The Carrig-Rohane Shop records measure 6.7 linear feet and date from 1903 to 1962. The records document the founding of the Boston company, frame design and production, and the financial transactions of the shop. The numerous framing records, such as pattern and specification order books, are particularly valuable for researching and matching custom frames with specific works of art of the late 19th and early 20th century. The frame patterns are also useful for researchers interested in the history of frame design.
Scope and Content Note:
The Carrig-Rohane Shop records date from 1903 to 1962, and measure 6.7 linear feet. The records document the founding of the company, frame design and production, and the financial transactions of the shop. Series 2: Frame Orders and Specifications is particulary valuable for researching the frames used for late 19th and early 20th century American works of art. The frame patterns can be cross-referenced with the orders to obtain visual documentation of the frame desing used with a specific work of art. The frame patterns are also useful for researchers interested in the history of frame design.
The records of the Carrig-Rohane Shop also include financial and business records, printed material, sketches of frames, and photographs of sketches and sculptures.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Frame Patterns, circa 1903-1962 (boxes 1-2, 1 linear ft.)
Series 2: Frame Orders and Specifications, 1904-1962 (boxes 2-5, 3 linear ft.)
Series 3: Financial Records, 1908-1939, undated (boxes 5-7, 1.9 linear ft.)
Series 4: Business Records, 1903-1955, undated (box 7, 11, 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1906 (box 7, 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 6: Works of Art, 1931, 1936, undated (boxes 7, OV 10, 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 7: Photographs, undated (box 7, 0.1 linear ft.)
Historical Note:
In 1903 Herman Dudley Murphy, Walfred Thulin and Charles Prendergast began making frames and in 1906 H.D. Murphy opened "The Frame Shop of Herman Dudley Murphy" on Clarendon Street in Boston.
According to the meeting minutes, on June 13, 1911, the frame shop incorporated under the name "The Thulin-Murphy Co." with Walfred Thulin as the President. The shop name was then changed to "Carrig-Rohane" on February 5, 1914, and on October 23, 1915, the shop came under the management of Robert Churchill Vose, Sr. and Nathaniel Morton Vose.
The corporation was eventually dissolved on March 29, 1939, and the framing operations moved to the Vose Galleries' premises.
Provenance:
The Carrig-Rohane Shop records were donated by Robert Churchill Vose, Jr., Duxbury, Massachusetts, April 4, 1974, January 13, 1975, April 5, 1984, February 1, 1986, and March 17, 1987.
Funding for the processing and microfilming of this collection was provided by a grant from the Eli Wilner & Company, Inc., New York, New York.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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.
The records of Vose Galleries of Boston measure 26.6 linear feet and date from circa 1876, 1890s-1996 with the bulk of materials dating from 1920s-1930s. Nearly 90 percent of the collection documents the gallery's handling of American paintings and portraits through incoming and outgoing business correspondence with artists, clients, galleries, and museums, including considerable correspondence with portrait artist Alfred Jonniaux and clients regarding commissioned portraits. Other materials include client files; artists' biographies; records of sales, consignments, framing, restoration, and banking, mostly from the 1940s-1960s; and scattered exhibition catalogs, newspaper clippings, and postcards. Also found is a handwritten manuscript regarding the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, PA and a 1991 videotape about the Vose Galleries and its founding family.
Scope and Contents note:
The records of Vose Galleries of Boston measure 26.6 linear feet and date from circa 1876, 1890s-1996 with the bulk of materials dating from 1920s-1930s. Nearly 90 percent of the collection documents the gallery's handling of American paintings and portraits through incoming and outgoing business correspondence with artists, clients, galleries, and museums, including considerable correspondence with portrait artist Alfred Jonniaux and clients regarding commissioned portraits. Other materials include client files; artists' biographies; records of sales, consignments, framing, restoration, and banking, mostly from the 1940s-1960s; and scattered exhibition catalogs, newspaper clippings, and postcards. Also found is a handwritten manuscript regarding the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, PA and a 1991 videotape about the Vose Galleries and its founding family.
Correspondence of note is with artists Childe Hassam, Malvina Hoffman, Alfred Jonniaux, and John Singer Sargent; galleries Ehrich Galleries, Clapp & Graham Co., M. Knoedler & Co., Macbeth Galleries, Milch Galleries, Newhouse Galleries, Arthur U. Newton Galleries, Norton Galleries, and Howard Young Galleries; the estates of Anna Coleman Ladd and William E. Norton; and the family of Abbott H. Thayer.
Researchers should note that the records do not comprehensively span the gallery's history or operations. The bulk of the collection is correspondence from Robert C. Vose's era running the Robert C. Vose Galleries in the 1920s-1930s and, lesser so, under Robert C. Vose, Jr.'s direction in the 1970s. There is little material in the collection which dates before the 1910s or the 1950s-1960s, other than correspondence regarding Alfred Jonniaux and some financial records. There is a handful of correspondence which covers the period of R.C. & N.M. Vose Gallery. Records loaned for microfilming should be consulted for materials outside of the bulk dates of this collection, especially for materials from the late 1800s-early 1900s.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1895-1996 (Boxes 1-23, 28; 22.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Customer Files, 1912-1946 (Boxes 23-24; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Art-Related Files, circa 1876, 1890s-1947 (Box 24, 28; 1 linear feet)
Series 4: Financial Records, 1911-1962, 1991 (Boxes 24-25; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Materials, circa 1904-1990 (Boxes 25-27; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Vose Galleries is a long time family run art gallery based in the Boston, Mass. area.
In 1841, Joseph Vose purchased Westminster Art Gallery, a small Providence, Rhode Island art gallery founded by Ransom Hicks. At the age of 19 in 1850, Joseph's son Seth Morton Vose joined the gallery and five years later became director. The gallery's primary business until the late 1860s was frame making, gilding and art supplies. Seth Morton Vose had a passion for art, especially the French painters of the Barbizon School and he slowly began buying and exhibiting artwork. By 1882, the gallery regularly exhibited in Boston.
Seth's son Robert C. Vose joined the business in 1896, and managed the gallery's Boston office from 1897. Robert broadened the gallery's horizons by showing his fine stock of Barbizon, Dutch, English and American artists throughout America, while his younger brother, Nathaniel, and his cousin, Charles Thompson, handled the Boston gallery. During the next sixty-seven years, Robert C. Vose moved the gallery into a position of national prominence.
In 1924, Nathaniel left the gallery and established his own gallery in Providence. The Boston gallery's name changed to Robert C. Vose Galleries, and around the same time, took over the Carrig-Rohane framing company. In 1931-1932, Robert's three sons, Robert C. Vose, Jr., Seth Morton Vose II, and Herbert Vose, joined the firm. The gallery continued to show exhibitions in Boston, and the sons took turns joining their father on the road. The gallery's name was changed to Vose Galleries of Boston, Inc. in 1952. In 1963, Vose Galleries moved to their current location at 238 Newbury Street in Boston. Robert C. Vose passed away in 1964.
Robert C. Vose, Jr.'s sons, Abbot W. Vose and Robert C. Vose III, joined the gallery in 1968 and 1970, respectively. Robert C. Vose, Jr. passed away in 1998. The Vose Galleries of Boston continues to operate at Newbury Street under the direction of the sixth generation of the Vose family.
Related Archival Materials note:
The Archives of American Art holds several separately cataloged collections related to Vose Galleries of Boston, including the Carrig-Rohane Shop records (1903-1962); oral history interviews with Seth Morton Vose (July 24, 1986 - April 28, 1987) and Robert C. Vose, Jr. (June 27 - July 23, 1986); a sound recording and videotape of a Robert C. Vose, Jr. lecture at the Somerset Club (May 14, 1987); a sound recording of an interview with Robert C. Vose (March 1961); the Miscellaneous Art Exhibition Catalog collection containing Vose Galleries exhibition catalogs, circa 1900-1941; and, Robert C. Vose, Jr. typescripts and clippings, 1961, on microfilm reels 3480 and 4314.
Separated Materials note:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming.
Reel B1 contains a scrapbook compiled by Seth Vose and annotated by Robert Vose that contains clippings, 1886-1900, and an 1889 letter from author and critic Alfred Trumble; and a scrapbook compiled and annotated by Robert C. Vose spanning the years 1920-1940, 1897, and 1905, containing clippings and handwritten lists.
Reel 2380 includes numerous photographs, circa 1890-1964, of Seth Morton Vose, Robert C. Vose, Sr., artists, collectors, and dealers associated with Vose Galleries; a Macbeth Gallery "smoker" in honor of Emil Carlsen; a drawing of Charles Emil Heil by George F. Wing, and a charcoal drawing after Monticelli by Albion Harris Bicknell. Many of the photographs are annotated by Robert C. Vose.
Reels 3936-3940 are comprised of account books, 1871-1887; a journal, 1889-1903, a ledger, 1889-1901; invoice books, 1896-circa 1954, inventories of paintings and drawings in stock, 1884, 1892 and 1906; exhibition records, 1911-1982?; traveling exhibition records, 1915-1949; and a record of paintings sold, 1876-1894. Written permission is required to access these reels.
Reels 4593-4594 contain clippings, undated and 1891-1989, chiefly about purchases, sales and exhibitions, but also pertaining to art dealers, museums, artists, and art events.
Reel 4909 contains a scrapbook of clippings, announcements, programs, and other printed materials, 1882-1993.
Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
From 1965-1994, Vose Galleries of Boston loaned materials to the Archives of American Art for microfilming. Robert C. Vose, Jr. also donated records in several installments from 1974 to 1997.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Reels 3936-3940: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from an officer of the Vose Galleries. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Artists -- United States -- Photographs Search this
Picture frame industry -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Biographical data; personal and business correspondence, including letters from Thomas Hart Benton, Reginald Marsh, Robert Vose and Robert Vose, Jr. of Vose Galleries of Boston, Inc., and others; writings; exhibition catalogs; printed materials regarding the Sanford Low Memorial Collection of American Illustration; 3 sketches by Low, clippings on Low and the activities of the New Britain Museum of American Art; photographs of Low, of Low with Benton, Thomas Craven and Denys Wortman, and photographs of the installation of a Low retrospective exhibition, 1963.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, illustrator, block printer, decorator, designer, educator, museum director, New Britain, Conn. and Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Was instrumental in organizing and founding the New Britain Museum of American Art, and was its director for a number of years.
Provenance:
The donor, Virginia Low, is the widow of Sanford Low.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
W. Charles Thompson. Letter from W. Charles Thompson to Robert C. Vose, 1929 Nov. 30. Vose Galleries of Boston records, circa 1876-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
