
Programs -- 1930-2000
Sound recordings
Sound recordings -- 1930-1990
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Phonograph records
Photographs -- 20th century
Posters -- 20th century
16mm motion picture film
Clippings -- 20th century
Contracts
Greeting cards
Citation:
Ella Fitzgerald Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0584
See more items in:
Ella Fitzgerald Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b30d86b3-2935-49c8-b13c-faf206402d9c
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0584
Online Media:

Lucy R. Lippard papers

Creator:
Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this
Names:
Addison Gallery of American Art  Search this
Alliance for Cultural Democracy  Search this
Art Workers Coalition  Search this
Heresies Collective, Inc.  Search this
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Political Art Documentation/Distribution (Organization)  Search this
Printed Matter, Inc.  Search this
Studio International (Firm)  Search this
University of Colorado -- Faculty  Search this
Women's Caucus for Art  Search this
Andre, Carl, 1935-  Search this
Chicago, Judy, 1939-  Search this
Darboven, Hanne  Search this
Edelson, Mary Beth  Search this
Hammond, Harmony  Search this
Henes, Donna  Search this
Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this
Judd, Donald, 1928-  Search this
LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007  Search this
Pearson, Henry, 1914-2006  Search this
Stevens, May  Search this
Extent:
70.5 Linear feet
0.454 Gigabytes
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Gigabytes
Sound recordings
Interviews
Photographs
Date:
1930s-2010
bulk 1960-1990
Summary:
The papers of New York and New Mexico writer, art critic, and curator, Lucy R. Lippard, measure 70.5 linear feet and 0.454 GB and date from the 1930s to 2007, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. Over half of the collection consists of correspondence files documenting Lippard's professional relationships with artists, writers, galleries, art institutions, and political organizations, and her interest in conceptual and minimalist art, feminism and political activism. Also found are Lippard's notes and writings including sound recordings and interviews, teaching and exhibition files, printed and digital material, several works of art, and photographs of artwork and artists. Scattered throughout the collection are a small number of records concerning Lippard's personal life. An addition of 3.0 linear feet donated 2015 includes subject files on feminist and conceptual art as well as land use, development, and local politics and history in New Mexico.

There is a 17.0 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2015 and 2021 that incudes research files (press clippings, notes, correspondence, ephemera) related to the publications 'Lure of the Local' and 'Undermining' are a significant portion. In addition there are approximetley 50 notebooks ranging from 1965-1996, containing notes and daily tasks. Printed material and ephemera includes promotional materials for talks and public engagements, as well as press clippings of reviews and other news items featuring Lippard. Another significant portion of the addition is labeled "miscellaneous professional correspondence."Materials date from circa 1965-2010.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York and New Mexico writer, art critic, and curator, Lucy R. Lippard, measure 70.5 linear feet and 0.454 GB and date from the 1930s to 2007, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. Over half of the collection consists of correspondence files documenting Lippard's professional relationships with artists, writers, galleries, art institutions, and political organizations, and her interest in conceptual and minimalist art, feminism and political activism. Also found are Lippard's notes and writings including sound recordings and interviews, teaching and exhibition files, printed and digital material, several works of art, and photographs of artwork and artists. Scattered throughout the collection are a small number of records concerning Lippard's personal life. An addition of 3.0 linear feet donated 2015 includes subject files on feminist and conceptual art as well as land use, development, and local politics and history in New Mexico.

A small amount of biographical material comprises resumes and an address book.

Correspondence files document all aspects of Lippard's professional life including her relationships with artists such as Carl Andre, Judy Chicago, Hanne Darboven, Ray Johnson, Sol LeWitt, and Henry Pearson; feminist artists including Mary Beth Edelson, Harmony Hammond, Donna Henes, and May Stevens; political and art-related activist groups such as Alliance for Cultural Democracy, Art Workers Coalition, Political Art Documentation/Distribution, Printed Matter, and Women's Caucus for Art; galleries and museums including Addison Gallery of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, and publishers including Art International and Art Forum. The series also traces the development of Lippard's involvement in activist causes including censorship and the rights of artists, Central America and the impact of U.S. policy on the region, and equality and reproductive rights for women, as well as her interest in conceptual and minimalist art. The series includes scattered artwork and photographs of artists.

Writings are primarily by Lippard and include correspondence, manuscript drafts, extensive notes, and publication records for some of her best-known books such as The Graphic Work of Philip Evergood (1966), Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973), Eva Hesse (1976), Ad Reinhardt (1985), and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990), as well as essays for publications such as Art Forum and Studio International and contributions to exhibition catalogs. Also found are edited transcripts from conferences, symposia and interviews conducted by and of Lippard, some audio recordings of interviews and symposia, including an interview with Donald Judd, and notes and typescripts for lectures and speeches.

A small number of files document Lippard's teaching work during the 1970s and 1980s, primarily at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she taught several courses and seminars.

Exhibition files document Lippard's involvement with exhibitions she helped to organize or curate such as A Different War: Vietnam in Art (1989-1991) 557,087 and 955,000 (1969, 1970), 2,972, 453 (1971) c.7,500 (1973-1974) and those for which she wrote catalog contributions.

Printed material includes a collection of articles written by Lippard and a small amount of material concerning events, such as speaking engagements, in which Lippard was involved. Other printed material reflects Lippard's wide range of artistic, political and activist interests and documents exhibitions and performances and the activities of art-related and political groups. Material includes many exhibition catalogs, announcements, invitations, printed posters, news clippings, journal articles, brochures, pamphlets and other publications.

Artwork includes sixteen items by unidentified artists, including two by children. Photographs consist primarily of photographs of works of art in addition to a small number of photos of exhibition installations.

There is a 17.0 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2015 and 2021 that incudes research files (press clippings, notes, correspondence, ephemera) related to the publications 'Lure of the Local' and 'Undermining' are a significant portion. In addition there are approximetley 50 notebooks ranging from 1965-1996, containing notes and daily tasks. Printed material and ephemera includes promotional materials for talks and public engagements, as well as press clippings of reviews and other news items featuring Lippard. Another significant portion of the addition is labeled "miscellaneous professional correspondence."Materials date from circa 1965-2010.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1960s-circa 1980s (Box 1; 2 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1950s-2006 (Boxes 1-28, 51, OVs 54-63; 28.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, 1930s-1990s (Boxes 28-41, 51-52, OVs 64-66; 13.24 linear feet, ER01; 0.454 GB)

Series 4: Teaching Files, 1966-1993 (Boxes 41, 52; 0.76 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibitions, 1960s-1990s (Boxes 42-45, 52, OVs 67-68; 4.2 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1940s-2007 (Boxes 45-49, 52, OVs 69-77; 5.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork and Ephemera, circa 1960s-circa 1990s (Boxes 50, 53; 4 folders)

Series 8: Photographs, 1950s-circa 1990s (Boxes 50, 53, OV 71; 1.0 linear foot)

Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1965-2010, (Boxes 78-94; 17.0 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
New York and New Mexico writer and art critic, Lucy R. Lippard, is the curator of numerous exhibitions and the author of over twenty-four books and other writings that trace the emergence of minimalist and conceptual art and document Lippard's commitment to feminism and political activism.

Born in New York City in 1937, Lippard earned a B.A. from Smith College in 1958 and an M.A. in 1962 from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. In the 1960s she began writing art criticism for the journals Art International and Artforum. In 1966 she curated the landmark exhibition Eccentric Abstraction at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City. Lippard then curated the first of four defining conceptual art exhibitions that became known as her "numbers" shows, each titled after the populations of the cities in which they took place, with catalogs in the form of a set of 10 x 15 cm index cards. Opening at the Seattle Art Museum in 1969, 557,087 was followed by 955,000 in Vancouver, Canada, a few months later. 2,972,453 was held at the Centro de Arte y Comunicacíon in Buenos Aires in 1971 and c.7500 opened in Valencia, California, in 1973-1974 before traveling to several other venues in the United States and Europe.

Lippard's first book, The Graphic Work of Philip Evergood was published in 1966, followed by Pop Art the same year, and a collection of her early essays, Changing, in 1971. Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973) and From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art (1976) documented the emergence of conceptual art and the early years of feminist art respectively. In 1976 Lippard published her seminal book on the life and work of Eva Hesse.

Between 1977 and 1978 Lippard lived on a farm in Devon, England, and worked on a novel, The First Stone, about the role of politics in the lives of three generations of women. During her walks across the English countryside she became interested in landscape art and conceived of her book Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory which was subsequently published in 1983. Other books include Get the Message?: A Decade Of Art For Social Change (1984), Ad Reinhardt (1985), and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990). Lippard has also written regular columns on art and politics for the Village Voice, In These Times and Z Magazine, and has been a contributing editor of Art in America.

Lippard was radicalized during a trip to Argentina in 1968 when she was invited to be a juror at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. On her return to the United States she became heavily involved in anti-war activities and the Art Workers Coalition. She is a co-founder of several feminist and artist organizations including the feminist collective Heresies, which produced Heresies: A Feminist Journal on Art and Politics from 1977-1992, Ad Hoc Women Artists, Alliance for Cultural Democracy, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, Women's Action Coalition, and Women's Art Registry. In 1976 she was a founder of Printed Matter, a New York nonprofit dedicated to producing artists' publications. She also worked closely with Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space devoted to the promotion of artists' books, installation art, and video and performance art, and served on the organization's International Committee.

Lippard has been a visiting professor at the School of Visual Arts, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of Queensland, Australia, and was Eminent Artist in Residence at the University of Wyoming Department of Art in 2015. She has received honorary doctorates in fine arts from Maine College of Art, the Massachusetts College of Art, Moore College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, and others, and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants in criticism, the Smith College Medal, the ArtTable Award for Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts, and the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Excellence.

Lippard has lived in New Mexico since 1992 and works as a freelance writer and speaker.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Lucy Lippard conducted in 2011 March 15, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project, funded by a grant from the A G Foundation.
Provenance:
Lucy R. Lippard donated her papers in several increments between 1972-1995, 2006, 2015 and 2021.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. 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:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Artists -- Political activity  Search this
Art criticism  Search this
Feminism and art  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Conceptual art  Search this
Minimal art  Search this
Women museum curators  Search this
Women educators  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Photographs
Citation:
Lucy R. Lippard papers, 1930s-2007, bulk 1960s-1990s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.lipplucy
See more items in:
Lucy R. Lippard papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9101c6a69-dde9-42ed-94cc-d03650c249ed
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-lipplucy
Online Media:

John and Devra Hall Levy Collection

Performer:
Lincoln, Abbey, 1930 -  Search this
Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000  Search this
Wilson, Nancy, 1937-  Search this
Mbulu, Letta  Search this
Adderley, Cannonball  Search this
Montgomery, Wes, 1925-1968  Search this
Horn, Shirley, 1934-  Search this
Donor:
Levy, Devra Hall  Search this
Creator:
Levy, John, 1912-2012  Search this
Extent:
23.6 Cubic feet (96 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Financial records
Interviews
Press releases
Schedules
Contracts
Correspondence
Itineraries
Articles
Scrapbooks
Business records
Videotapes
Audiotapes
Professional papers
Photographs
Date:
1916-2010, undated
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Levy's short career as a musician, his longer career as a manager, and the careers of some of his clients. The client most well represented in the collection is Nancy Wilson, with recordings, photographs, correspondence, financial statements, and contracts included. Papers relating to other clients include business records such as ledgers, scheduling information, itineraries, and contracts; publicity materials such as articles, press kits, photographs, and videotapes; personal correspondence; photographs; oral history interviews; scrapbook pages; recordings, some commercial and some non-commercial; and miscellany. The non-commercial recordings feature artists including Nancy Wilson, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderly, Abbey Lincoln, Wes Montgomery, Shirley Horn, Letta Mbulu, and others. Also included are some of Wes Montgomery's music manuscripts.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1916-2010, undated

Series 2: Business Records, 1957-2007, undated Series 3: Photographic Materials, 1963-2002, undated

Series 4: Artist Files, 1942-2001-05-12

Series 5: Joe Williams, 1962-2007, undated

Series 6: Nancy Wilson, 1959-2008, undated
Biographical / Historical:
John Levy was a renowned leading representative of jazz musicians and was the first African American to work in the music industry as a personal manager. Born in 1912 in New Orleans, Louisiana his family moved to Chicago when he was six. By the early 1940s he had begun playing bass in jazz bands around town. In 1944, Levy left Chicago with the Stuff Smith Trio to play an extended engagement at the Onyx Club on New York City's 52nd Street. Over the next years, he played and recorded with many jazz notables, including Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Errol Garner, Rex Stewart, Milt Jackson, and Billy Taylor, as well as with Billie Holiday at her comeback performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948. In 1949, blind pianist George Shearing hired Levy for his own group and as they toured the country, Levy gradually took on the role of road manager. By 1951, Levy stopped performing to become the group's full-time manager, making history as the first African American manager of a major musical group, and establishing the career he would continue for the next fifty years.

Levy's client roster included many major artists, including Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Mann, Wes Montgomery, Carol Sloane, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson, as well as Arsenio Hall (the only comedian he has managed among some one hundred entertainers). In recognition of his achievements, Levy has received numerous awards, including induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society (2002), and being named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master (2006). His autobiography, Men, Women, and Girl Singers: My Life as a Musician Turned Talent Manager, written with his wife Devra Hall, was published in 2001 and expanded into a photograph book, Strollin': A Jazz Life through John Levy's Personal Lens, released in 2008 on the occasion of his 96th birthday. Levy died in 2012 at the age of ninety-nine in Altadena, California.
Related Materials:
Bobby Short Papers
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Devra Hall Levy.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Musicians -- United States  Search this
Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this
Music trade -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
African American musicians  Search this
Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this
Sound recordings -- Jazz -- 1930-1990 -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Financial records -- 20th century
Interviews
Press releases
Schedules
Contracts
Correspondence -- 20th century
Itineraries
Articles
Scrapbooks
Business records -- 20th century
Videotapes
Audiotapes
Professional papers -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Citation:
John and Devra Hall Levy Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1221
See more items in:
John and Devra Hall Levy Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81a6961c7-0d9e-40c9-b6b1-bc87a35c9187
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1221
Online Media:

Reuben Tam papers

Creator:
Tam, Reuben  Search this
Names:
Alan Gallery (Charles Alan)  Search this
Brooklyn Museum of Art  Search this
Coe Kerr Gallery  Search this
Downtown Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation  Search this
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture  Search this
Andrews, Dorothy, 1918-2008  Search this
Kienbusch, William, 1914-1980  Search this
Nesjar, Carl, 1920-  Search this
Solomon, Hyde, 1911-  Search this
Extent:
9.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Poems
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Watercolors
Drawings
Date:
1931-2006
Summary:
The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks.

There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks. There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.

Biographical material includes school documents, records of his tenure as an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School, artwork consignment and sales records, and slides and accompanying audio cassette recording of the "Reuben Tam Show" about his work as an artist on Monhegan Island, Maine.

Correspondence is with family, fellow artists, including William Kienbusch and Hyde Solomon, as well as art organizations, schools, and museums, such as Brooklyn Museum of Art School, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Maine Coast Artists group, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is correspondence with the three galleries which represented his work: Downtown Gallery, Alan Gallery, and Coe Kerr Gallery.

The collection includes five bound diaries as well as diary entries written by Reuben Tam on loose sheets of paper, primarily documenting the 1940s. Other writings include drafts of poetry, one notebook, miscellaneous notes, and essays by others.

Printed material consists of school publications, exhibition catalogs and announcements for solo and group shows, brochures, flyers, magazines, bulletins, and news clippings. Eight scrapbooks found in this collection also include newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, as well as event invitations, membership cards, and letters, documenting 40 years of Reuben Tam's career.

Photographs are of Reuben Tam, Tam with friends and family, and artwork. One photograph album contains photographs from Tam's visits to Maine from 1946 to 1948, and includes photographs of fellow artists Hyde Solomon, Carl Nesjar, Dorothy Andrews, and William Kienbusch. Artwork in the collection includes prints, drawings, and watercolors as well as seventeen large sketchbooks documenting the coastal landscape of Monhegan Island, Maine.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1934-1993 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-2006 (Box 1-4; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Diaries, 1932-1974 (Box 4-5; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1939-1987 (Box 5; 7 folders)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1935-1997 (Box 5-6, 9; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, circa 1930-1990 (Box 6-7, 9; 1.0 linear foot)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1936-1975 (Box 7, 9-10, OV 11; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1938-1978 (Box 7-8; 0.9 linear feet)

Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1940-1974 (Box 12, OV13; 1.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Tam (1916-1991) was a landscape painter and educator in New York, Maine, and Hawaii. Tam was born in Kapaa, Hawaii, in 1916. He received a degree in education in 1937 from the University of Hawaii and was briefly a public school teacher before attending graduate courses at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1941 he moved to New York and took courses in art history and philosophy at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. Tam became affiliated with the Downtown Gallery in 1945 and was a prolific exhibitor in national and regional shows, winning critical praise as an abstract landscape painter. In 1948 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and first exhibited in the National Academy's annual exhibition in 1947.

Tam was an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School from 1946 to 1974. While there he taught advanced studies in painting and was chairman of the graduate painting department. He also served as a visiting professor at Oregon State University, Haystack, and Queens College, CUNY.

Beginning in 1948, Tam and his wife, Geraldine, spent summers at their home and studio on Monhegan Island, Maine. Tam's work was deeply influenced by coastal landscapes both in Maine and in his native Hawaii. In 1981 he and his wife moved back to Kapaa, Hawaii, where he continued to paint and exhibit his new works until his death in 1991.
Related Materials:
Reuben Tam papers, 1958-1966, are also located at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Scrapbooks were lent for microfilming in 1970 by Reuben Tam and were subsequently donated in 2009 along with additional papers by Geraldine King Tam, Reuben Tam's widow. 34 additional sketchbooks were donated in 2020 by the Geraldine King Tam Trust, via Cindy King, trustee and niece of Geraldine King Tam.
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 -- Maine  Search this
Painters -- Hawaii  Search this
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Educators -- Hawaii  Search this
Educators -- Maine  Search this
Educators -- New York (State)  Search this
Asian American artists  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketchbooks
Sound recordings
Poems
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Watercolors
Drawings
Citation:
Reuben Tam papers, 1931-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.tamreub
See more items in:
Reuben Tam papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cf2f8a4b-e9dd-4583-8b33-f5ac639c6ce0
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-tamreub
Online Media:

Sound Recordings

Collection Creator:
Cheatham, Doc, 1905-1997  Search this
Cheatham, Amanda  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1930s-1990s
Scope and Contents:
Subseries 5A, ca. 1930s-1990s, boxes 19-20.

Contains a collection of LPs recorded by Cheatham and others. Includes a "test" recording of Cheatham's 1973 self-titled album.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Doc Cheatham Papers, 1939-1998, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0814, Subseries 5.1
See more items in:
Doc Cheatham Papers
Doc Cheatham Papers / Series 5: Audiovisual Materials
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86dc4f16d-3e0c-44d9-99bc-efc480ae2409
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0814-ref385

Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated Records

Creator:
Hills Bros. Coffee, Inc.  Search this
Extent:
65 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertising cards
16mm motion picture film
Annual reports
Artwork
Beverage labels
Blueprints
Business ephemera
Bulletins
Business letters
Business records
Catalogs
Color photographs
Color negatives
Commercial art
Correspondence
Direct mail
Ephemera
Exhibit plans
Financial records
Genealogies
Home movies
Ledger drawings
Office files
Office memoranda
Packaging
Photographic prints
Photographs
Price lists
Proof sheets
Promotional literature
Receipts
Sales records
Scrapbooks
Sound recordings
Television programs
Window displays
Date:
1856-1989, undated
Summary:
Printed advertisements, scrapbooks, correspondence, marketing research, radio commercial scripts, photographs, proof sheets, reports, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, television commercial storyboards, blueprints, legal documents, and audiovisual materials primarily documenting the history, business practices, and advertising campaigns of the Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated. Collection also documents the professional and private lives of the Hills family; insight into the cultivation, production, and selling of coffee; and construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of printed advertisements, scrapbooks, correspondence, marketing research, radio commercial scripts, photographs, proof sheets, reports, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, television commercial storyboards, blueprints, legal documents, and audiovisual materials. These materials primarily document the history, business practices, and advertising campaigns of Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated. Correspondence, genealogies, and home movies reveal a more domestic and social Hills family while company records document business activities outside of the home. Company records also provide insight into the cultivation, production, and selling of coffee, and the company's technological responses to the changes in the coffee trade, and consumer consumption demands. Of interest is the company's participation in social and cultural events including the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939. In addition, the collection includes the company's documentation of the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936. The collection is arranged into thirteen series.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into thirteen series.

Series 1, Hills Family Papers, 1856-1942, undated

Subseries 1.1, Austin Herbert Hills, Sr. Papers, 1856-1875, undated

Subseries 1.2, Austin Herbert Hills, Jr. Papers, 1875-1923

Subseries 1.3, Herbert Gray Hills Correspondence, 1923-1942

Series 2, Background Materials, 1896-1988, undated

Series 3, Coffee Reference Files, 1921-1980, undated

Subseries 3.1, Hills Bros. Coffee Company Literature, 1921-1976, undated

Subseries 3.2, Coffee Industry Literature, 1924-1980, undated

Series 4, Advertising Materials, circa 1890s-1987, undated

Subseries 4.1, Scrapbooks, 1906-1978, undated

Subseries 4.2, Historical Albums, 1911-1967

Subseries 4.3, Ephemera, 1890s-1987

Subseries 4.4, Portfolios, 1919-1985, undated

Subseries 4.5, Proof sheets, 1922-1968

Subseries 4.6, Advertising Forms, 1922-1971, undated

Subseries 4.7, Newspaper and Magazine Advertising, 1926-1971, undated

Subseries 4.8, Sampling Campaigns, 1928-1941

Subseries 4.9, General Files, 1923-1978, undated

Subseries 4.10, NW Ayer Advertising Agency, 1943, 1958

Subseries 4.11, Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising Agency, 1963-1968, undated

Series 5, Photographs, 1882-1973, undated

Subseries 5.1, Employees, 1882-1961, undated

Subseries 5.2, Division Offices, 1924-1931, undated

Subseries 5.3, Facilities and Vehicles, 1927-1973, undated

Subseries 5.4, Advertising, 1925-1959, undated

Subseries 5.5, Sales, circa 1921-1939, undated

Subseries 5.6, Packaging, 1884-1969, undated

Subseries 5.7, Grocery Store Displays, circa, 1901-1935

Subseries 5.8, Store Tests, 1938

Subseries 5.9, Window and Wall Displays, 1928, 1930, 1934

Subseries 5.10, Publicity, 1933-1936, undated

Subseries 5.11, Miscellaneous, 1898-1949, undated

Subseries 5.12, Coffee and Tea Industry, 1900s-1947,. undated

Series 6, Sales and Marketing Records, 1906-1989, undated

Subseries 6.1, Bulletins for Salesmen, 1912-1969

Subseries 6.2, Division Bulletins and General Letters, 1925-1927

Subseries 6.3, Correspondence, 1919-1989

Subseries 6.4, Conventions and Meetings, 1915-1971

Subseries 6.5, Salesmen Materials, 1906-1973, undated

Subseries 6.6, Reports and Studies, 1941-1978

Subseries 6.7, Marketing Research, 1956-1978, undated

Subseries 6.8, Pricing Information, 1949-1965

Series 7, Employee Records, 1934-1966

Series 8, Accounting and Financial Records, 1903-1960, undated

Series 9, Office Files, 1915-1970, undated

Subseries 9.1, General, 1915-1969, undated

Subseries 9.2, T. Carroll Wilson Correspondence, 1941-1970

Series 10, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Materials, 1933-1986, undated

Subseries 10.1, Background Information, 1933-1986, undated

Subseries 10.2, Photographic Materials, 1933-1936, undated

Series 11, Golden Gate International Exposition Materials, 1915-1940, undated

Subseries 11.1, Coffee Theater, circa 1939

Subseries 11.2, Exposition Attendance, 1915-1940

Subseries 11.3, Correspondence, 1937-1940, undated

Subseries 11.4, Construction, 1937-1940, undated

Subseries 11.5, Blueprints, 1937-1939

Subseries 11.6, Behind the Cup, 1937-1940, undated

Subseries 11.7, Newspaper Cooperation, 1939

Subseries 11.8, Solicitations and Replies, 1938-1940

Subseries 11.9, Miscellaneous, 1938-1940

Series 12, World War II Materials, 1939-1949, undated

Subseries 12.1, Production and Quotas, 1942-1946

Subseries 12.2, Rationing, 1939-1946

Subseries 12.3, Containers and Closures, 1942-1949, undated

Subseries 12.4, Appeals, 1948

Subseries 12.5, Advertising Campaigns, 1942, undated

Subseries 12.6, Machinists' Strike Scrapbooks, 1945-1946

Series 13, Audio Visual Materials, 1930-1984, undated

Subseries 13.1, Moving Images, 1930-1966

Subseries 13.1.1, Television Commercials, 1951-1984

Subseries 13.1.2, Television Programs, 1951-1967

Subseries 13.1.3, Promotional Materials, 1939-1977

Subseries 13.1.4, Hills Bros. Activities, 1930-1962

Subseries 13.1.5, Miscellaneous Film and Video, 1938-1966

Subseries 13.2, Sound Recordings, 1934-1967, undated

Subseries 13.2.1, Radio Commercials, 1941-1967, undated

Subseries 13.2.2, Radio Programs and Other Broadcasts, 1934-1956, undated

Subseries 13.2.3, Cardboard Discs, 1941-1960; undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Hills, on one occasion, stated regarding his company's growth; ...success in business is fifty per cent judgment and fifty per cent propitious circumstances." The rise of Hills Bros. Coffee Incorporated from a retail dairy stall in San Francisco's old Bay City Public Market reflects the reality of Reuben's statement. Aided by brother Austin's three years of experience in the retail dairy business the early success of the brothers was in Reuben's own words both circumstance and hard work. When Reuben and Austin began to produce roasted coffee there were at least twenty-five other companies already engaged in some form of coffee production and distribution in San Francisco including, of course, the well-known Folger Company started by William Bovee (which began in San Francisco thirty years earlier). Most of these coffee businesses were started by family groups which contributed to the growth of San Francisco.

San Francisco in the nineteenth century was ripe for the importing and roasting of coffee. The foundation for commercial production of coffee dated back to the 1820s when English planters brought coffee to Costa Rica. By the early 1840s German and Belgian planters followed with coffee plantations in Guatemala and El Salvador, two of the several Central American countries where Hills Bros. would obtain its mild coffee beans. During the Gold Rush (1849) San Francisco rapidly expanded and grew. Coffee was imported and sold, after roasting, to restaurants and hotels. Yankee gold miners and others without equipment to roast and brew their own coffee, populated "coffee houses." In 1873 two brothers, Austin Herbert and Reuben Wilmarth Hills arrived in San Francisco from their home in Rockland, Maine with their father Austin who had come to California some years earlier. Five years later in 1878 A. H. and R. W. Hills established a retail stall to sell dairy products in the Bay City Market under the name of their new partnership "Hills Bros." Their small business expanded in less than four years with the acquisition of a retail coffee store titled Arabian Coffee & Spice Mills on Fourth Street in San Francisco. In two more years (1884) still larger quarters were occupied at Sacramento and Sansome Streets. Soon after this they disposed of their retail dairy business but continued as wholesale distributors of some dairy products including butter. Their coffee was labeled "Arabian Roast"' supported by the now famous trademark design of a man in turban and beard with a flowing yellow gown. This was created by a San Francisco artist named Briggs and since then (1897) has remained as the official trademark of Hills Bros. Coffee - a lasting symbol of coffee quality. Hills Bros. dairy division was eliminated in 1908 after company destruction by the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. By 1924 all miscellaneous products including tea, had been dropped by the company which from then on referred to itself as "coffee only."

Emphasis on the quality of the finished product has long been a major selling point in the history of Hills Bros. advertising and marketing. The company's desire to keep abreast of technological advances in coffee production is a legacy of Austin and Reuben Hills, and is reflected in the company records, in its advertising and its self-perception. It was probably 1898 when Austin Hills and Thomas Hodge, partners who managed the wholesale dairy product operations were looking for a suitable can for exporting butter that could not be manufactured in San Francisco at that time, decided to consult Norton Brothers, a progressive can manufacture company in Chicago. Whether Austin traveled to Chicago or arranged with his brother Reuben to stop off there in route to New York (where he frequently spent time at the New York Green Coffee Exchange) to present the problem to Norton Brothers, which brother made the actual contact with Norton Brothers is not important today, but the results of that visit were real. Norton Brothers had just received patents on a process for packing foods in vacuum and thought it might solve the butter problem. In short order arrangements were made for shipping cans and machinery from Chicago to San Francisco including agreement for exclusive use on the West Coast for a reasonable period. Thus, Hills Bros. butter became the first known food product to ever be packed in vacuum. Once this started Reuben Hills had the idea that what worked well with butter might also be used for coffee. Experimental vacuum-packing of coffee in butter cans supported the theory that taking the air out of coffee would keep the product fresh for indefinite periods. No time was lost in getting new cans and more machinery and in July 1900 Hills Bros. Coffee as "the original vacuum-pack" was placed on the market. With the advent of this technology Hills Bros. changed the product name from "Arabian Roast" to "Hills Bros. Highest Grade Java and Mocha Coffee" and continued with the new trademark that had been started in 1897. Vacuum-packing extended the shelf life and travel ability of the product, thus new markets, national and international, were opened.

A change in the coffee industry of America was on the way. Hills Bros. remained the pioneer of vacuum-packing for thirteen years until a similar process was adopted by M.J.B., another leading coffee company in San Francisco. Other packers on the West Coast soon followed, but it was not until after World War I that East Coast coffee producers turned to vacuum-packaging.

Production and advertising of coffee continued to change with new technology. In the late 1880s San Francisco coffee importers began to "cup test" coffee beans for quality but the majority still depended on sight and smell. Reuben Hills and a few other coffee personalities in San Francisco are credited with the cup test method of appraising coffee quality. In its new home office and plant opened in San Francisco in 1926, Hills Bros. adopted "controlled roasting" in which coffee was roasted a few pounds at a time, but continuously. Developed in 1923 under the direction of Leslie Hills and Lee Maede, company engineer, "controlled roasting" employed the use of instruments to control the temperature and speed of operations, resulting in perfect roasting control that could not be depended on from batch to batch by even the most experienced coffee roasting expert. In 1914 the partnership known as Hills Bros. was incorporated under the same name. In 1928 a sales organization was formed under the name of Hills Bros. Coffee, Incorporated, but within four to five years the parent company absorbed Hills Bros. Coffee, Incorporated and adopted its name. A second plant was built in Edgewater, New Jersey, completed in 1941 to meet the needs of the increasing growth of areas between Chicago and the East Coast.

During World War II Hills Bros. faced conservation rules restricting use of tin for coffee cans. A timely method of high-speed packing in glass jars by Owens Illinois Glass Company made it possible for Hills Bros. as well as other companies in the industry to continue vacuum-packing during this period. Price control and coffee rationing were other war time necessities to which the industry adjusted.

Hills Bros. Coffee, Incorporated passed out of family ownership in 1976 when the company was purchased by a Brazilian corporation named Copersucar. In 1983 a group of local investors in San Francisco brought ownership back to where it had started and sold the business in 1984 to Nestlé Holdings, Incorporated, (effective January 1, 1985) which handled the acquisition of several companies in the United States for Nestlé S. A. Vevey, Switzerland.

Historical note written by T., Carroll Wilson, company historian and archivist, 1993.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

NW Ayer Advertising Agency Records, NMAH.AC0059

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, NMAH.AC0060

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC0143

General Merchandise Account Book, NMAH.AC0189

Duke Ellington, NMAH.AC0301

Product Cookbooks Collection, NMAH.AC0396

Charles W. Trigg Papers, NMAH.AC0411

Princeton University Posters Collection, NMAH.AC0433

Landor Design Collection, NMAH.AC0500

Industry on Parade Film Collection, NMAH.AC0507

Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising, NMAH.AC0611

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC0797

Division of Cultural History Lantern Slides and Stereographs, NMAH.AC0945

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, NMAH.AC1086

Alice Weber Photograph Albums, NMAH.AC1144

Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, NMAH.AC1484

Division of Cultural History, National Museum of American History

Artifacts include coffee packaging, Golden Gate International Exposition sampling cups and saucers, a bowling shirt, and coffee cans.
Provenance:
These records were donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the negatives and audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Coffee  Search this
advertising -- 20th century  Search this
advertising -- 1930-1940 -- California  Search this
advertising -- 1980-1990  Search this
Advertising agencies -- 20th century  Search this
advertising -- 1940-1950  Search this
advertising -- 1970-1980  Search this
advertising -- 1980-1990  Search this
advertising -- Audio-visual materials  Search this
advertising -- Beverages -- 1930-1990  Search this
advertising -- Business ephemera  Search this
Advertising campaigns -- 20th century  Search this
Advertising executives  Search this
Advertising, Direct-mail  Search this
Agricultural crops -- Fields  Search this
Genre/Form:
Advertising cards -- 19th century.
16mm motion picture film
Annual reports
Artwork
Beverage labels
Blueprints -- 20th century
Business ephemera
Bulletins
Business letters
Business records -- 20th century
Business records -- 19th century
Catalogs -- 20th century
Color photographs
Color negatives
Commercial art
Correspondence
Correspondence -- 19th-20th century
Direct mail
Ephemera -- 19th century
Ephemera -- 20th century
Exhibit plans
Financial records -- 19th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Genealogies
Home movies
Ledger drawings
Office files
Office memoranda
Packaging -- 20th century
Photographic prints
Photographs -- 19th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Price lists
Proof sheets
Promotional literature
Receipts -- 20th century
Sales records
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Sound recordings
Sound recordings -- Audiotapes -- Open reel
Television programs
Window displays
Citation:
Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated Records, 1856-1989, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0395
See more items in:
Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8de2ab00c-0e83-43df-9a02-26cffe43e069
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0395
Online Media:

Peter Blume papers

Creator:
Blume, Peter, 1906-1992  Search this
Names:
American Academy of Arts and Letters  Search this
American Artists' Congress  Search this
Boston College  Search this
Connecticut Council of the Arts  Search this
Askew, R. Kirk (Ralph Kirk), 1903-1974  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this
Blankenhorn, Heber, 1884-1956  Search this
Blume, Grace  Search this
Boursa, Harry  Search this
Burke, Kenneth, 1897-  Search this
Cowley, Malcolm, 1898-  Search this
De Vries, Peter, 1910-1993  Search this
Eisenstaedt, Alfred  Search this
Getlein, Frank  Search this
Godsoe, Robert  Search this
Hirsch, Joseph, 1910-1981  Search this
Kelly, Michael A.  Search this
Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005  Search this
O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this
Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987  Search this
Trapp, Frank  Search this
Extent:
7.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Travel diaries
Sound recordings
Interviews
Drawings
Photographs
Prints
Transcriptions
Lectures
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Date:
1870-2001
Summary:
The papers of New York and Connecticut painter Peter Blume date from 1870 to 2001 and measure 7.6 linear feet. Found are biographical materials; correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, galleries and institutions, and writers; writings on art by Blume and others; subject files regarding organizations, works of art, exhibitions, and reference files; personal business records; printed material; two scrapbooks; photographs of Blume, family, friends, and works of art; extensive artwork; and material relating to Blume's wife's family, the Cratons.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York and Connecticut painter Peter Blume date from 1870 to 2001 and measure 7.6 linear feet. Found are biographical materials; correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, galleries and institutions, and writers; writings on art by Blume and others; subject files regarding organizations, works of art, exhibitions, and reference files; personal business records; printed material; two scrapbooks; photographs of Blume, family, friends, and works of art; extensive artwork; and material relating to Blume's wife's family, the Cratons.

Biographical materials include an award, obituaries, a travel itinerary, and sound recordings and transcripts of interviews of Peter Blume by Alfred H. Barr, Boston College, Harry Boursa, and Visionary Company Magazine.

Correspondence is professional and personal. Letters are from friends, family, artists, writers, galleries, and institutions. Notable correspondents include Kirk Askew, Malcolm Cowley, Peter DeVries, Joseph Hirsch, and Frank A. Trapp, among others. Also found is Grace Blume's correspondence which includes letters to and from Peter Blume and letters from Grace to her family members and friends. The bulk of Grace Blume's correspondence concerns her travels with Blume.

Writings and notes by Blume include a travel journal, lists of works of art, lectures, talks and other writings on art, artists, and friends. Writings by others include theses and scholarly papers about Blume, and include writings by Heber Blankenhorn, Kenneth Burke, Malcolm Cowley, Robert Ulrich Godsoe, Frank Getlein, Michael A. Kelly, and Frank A. Trapp. Also found is criticism on The Rock by school children.

Blume's subject files cover the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Artists Congress, Heber Blankenhorn, works of art by Blume, exhibitions, and the Connecticut Council on the Arts. Also found are reference files consisting of photographs of artwork by others and clippings.

Personal business and financial records consist of business correspondence with galleries and museums; sales and consignment records; scattered price lists; and receipts and invoices relating to the building and running of Blume's house in Connecticut.

Printed materials include clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for solo and group shows, magazines featuring articles about Blume, posters, and reproductions of works of art.

Scrapbooks include a fragment of a scrapbook from 1942-1944 and a clippings scrapbook from 1934-1939.

Photographs include portraits and snapshots of Peter Blume, Grace Blume, family, friends, travel, parties, pets, homes, landscapes, exhibitions, and works of art. There are also photos of the Askews, the Blankenhorns, the Cowleys, Alfred Eisenstaedt, the Holstens, the Josephsons, Arthur Miller, Georgia O'Keeffe, the Sobys, and Raphael Soyer.

Artwork by Peter Blume includes completed drawings, sketches, doodles, prints, and preliminary drawings for many of his works. Of note are extensive sketches of heads, and preliminary drawings for Recollection of the Flood.

Craton family papers consist of geneological material relating to Grace Blume's brother, James Craton and his wife Catherine Sears Craton. Found are vital records; military records for James and Marshall Craton; correspondence; scattered financial records; clippings; and family photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1950-1992 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1926-1992 (1.8 linear feet; Box 1-3)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1929-1986 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3, 9)

Series 4: Subject Files, circa 1930-1988 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3-4)

Series 5: Personal Business and Financial Records, 1934-1983 (0.6 linear feet; Box 4, 9)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (0.7 linear feet; Box 4-5, 9, OV 15-16)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1934-1944 (3 folders; Box 5)

Series 8: Photographs, 1917-circa 1980 (1.1 linear feet; Box 5-6, 9)

Series 9: Artwork, 1932-1984 (2.0 linear feet; Box 6-9, OV 10-14)

Series 10: Craton Family Papers, 1870-2001 (0.2 linear feet; Box 6)
Biographical / Historical:
Russian-born painter and sculptor Peter Blume (1906-1992) was active in New York and Connecticut. His style combined American and European traditions with folk art and surrealism.

Peter Blume was born Piotr Sorek-Sabel in 1906 in Smorgon, Russia. With his family, he emigrated to the United States in 1911 and settled in New York City. Blume studied at the Educational Alliance and the Art Students League in New York. Influenced by folk art, Precisionism, Cubism, and Surrealism, Blume combined European and American painting tradition to create his own style. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and travelled to Italy.

In 1934, Blume's South of Scranton (1931) won the first prize at the Carnegie International Exhibition. Later, he exhibited The Eternal City (1937) at the Julian Levy Galleries in Manhattan. With the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department, Blume completed two post office murals in New York and Pennsylvania. Blume was a member of the National Academy of Design and was active with the American Academy in Rome.

Peter Blume married Grace "Ebie" Douglas Craton in 1931. The couple built their home in Sherman, Connecticut. The Blumes travelled the world and kept close relationships with family and friends, such as Ann and Heber Blankenhorn, Malcolm Cowley, and Ned and Nancy Holsten.

Peter Blume died in Connecticut in 1992.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Peter Blume conducted on August 16th, 1983 to May 23rd, 1984 by Robert F. Brown.
Provenance:
The Peter Blume papers were donated by in 1993 by Grace Blume, Peter Blume's widow. Additional papers were donated by Catherine Weiss, Jamie Vance, and Leigh Butler in 2010.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Genre/Form:
Travel diaries
Sound recordings
Interviews
Drawings
Photographs
Prints
Transcriptions
Lectures
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Citation:
Peter Blume papers, 1870-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.blumpete
See more items in:
Peter Blume papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw933972ecf-c1f9-47e8-940f-e0373959c592
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-blumpete
Online Media:

Richard McLanathan papers

Creator:
McLanathan, Richard B. K.  Search this
Names:
American Association of Museums  Search this
Harvard University  Search this
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute  Search this
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  Search this
Bulfinch, Charles, 1763-1844  Search this
Extent:
29.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Moving images
Date:
1901-1995
bulk 1940s-1990s
Summary:
The papers of art historian, arts administrator, consultant, and author Richard McLanathan, measure 29.8 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1995, with the bulk of the records dating from the 1940s to 1990s. The collection documents McLanathan's career through correspondence, education records, writings, and lecture files; papers related to his career at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and his directorship at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute; and project files from his consulting work in arts, education, historic preservation, administrative reorganization, funding, and publicity. The collection is primarily composed of correspondence, writings, reports, printed matter, as well as some photographs and audiovisual material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian, arts administrator, consultant, and author Richard McLanathan, measure 29.8 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1995, with the bulk of the records dating from the 1940s to 1990s. The collection documents McLanathan's career through correspondence with artists, museum professionals, and collectors; records from his education at Harvard, including papers related to the American architect Charles Bulfinch; papers pertaining to various lectures, essay, and book projects; material documenting his career at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and his directorship at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute; and project files from his consulting work in arts, education, historic preservation, and administrative reorganization, funding, and publicity. Also included is a significant amount of material related to McLanathan's post as art curator at the American National Exhibition, Moscow, USSR, in 1959; and his work as writer, researcher, and editor at the National Gallery of art form the late-1960s to late-1970s.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1942-1994 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1, 30-31, FC 32)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-1995, bulk 1940s-1990s (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Writings, 1934-1995 (9.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-10, 31)

Series 4: Association and Membership Records, 1950-1987 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 11-14, FC 33)

Series 5: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, circa 1946-1976 (2.0 linear feet; Box 14-16)

Series 6: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, 1958-1963 (1.0 linear feet; Box 16-17)

Series 7: Consulting Projects, 1950s-1991 (10.8 linear feet; Box 17-28, 31)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1930s-1990s (1.0 linear feet; Box 28-29)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1940s-1990s (0.5 linear feet; Box 29)
Biographical / Historical:
Richard McLanathan (1916-1998) was an art historian, curator, museum administrator, consultant, and author in New York and Boston. McLanathan began his career at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, followed by the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York before moving on to consulting work for the remainder of his career. He published numerous books and articles, was a key member of several professional and cultural organizations, and consulted on multiple projects for corporations, municipalities, museums, and educational institutions.

McLanathan graduated from high school from The Choate School in 1934, followed by his bachelor's degree and doctorate from Harvard University. While writing his dissertation on the early-American architect Charles Bulfinch, McLanathan was hired as assistant curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). Other titles he held there include Secretary of the Museum (1949-1956), Editor of Museum Publications (1952-1957), and Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts (1954-1957). Additionally, McLanathan was a member of the art and executive committees for the Boys' Club of Boston (circa 1950-1956).

McLanathan moved to Utica, New York, in 1957, for the position of director at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art (MWP) where he organized exhibitions, was responsible for the institute's community arts program, oversaw the planning and completion of a new museum building designed by Philip Johnson, and worked on the restoration of Fountain Elms, a nearby 1850s Tuscan villa. McLanathan was then assigned as curator of the art exhibition at the American National Exhibition, Moscow, USSR, in 1959. This led to additional roles as an American specialist for the State Department in West Germany (1959), Poland (1959), Denmark (1959), and Yugoslavia (1961). Around this time, McLanathan also served on the Commissioner's Committee for the Arts and Museum Resources under the New York State Council of the Arts (1960-1964).

After resigning from MWP in 1961, McLanathan worked primarily as a freelance writer, lecturer, and consultant. His consulting projects included program planning, future development, curriculum development, administrative reorganization, exhibitions, historic preservation, budgeting and funding, and policy development. His clients included the Atlanta Art Association, IBM, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time-Life, State University of New Mexico, and U. S. Plywood. In the late 1960s, McLanathan began working as a project consultant for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. While there, his projects included Art & Man (1969-1973), A Guide to Civilisation: The Kenneth Clark Films on the Cultural Life of Western Man (1970), East Building, National Gallery: A Profile (1978), and various other writings and films .

As a writer, McLanathan contributed to the Encyclopedia of World Art and Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and published articles on artists, architecture, art history in general, and museums in the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Art News, and Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. The books he wrote include Images of the Universe: Leonardo da Vinci, The Artist as Scientist (1966), The Pageant of Medieval Art and Life (1966), The American Tradition in the Arts (1968), Art in America, A Brief History (1973), The Art of Marguerite Stix (1977), and World Art in American Museums, A Personal Guide (1983).
Provenance:
This collection was donated in two installments by Richard McLanathan, 1994-1995, and by Jane McLanathan, 2005-2007, via her estate's executor.
Restrictions:
The 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art consultants -- New York (State)  Search this
Art historians -- New York (State)  Search this
Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this
Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- Utica  Search this
Authors -- New York (State)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Moving images
Citation:
Richard McLanathan papers, 1901-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.mclarich
See more items in:
Richard McLanathan papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94cfbdcde-8849-4607-902b-41ada5b9da17
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-mclarich

Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline

Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Names:
Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this
Extent:
11.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Scrapbooks
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1892-circa 2005
bulk 1930-1990
Summary:
The Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline measure 11.5 linear feet and date from 1892 to circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Zogbaum was a close companion to the New York-based painter Franz Kline and she managed his estate after his death. These papers include biographical material on Franz Kline, documents related to the Franz Kline estate and Franz Kline Foundation, and other material about the artist compiled by Elisabeth Zogbaum. In addition to the aforementioned material, the collection also includes correspondence, exhibition files, printed material, Zogbaum's research and notes, photographic material, artifacts, sound recordings of interviews, and books from Franz Kline's personal library.
Scope and Contents:
The Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline measure 11.5 linear feet and date from 1892 to circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Zogbaum was a close companion to the New York-based painter Franz Kline and she managed his estate after his death. These papers include biographical material on Franz Kline, documents related to the Franz Kline estate and Franz Kline Foundation, and other material about the artist compiled by Elisabeth Zogbaum. In addition to the aforementioned material, the collection also includes correspondence, exhibition files, printed material, Zogbaum's research and notes, photographic material, artifacts, sound recordings, and books from Franz Kline's personal library.

Franz Kline biographical material includes Kline's passport, will, address books, biographical outlines, obituaries, health and financial records, high school yearbooks, military training camp material, bills and receipts, loose pages of a high school scrapbook, and other material. There are also drawings and sketches by Franz Kline and a few drawings by others.

Correspondence is divided into two sections: correspondence with Franz Kline and correspondence with Elisabeth Zogbaum. Franz Kline correspondence mostly consists of letters to Franz Kline from friends, colleagues, artists, museums, and galleries. Notable correspondents include Sabro Hasegawa, Hedy Lamarr, John Ferren, Jack Micheline, William Morris, and Shinichi Segui. Elisabeth Ross Zogbaum correspondence consists of condolence letters upon the death of Franz Kline and professional correspondence with museums, galleries, foundations and collectors regarding his art.

The estate of Franz Kline includes financial and legal records on the Franz Kline estate, which Elisabeth Zogbaum managed as the sole executrix. There are art inventories, price lists, condition reports, sales reports, correspondence, contracts, tax records, and documents related to Marlborough Gallery and other galleries.

The Franz Kline Foundation series includes a range of material, such as a survey of public and private collections with Franz Kline artwork, related to the catalogue raisonne which the foundation began work on but did not complete. The series also contains correspondence, administrative records, lists, inventories, and sound recordings.

Elisabeth Zogbaum research and notes includes lists, notes, printed material, correspondence, and sound recordings compiled by Zogbaum regarding Franz Kline. Zogbaum produced an audiovisual presentation consisting of slides of Kline's artwork and an accompanying soundtrack. She recorded dozens of conversations with artists, friends, dealers, and contemporaries of Kline, including James Brooks, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, George McNeil, Joan Mitchell, Giuseppe Panza, Ludwig Sander, Aaron Siskind, Ray Spillenger, and Joe Stefanelli, among others.

Exhibition files consist of correspondence, loan forms and agreements, checklists, and itineraries on various posthumous Franz Kline exhibitions.

Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, announcements, clippings, press releases, newsletters, magazines, postcards, and other miscellaneous material. Most of the material is about Franz Kline, but there is also material about other artists.

Photographic material includes photographs of Franz Kline, Elisabeth Zogbaum, family, friends, other artists, houses, studios, artwork, exhibition installations, Japanese calligraphy, and other subjects. There are mostly photographic prints, but there are also a few negatives, slides, and transparencies. There is an album of Franz Kline's artwork. Franz Kline Library consists of various books which were probably in his office. Some books contain articles about Franz Kline or images of his artwork. The rest are miscellanous titles that have been inscribed to Kline. There are also books with artwork by the artist Phil May.

There is a random assortment of artifacts that belonged to Franz Kline including a metal lantern, model car, tea pot, dominoes, a ring, and other objects.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 10 series.

Series 1: Franz Kline Biographical Material, 1925-1962, circa 1998 (Box 1, OV 13; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1929-1998 (Boxes 1-2, OV 13; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Estate of Franz Kline, 1955-1991 (Box 2; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation, circa 1961-1997, bulk 1980-1990 (Boxes 2-4, 19; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 5: Elisabeth Zogbaum Research and Notes, 1951-1995 (Box 4, 19, OV 14; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Exhibition Files, 1954-1995, bulk 1963-1995 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1936-circa 2005 (Boxes 4-6, OV 14-15; 2.7 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographic Material, circa 1915-1962, bulk 1936-1962 (Boxes 6-7, OV 14; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 9: Franz Kline Library, 1892-1962 (Boxes 7-10, BV 16-18; 3.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Artifacts, circa 1930-circa 1962 (Boxes 11-12; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Elisabeth Zogbaum was a close friend and companion of Franz Kline. She was married to sculptor Wilfrid Meynell Zogbaum. Upon Kline's death in 1962, Elisabeth Zogbaum became the sole executrix of his estate and later the president of the Franz Kline Foundation.

Franz Kline was an Abstract Expressionist painter based in New York City. Kline was born in a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania in 1910. He studied art at Boston University and at the Heatherley Fine Art School in England. He moved to New York City in the late 1930s and became a widely recognized and acclaimed artist. He died in 1962.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Elisabeth Zogbaum conducted by Garnett McCoy on December 3, 1981.
Provenance:
The Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline were donated to the archives in multiple installments from 1991 to 2010. The first 1991 donation was made by Elisabeth Ross Zogbaum. Subsequent donations in 2004 and 2010 were made by her son, Rufus Zogbaum.
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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
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 -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Scrapbooks
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ca530c73-35b0-4129-b4e7-d1c46da378c7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-klinfran
Online Media:

Felix Grant Collection, [sound recordings]

Creator:
Grant, Felix, 1918-1993  Search this
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this
Extent:
4.3 Cubic feet (6 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Phonograph records
Sound recordings
Date:
1935-1985
Summary:
Collection consists of 128 albums featuring the music of Duke Ellington, spanning some 50 years of Ellington-based releases.
Scope and Contents:
The Felix Grant collection consists of commercially produced Duke Ellington phonograph recordings that were collected by Grant during his career as a premier disc jockey. The recordings are arranged alphabetically by title. In addition, there are miscellaneous newspaper clippings and correspondence, consisting of press releases, that were removed from some of the album sleeves, and book abstracts from books and dissertations about Ellington. This material is arranged alphabetically, and is located at the end of the collection. The record company label, catalog number, and release date are included in the container list. Many of the albums are promotional copies which Grant obtained at radio stations where he worked. Of special interest are "...and his mother called him Bill' and "Anatomy of a Murder", two albums that are considered to be among Ellington's best. Also of note are a Japanese pressing of "Ella at Duke's Place" and a 1986 pressing of "Money Jungle" that features tracks not on the original release, as well as a program order from an Army Blues salute to Ellington included in the second series.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series, alphabetically.
Biographical/Historical note:
Felix Grant (February 22, 1918-October 13, 1993), a renowned jazz disk jockey dubbed Washington, D.C.'s "Mr. Music" and recipient of the U.S. Navy Commendation Medal for his service during WWII, was born in New York and developed a deep passion for America's jazz as a young man listening to local radio broadcasts and visiting Manhattan's numerous jazz nightclubs. He attended LaSalle Academy and first worked for a New York advertising agency as a messenger. Near the end of the war Grant was transferred to Washington D.C.'s Coast Guard headquarters and in 1945 took an announcing job at WWDC-AM.

Grant eventually became a fixture of Washington, D.C. radio, working for such stations as WMAL-AM, WRC-AM, and WDCU-FM. During the 1950s and 60s his WMAL radio show called "The Album Sound" gained popularity in the D.C. area for its unique mix of jazz, blues, and Latin music. Grant's diverse play list helped him gain listeners from all different races long before the end of segregation in Washington, D.C. Native Washingtonian, Duke Ellington, was a particular favorite of Grant's and his music was often featured during Grant's shows. In 1953 Grant took a position at WMAL and in 1984 joined WDCU where he remained until his death. In January of 1996 the University of the District of Columbia opened the Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives, a collection of audiotape and archival records documenting Felix Grant's life and career.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mr. Felix Grant on April 9, 1991.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Copyright restrictions. Contact staff for information.
Topic:
Jazz  Search this
Sound recordings -- Jazz -- 1930-1990 -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Phonograph records
Sound recordings -- 1930-1990
Citation:
Felix Grant Collection, 1935-1985, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0410
See more items in:
Felix Grant Collection, [sound recordings]
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep841f87bf3-2e7e-45c3-99fb-f2da7e5cd921
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0410

Franz Kline Foundation

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1.6 Linear feet (Boxes 2-4, 19)
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1961-1997
Scope and Contents:
Elisabeth Zogbaum was the president of the Franz Kline Foundation. The foundation was dedicated to preserving Franz Kline's legacy and increasing public awareness of his work. The foundation often collaborated with museums and galleries on Franz Kline exhibitions and also compiled research and material for creating a catalogue raisonne. This series includes correspondence, administrative records, material related to the catalogue raisonne, lists and inventories, and sound recordings related to the management of Kline's artwork.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged as 5 subseries.

4.1: Correspondence, 1977-1996

4.2: Administrative Files, 1983-1996

4.3: Catalogue Raisonne, circa 1964-1997, bulk 1973-1990

4.4: Lists and Inventories, circa 1961-1994

4.5: Sound Recordings, circa 1971-1985
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran, Series 4
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ebd3de0c-2288-419b-a80b-1b1ec8198f6f
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref107

Elisabeth Zogbaum's Research and Notes

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1.3 Linear feet (Boxes 4, 19, OV 14)
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1951-circa 1995
Scope and Contents:
This series includes Zogbaum's research on Franz Kline and a few other subjects, mostly in the form of sound recordings, lists, notes, printed material, and correspondence. The majority of material is related to what Zogbaum refers to as her audiovisual presentation on Franz Kline, which consisted of slides of Kline's artwork and a soundtrack based primarily on interviews with Kline's contemporaries.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged as 2 subseries.

5.1: Audiovisual Presentation, 1963-1995

5.2: General Research and Notes, 1951-circa 1990
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran, Series 5
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw946a8cf55-f111-4e23-9dc9-e8eada5c89a2
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref194

Audiovisual Presentation

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1963-1989
Scope and Contents:
Elisabeth Zogbaum put together an "audiovisual slide show" or presentation on Franz Kline that consisted of slides of Kline's artwork and a documentary soundtrack which recounts his life and career. Sound recordings include original, unedited recordings of candid conversations between Zogbaum and friends, dealers, and contemporaries of Kline's, sometimes individually and often ingroups of two or three. Subjects include James Brooks, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, George McNeil, Joan Mitchel, Giuseppe Panza, Ludwig Sander, Aaron Siskind, Ray Spillenger, and Joe Stefanelli, as well as extensive reflections by Zogbaum herself on Kline's life and work. Recordings also include additional production material such as narration and sound effects, and various edited versions of the finished work. A handful of recordings include technical conversations about the presentation's production.

The script for the slide show appears to have been refined multiple times over the years, and the final edited work exists in multiple versions. This subseries consists of unedited and edited sound recordings, notes, lists of slides and transparencies, typescripts of interview excerpts, and numerous drafts of the slide show script.
Arrangement:
This subseries is in alphabetical order. The partial drafts of the presentation script consist of random undated pages, so the contents of those folders have not been arranged.
Related Materials:
There is one full transcript of Franz Kline being interviewed by David Sylvester which was published in a magazine; the original recording, and is not among the sound cassettes.
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran, Subseries 5.1
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 5: Elisabeth Zogbaum's Research and Notes
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw921d6f42d-12d1-4aa2-97ee-5d1e403679c5
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref195

General Research and Notes

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1951-circa 1990
Scope and Contents:
Most of the research and notes are about Franz Kline. While the bulk of the subseries consists of notes, there are also lists of articles and catalogs about Franz Kline, a folder of mailings lists with addresses of contacts to invite to exhibitions and events, and writings by others which Elisabeth Zogbaum presumably collected for research and reference. Most of the writings consist of typescript drafts of essays about Franz Kline and typed excerpts of reviews. A few writings, such as the poems by Pierre Oberling, are not related to Kline. Sound recordings contain primarily reflections by Zogbaum on her own life and social circle.
Arrangement:
This subseries is in alphabetical order.
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran, Subseries 5.2
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 5: Elisabeth Zogbaum's Research and Notes
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9b1636adc-8ec8-46e6-9939-edcb8d58d2ac
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref214

Sound Recordings

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1971-1985
Scope and Contents:
Sound recordings are of Elizabeth Zogbaum alone or in conversation with foundation members and estate attorneys regarding estate inventories and arrangements for exhibition, loan, representation of artworks in the Kline estate. Also found is a radio broadcast from 1985 regarding a Kline exhibition at the Cincinnati art museum.
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.klinfran, Subseries 4.5
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9b13f23d8-6f2a-45a9-9bdc-989b0495f5fa
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref386

Conversation with Arthur Douglas

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1 Sound cassette
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1, Item 1
Type:
Archival materials
Audio [31027000839510]
Sound cassettes
Date:
1977 December 27
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation / 4.5: Sound Recordings
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e5d67ad8-e80e-4a15-96db-3a46b84b9ca6
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref400

Conversation with David McKee

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1 Sound cassette
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1, Item 2
Type:
Archival materials
Audio [31027000839510]
Sound cassettes
Date:
1974 April 16
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation / 4.5: Sound Recordings
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f4626175-03e6-46b4-ab1c-cdfeb8364844
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref401

Conversations with Bernard Reis and unidentified person

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1 Sound cassette
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1, Item 3
Type:
Archival materials
Audio [31027000839510]
Sound cassettes
Date:
circa 1971
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation / 4.5: Sound Recordings
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a4a35b6e-84d5-4374-a342-4089bb315baf
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref402

Conversation with Dan Rice

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1 Sound cassette
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1, Item 4
Type:
Archival materials
Audio [31027000839510]
Sound cassettes
Date:
circa 1971-circa 1977
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation / 4.5: Sound Recordings
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw922c2723f-93b2-4377-b433-914962ec96f3
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref403

Conversation Dan Rice and unidentified person

Collection Creator:
Zogbaum, Elisabeth Ross  Search this
Extent:
1 Sound cassette
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1, Item 5
Type:
Archival materials
Audio [31027000839510]
Sound cassettes
Date:
1974 February 23
Collection 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 audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Images of works of art by Franz Kline copyright held by Franz Kline Estate / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce images of works of art by Franz Kline should be submitted to ARS.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline, 1892-circa 2005, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline
Elisabeth Zogbaum papers regarding Franz Kline / Series 4: Franz Kline Foundation / 4.5: Sound Recordings
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw927de132d-a253-474d-be73-ca8fd1ef0bb6
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-klinfran-ref404

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