This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Writings by Patricia Hills: The donor has retained all intellectual rights, including copyright, that she may own.
Collection Citation:
Patricia Hills Papers, circa 1900-2022, bulk 1968-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Writings by Patricia Hills: The donor has retained all intellectual rights, including copyright, that she may own.
Collection Citation:
Patricia Hills Papers, circa 1900-2022, bulk 1968-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Lawrence H. Bloedel Collection : a loan exhibition from the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Williams College Museum of Art, organized and circulated by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982 / [edited by Rick Stewart]
Paintings and Constructions Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania from box 1, folder 36
Subseries consists of correspondence sent and received by Benton in the administration of Cornell's residual estate, as well as some printed material and photographs that were accumulated in the same files. Correspondents include: lawyers, collectors, dealers, galleries, museums, curators, scholars, writers, art critics, artists, admirers of Cornell, the executors of Cornell's estate, and charitable institutions, as well as some of Cornell's former "helpers," friends, and acquaintances.
Correspondence generally relates to the exhibition, loan, appraisal, auction, and sale of Cornell art work. It documents, in particular, Cornell exhibitions at the ACA Galleries, Art Institute of Chicago, Castelli Feigen Corcoran Gallery, Hopper House, Washburn Gallery, and Washington University in St. Louis; and the major Cornell retrospectives, "Joseph Cornell" at the Museum of Modern Art (November 1980-January 1981) and "Joseph Cornell: An Exploration of Sources" at the National Museum of American Art (November 19, 1982-February 27, 1983). Correspondence also relates to the disposition of Cornell material and art work, including donations of his papers, books, records, and/or source material to various cultural institutions (such as the Anthology Film Archives, Museum of Modern Art, Archives of American Art, and National Museum of American Art, among others), and gifts of art work to various museums and galleries (such as Meadow Brook Art Gallery at Oakland University, Mead Art Gallery at Amherst College, and Williams College Museum of Art, among others). Correspondence also concerns Benton's gifts of art work (particularly, collages and book objects), source material, memorabilia, and copies of some of Cornell's papers to various individuals.
Correspondence documents Benton's many efforts to continue Cornell's legacy and to preserve his memory, including her monetary donations to charitable institutions in memory of her brothers; her attempts to correct misinformation and misrepresentations of Cornell and his family published in various articles (as in a letter to New York Magazine correcting a mistake about the nature of Robert's handicap in an article written by Thomas Hess); and her concern to have the right person do a "Cornell book" (as reflected in correspondence with Wayne Andrews, Dore Ashton, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Diane Waldman, and Don Windham). Correspondence also documents her role in facilitating research on Cornell, including that of graduate students, such as Sherry Friend and Helen Haroutanian ( See also Series 9), and that of scholars such as David Porter; her work organizing and cataloging Cornell's papers and source material; and the various requests she fielded for information about or authentication of certain Cornell works.
Arrangement note:
Benton organized the correspondence into files according to correspondent, and the files in alphabetical order according to name of institution or surname of individual. Items in each file were typically accumulated in reverse chronological order. When only a few items were associated with a correspondent, Benton organized these into general alphabetical files. The existing organization has, for the most part, been maintained.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
